Aarrowcast won the AFS/Met- alcasting Design & Purchasing magazine Casting of the Year in 2014 for this large oil pan for John Deere.
As Gambsky puts it, “PdM uses test equipment and techniques that enable the extension of the techni- cian’s senses past those limitations imposed by human biology.” Since the plan was fi rst started
in 2011, availability has improved 50% for all three molding lines. T e high pressure squeeze mold- ing line—the company’s bread and butter—improved its availability by 3.7% to nearly 96% availability. T is has equated to a growth in produc- tion from 15 molds per hour to 20, according to Brull. Closely monitoring working
machinery parts helps Aar- rowcast avoid unexpected delays
caused by repairs. For instance, Gambsky and his predictive maintenance associate monitor the vibration levels and ultrasonic
various monitoring devices to detect when a part was about to fail. The management team at Aarrowcast had the good sense to let him try. Aarrowcast is an iron casting
facility with three sand molding lines, including a unique Georg Fischer high pressure impact sand casting line that makes metal parts in the range of 400 to 1,800 lbs. Installed at Arrowcast in 1997, it is one of the largest jobbing automatic molding lines in the world. In the late 1990s, the metalcasting facility embarked on a $20 million expansion and experienced a surge of growth. Since then, growth had stagnated, but now the casting facility is experiencing a resurgence thanks, in part, to its predictive maintenance program, as well as additional operat- ing metrics, a focus on accountability, quality performance and a growing line of iron grades it pours. “We have focused on establishing
operating metrics and achieving them through accountability, supported through visual management. Our
success has come through there,” said Randy Brull, president and COO at Aarrowcast. “T rough operational per- formance, we have been able to lower our cost structure which has helped us become more competitive.”
Heightened Senses
Aarrowcast’s current predictive maintenance plan (the company calls it PdM) began in 2011. At that time, the three molding lines, including the 16 x 20 impact, 36 x 40 jolt squeeze and 60 x 85 high pressure impact molding, were equipped with motor condition monitoring, stroke monitoring and infrared thermography equipment to begin collecting data points. New monitoring equipment has been added each year, including dew point monitoring, power logging, ultrasound and vibration analysis. Gambsky and another full-time predictive maintenance associate on staff read and translate what the collected data is telling them.
readings of motor bearings in the machinery. T ey noticed that one bearing had been working fi ne until the ultrasonic readings indicated a lubrication issue. After lubrication, the dB level in the ultrasonic measurement dropped, but later in the bearing’s life cycle, it started to rise again, as did the vibration levels. T is was a red fl ag to the predictive maintenance team, and they planned for replacement of the part during a scheduled outage. When the bearing was removed and inspected, its wear pattern indicated a ball cage defect, which would have caused the rapid increase in vibration. Aarrowcast avoided an unplanned breakdown from the defective part through the use of its predictive main- tenance technologies. “There was no warning that
would have been detected by anyone inspecting this bearing in any tradi- tional way,” Gambsky said. “No heat was being created, and no audible noise was evident.” Stories like that of the motor bear-
ing have played out time and again at Aarrowcast in the last three years. Not only is Aarrowcast avoid- ing unplanned breakdowns, in some cases it is also using parts longer, leading to maintenance savings. “One of the benefi ts is a tremen- dous savings in maintenance parts expense because we don’t just change
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