Aarrowcast’s pressure impact sand casting line makes metal parts in the range of 400 to 1,800 lbs. and is one of the largest jobbing automatic molding lines in the world.
parts out on a periodic basis—we run them much closer to their natural failure,” said Jack Smith, Aarrowcast VP operations. “We only change them when they need to be changed.” Aarrowcast paid special attention to the individual movements of its high pressure impact molding line that occurred at the same time and looked at how that affected the machinery’s performance. What they found was
the hydraulic pump in its regular operation was extending oil to its two big cylinders simultaneously, which was starving the system for oil. “We changed the sequencing so
it would extend the oil to cylinder A and then cylinder B.” Smith said. “Te summary is we have been able to speed up individual elements of the machine and that has contributed to improved cycle time. Te machine runs better
because up time is better, but it also runs faster.”
Beyond Gray and Ductile The increased speed and lower
cost structure accorded Aarrow- cast by preventive maintenance have given the casting business a competitive edge. Meanwhile, the management team, which consists of several new leaders who brought new initiatives to the operation, also began strategies to improve opera- tions and increase sales. Smith, who joined the company
four years ago, brought with him a behavior-based safety program that he had experienced success with before. This purchased program, called “Safe Start,” was started three years ago to help workers keep safe operations a focus of their daily activity at the facility. “We have seen a huge improve- ment in our safety culture, and it is so important to us,” Smith said. Since 2012, Aarrowcast has seen
Aarrowcast’s preventive maintenance system has led to reduced downtime and improved production efficiency.
22 | MODERN CASTING July 2015
a 63% reduction in its incident rate, which it attributes to improved employee accountability, better training programs and the imple- mentation of Safe Start.
On the sales side of the equation,
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