Introduction

Aluminum Investment Casting Manufacturer was having issues with their current machining supplier. They were not delivering on time and had a high scrap rate. The late delivery was causing them to be late with their customers therefore affecting their credibility and the time they can collect their revenue. The high scrap rates mean they must make more castings just to get one acceptable finished one. Every “raw” casting that can be processed and sold means profit for the company. We offered a solution to reduce their scrap rate and were able to make the operation faster to meet their delivery times.

Methodology

We determined that the lead time issues were connected to the scrap rate. Since they were shipping a batch at a time if any casting was scrapped, it would cause a lower quantity shipment. The shorter shipment they receive, the more they will continue to be late at the end of the month. We reviewed the issue and determined the supplier was not properly setting up the castings to machine the features.
We worked with their engineers to design and build a series of Machining and Inspection fixtures to ensure their parts were ok before they were even sent out of the casting facility. This allowed them to catch them before they left the facility and do secondary processing to make sure they are corrected before they are scrapped after machining. The second key to solving this problem was a machining fixture which allowed us to set quickly set up and clamp when compared to the previous supplier.

Ultimately, we designed and built the various fixtures needed to improve the processes and transferred the process to our machining partner Mold Plus Engineering. We helped them set up a process control procedure. To help with catching up on their orders, we set up a split shift with one machine dedicated to their components. Along with this we had a daily pickup and delivery schedule to make sure they are getting the parts as they are finished.

Summarize the key points of the case study.
We were able to completely turn around a project that was causing the casting manufacturer their reputation and money. Once we made some investments in the process control of their operation were able to increase their profits and help them get caught up with their deliveries.

This type of adjustments can be done to virtually any manufacturing process including manual operations. If you improve the process times, lower cost and mistakes, and make it repeatable, you can make more money faster! Contact us today for a consultation. Sales@InfinitySks.com

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