Automated pouring at the molding lines means perfect pours in each mold.


Technologies sand system and Induc- totherm Corp. melt deck. “We basically built a foundry


attached to our existing foundry,” Lodge said. Te manufacturer kept its 290


employees in the loop on the con- struction and implementation plans through state of the company addresses and weekly team meetings. “Our people were really good about explaining what we had to do,” Whit- field said. “We were prepared.” By the end of 2013, Lodge


Manufacturing had completed the new melt center, which was sized to handle melting for all three of Lodge’s molding lines. The melt center consisted of two Inducto- therm Corp. 10-ton electric furnaces along with its ARMS System robot to perform melt deck operations, such as taking metal samples and checking melt temperature. Furnaces are tapped into mobile crucibles that are transported to the three mold- ing lines via an automated overhead crane. Each molding line utilizes automated pouring to fill each mold. In 2014, the new molding line and


sand system were up and running. Te sand system is sized to handle all three lines, although at this point it is


Raw castings and gating make their way to the washing and finishing area after shakeout. December 2015 MODERN CASTING | 23


just serving the new molding line. Te new line makes 420 molds per hour, compared to about the same number of molds per hour on each of the older and smaller lines. However, the new line can make twice as many 12-in. skillets per mold as the older lines, meaning the line is often making four castings in a single mold. “Increasing the amount of castings


in a mold may lead to higher scrap,” Whitfield admitted, “But we are get- ting more saleable castings at four per mold than say, three. It’s a tradeoff.” Along with the sand, melting and molding upgrades, Lodge Manufac- turing added capacity in finishing with a new MetCast continuous shot blast cleaning machine and Didion clean- ing equipment. A new wash and spray


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