INTERN Spotlight
“...when James arrived, he was given a project that was near and dear to my heart: The reduction of cracking scrap... I am satisfied with the effort and results that James gave to Hitchiner during his Internship. This was a real project that could have been given to a staff engineer. He was treated as a staff engineer and he delivered results.”
– Doug Penrod, Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc.
JAMES EDDLESTONE Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc.
is focused on reducing scrap and increasing yield. I assisted this effort In two main projects, both utilizing data- mining and statistical analysis. This data driven approach helps to reduce the po- tential for personal and historical beliefs to impact future process decisions.
A My first project involved looking at
historical chemistry data for incoming heats of alloys and attempting to correlate micro changes in the alloying element amounts to changes in the scrap rate for cracks in parts. This required a great deal of data collection, initially to consolidate all the chemistry data from testing and then to collect and consolidate all the scrap and throughput data for the chosen parts for each alloy. Once data was collected, it had to be organized and made usable for analysis. After this was complete, I utilized Minitab statistical software to run a regression analysis of scraping rate versus alloy chemistry. We found that while all heats conformed to purchase specifications, there were some in which certain elements ran higher or lower within their tolerance. These
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s with any manufacturing com- pany, Hitchiner
Manufacturing
small changes seemed to result in higher instances of cracking In parts. From this data, we worked with our supplier to tailor our purchasing specifications to reduce scrap.
The second project was similar in its
objective to reduce scrap. This project looked at the impact of revert content on the scrap rate for cracking, inclusions, and slag. Historical data for revert content of heats and scrap were collected and analyzed to determine the impact. It was determined that some level of revert was beneficial as compared to pure virgin material. This ran counter to the belief that virgin heats always resulted in better scrap rates. The results from this study were used as justification to change the purchasing requests for future heats of material.
Prior to this internship, I had minimal exposure to investment casting, so I had a very steep learning curve. It was an added benefit to learn the counter gravity process that is proprietary to Hitchiner. Having had previous experience in traditional
subtractive manufacturing,
both prototype and production, it was very interesting to learn about investment casting. The experience has changed my outlook on manufacturing and machining and given me new appreciation for the variety of uses for casting.
December 2019 ❘ 25
Moving forward, I am now hoping to
find a job in the investment casting field when I graduate this year. I would be very happy to return to Hitchiner and resume my projects working to reduce scrap while better understanding the impact that very minor chemistry changes can have on the potential for scrap. I also hope to expand my knowledge in die design and process improvement.
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