to observe pouring and cool- ing to better understand why the mold designs are so im- portant to product yields. Quality


Manager Scott


Miller noted gating systems are developed with a philoso- phy of first-pass success. “The initial designs are often less efficient from a pour weight standpoint


but continuous


improvement efforts get us where we need to be long term,” he said.


Johnson indicated inno- vation in gating design comes from an appreciation of the dynamics that other casting techniques offer. “Sand cast- ing and die-casting are pro- cesses that we look at to see what we can borrow from,” he said.


Johnson noted Shellcast has been successful in design- ing molds that give bottom pouring capability with single cups. Thin wall and finely de- tailed parts benefit from high pressure and flow rates by adopting fundamentals of die casting. “My father ran an alu- minum die-casting plant, and the fluid dynamics that they see can be beneficial here,” he added.


Quality Manager Scott


Miller pointed out Shellcast has adopted a cutoff approach that avoids friction or abrasive saw cutting of heavy gates. Horizontal band sawing cou- pled with finishing in CNC equipment


has completely


eliminated NDT rejects due to hot-cracking. “Root cause analysis showed that it was simply a processing error,” he explained. General


Manager Rich


Canniff noted product quality has been improved by better


Product quality has been improved by a greater reliance on filtering at the foundry


raw material control and by a greater reliance on filtering at the foundry. “We were one of the first to adopt the cup filter from Comanche Technologies and we point to that as a key milestone in our success,” he said.


Technology upgrades are in the works at Shellcast with new wax equipment coming on line as well as a move to robotic


shell manufacturing


slated for later in the year. Fa- cility upgrades also include mist collection systems for wax injection, and CNC ma- chining. “As part of a long-term growth plan regional repre- sentatives have been estab- lished to serve key accounts with long term growth po- tential,” Johnson commented.


August 2013


“Our 10-year plan identifies key accounts in certain ar- eas of the country and we are ahead of that plan.” The company does a fair


amount of prototype casting work and also does special manufacturing projects for US government agencies that are restricted by non-disclosure agreements. “Today we are more often


competing with some of the larger structural casting com- panies in the business,” John- son said. ” Our small business status and our technical focus has made us a viable choice for many large aerospace companies.”


Shellcast


The 35,000 square foot facility is located


just north of Muskegon, MI. The area is home to one of


the biggest names in the in- vestment casting business and Shellcast benefits from the support structure found within the area. “Wax and alloy manu- facturing is only a few miles away, and doing business lo- cally makes this a great spot for us. We sit in a beautiful industrial park and we have plenty of room to expand.” Johnson concluded. “My fa- ther was a foundry man, and the industry runs in the family. He and Gerry Krause would be proud to see where we are at today.” .


Shellcast, Inc


5230 Industrial Park Drive Montague, MI 49437 www.shellcastinc.com


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