ments achieved by the men and women of Southwest Steel.” A safety committee meets weekly and makes recommendations from people in the plant that are followed up on, creating an environment where everybody knows their ideas will be heard and acted on. “It’s from the top down,” Ingram


said. “It’s involvement from the top guy in the company all the way down, and he has to be actively involved in it. Te employees have to see that number stand.” Tat accomplishment can be seen as a testament to the facility and its employees, that it has the ability to reach such a lofty number. It figures that same attitude would translate to other parts of the business, something that’s helpful for a company trying to overcome certain challenges in an ever-shifting economy.


Staying the Course Pouring since 1971, Southwest


Steel provides castings, heat treat- ing, machining, assembly, painting, and inspection. It has a 700-ton- per-month capacity spread over two facilities: one with 33,000 sq. ft. and another at 84,000. It uses nobake molding and pours various steels, including carbon, low- and high-alloy and stainless. Te 33,000-sq. ft. facility, called


Plant 1, is where the smaller castings (5-200 lbs.) are poured, while the larger Plant 2 is where the 200-5,000 lb. cast- ings are poured. Tirty-one acres of manufacturing


space are available, with on-site heat treat and mag-particle inspection. Te facility includes a 1-ton induction fur- nace, 2-ton induction furnace, a 3-ton electric arc furnace and a 6-ton electric arc furnace. Something else that’s helped South-


west Steel move forward is its recent push into rapid prototyping. Te firm has utilized 3D sand printing successfully for cores and molds on several projects to reduce tooling cost and improve time to market for its customers. “We have seen a significant


increase in requests for the one off prototypes this past year,” Ingram


Southwest Steel recently invested in sand and rollover equipment for its nobake casting operations.


said. “I don’t see these requests slow- ing down.” Recently, Southwest Steel transi-


tioned to a new type of sand. Tis was part of a production upgrade at the facility aimed at increasing efficiencies that included investing in sand and rollover equipment. “We are a good foundry, we are a


strong foundry and we are doing what we need to do in a down economy,” Ingram said. Tis change in sand resulted in


a 10% reduction in resin use. It also brought better surface finishing. But the switch to a new sand


wasn’t done on a whim. Tere's a detailed trialing process that involves Southwest Steel periodically looking at different products and suppliers, and sometimes that leads to something that can improve operations. Te trials started with limited test-


ing at one of their two facilities, part- nered with lab work. Testing included investigating a two-drum sample with resin before larger tests, prior to bigger castings and different circumstances. “When all that’s good we will


actually run it in production on a limited trial and an extended trial before we really make our final conclu- sions,” Ingram said. “Tere’s a lot of lab testing. We look at how it impacts the customer service, the tech service, delivery. Pricing is important but it’s


not the most important thing. It’s quality and what can that product do for you. We don’t necessarily buy the least-cost product. Tere are things that we do pay a little more for to get a premium product that’s better suited for what we need.”


Part of a Family Southwest Steel’s parent company


is American Railcar Industries Inc., (ARI), St. Charles, Missouri. ARI acquired Southwest Steel in 1989 because it needed steel valves for rail cars. “We are thankful to our parent com-


pany,” Ingram said. “Tey allow us to make improvements and invest capital when needed, even in a down economy. Tanks to our parent company, our employees and our customers, we are strong and doing what we need to do in the current economic situation.” Tough Southwest Steel still makes


castings for ARI, it is far from captive to its parent company. “ARI is more than our parent com-


pany, it is one of our top 10 customers and has been spectacular to Southwest Steel,” Ingram said. “ARI believes in being in the metalcasting business.” Tat’s proven by the fact that South-


west Steel has a sister facility in Arkan- sas owned by ARI. Corbitt Manufac- turing provides aluminum permanent and semi-permanent mold castings,


July 2016 MODERN CASTING | 19


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