With the Fix & Grow strategy, Accuride’s Gunite plant in Rockford, Ill., transformed from a deteriorating, dingy factory to a bright, modern manufacturing center.
value in having casting, machining and assembly all at one site in Rock- ford to facilitate collaboration. Sig- nifi cant testing, research and develop- ment goes into improving products, and it was an advantage in the market to have all operations in one place to streamline the process. “Keeping the foundries and ma-
chining is meaningful and a value to our customers because we are vertically integrated,” said Scott Hazlett, senior vice president, operations. “We believe it is core to Accuride, and if we do it, we need to do it world-class.” Dauch remembers standing on
the roof of Gunite, contemplating if it was right to invest $61 mil- lion into that facility. “We had to choose to sell, close, fix and grow the current Gunite operations or fix and grow the Gunite business at a different location,” he said. Accuride wanted to stay vertically
integrated, so the board ultimately ap- proved the major investments in both Gunite (producing 100% Accuride product) and Brillion Iron Works (producing parts both for Accuride and non-Accuride customers). Part of the new strategy was to
consolidate machining operations. Machining operations from Elkhart, Ind., and Brillion were relocated in 2012 to Rockford, where Accuride initiated a more than $35 million in- vestment program to install modern, competitive machining lines. In just a year, the Accuride plant in
Rockford had fresh coats of paint, a new roof, modern drum and hub ma- chining centers, a brand-new assembly cell to make automatic slack adjustors, a bright and clean product display and testing area, and a lean casting fi nish- ing operation. T e business currently makes up 24% of Accuride’s revenue. Perhaps most importantly, its process is stabilized and developing world- class levels of operating performance. T e operation implemented also lean manufacturing principles to make itself more effi cient and drive down internal costs. To support product de- velopment, product engineering began collecting component performance data internally and in the fi eld. “We take the data from the vehicle
in the fi eld and translate it into data we can simulate in the lab,” said Mar- cello Tedesco, engineering director, Wheel End Solutions. “T at allows us to accelerate the whole development
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process of not only enhancing exist- ing products but also identifying and developing new products the market needs.” For new projects, a fact-based business case must be made before they are started. Once approved, a project team including machin- ing, casting, quality, and product engineering personnel is selected to work together throughout the devel- opment process. “Our ability to make rapid adjust- ments is second to none,” said Bill Nestel, Gunite foundry manager. “If we want to make a change or adjustment to the design, within six hours we can cast it, machine it and know the impact of the adjustments we made.” Today, lead time for drums at
Gunite is less than 12 days, compared to six to seven weeks in 2012. T is rapid response came into play with Gunite’s Silver 4000 brake drum.
Keeping the foundries and machining is meaningful and a value to our customers because we are vertically integrated. We believe it is core to Accuride and if we do it, we need to do it world-class.” —SCOTT HAZLETT, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS
Mar/Apr 2015 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 25
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