Implementation of Metal Casting Best Practices - EERE - U.S. ...

6. Solutions to Lack of R&D Implementation
Many of the common factors that hinder the implementation of research results and perpetuate
the lack of awareness of free ITP resources available are not unique to the foundry industry.
These are common problems that can be overcome both thorough education and outreach and by
incorporating some fundamental changes in the management practices.
6.1 Offering Incentives Program to Employees
Organizational success at a metal casting facility depends upon its employees, and lack of
recognition can lead to poor morale and disengagement by employees. Effectively motivating
employees can create champions within a foundry or die casting facility to seek out solutions for
correcting efficiency issues. A meaningful employee recognition and incentive program can
drive commitment to seek and implement necessary steps to improve operational efficiency and
help the metal caster succeed in today’s competitive metal casting markets. Incentives should be
provided to employees who seek out solutions to wasteful operations, such as air leaks and heat
losses. This may involve simple solutions such as tagging and reporting air leaks to broader
initiatives such as setting goals to reduce a facility’s overall air use by a certain percentage
within a specified timeframe.
Incentive programs should also encourage technical staff to undertake complex projects that will
have a risk of failure yet offer a high potential payback in both monetary and corporate
sustainability terms. Facilities can implement incentive programs to challenge technical staff to
improve the efficiency of or to eliminate a particular process. A good example to highlight this
point is the lack of implementation of shroud pouring at Steel Foundry-1 (page 46). This facility
participated in the initial casting trials and demonstrated to the casting industry the impact that
shroud pouring would have on improving casting quality and profitability. However, when the
facility installed a new molding line, they did not incorporate the proper height requirements to
accommodate the shroud process. The company may have avoided this impediment had they
provided an incentive for a champion to determine a solution to successfully integrating the
shroud process.
Employee incentives are a topic that many may consider old news, yet many companies still
struggle to find ways to shift the behavior and attitude of their workers to increase productivity.
Studies have shown that even the most simple incentive programs can be beneficial for both the
employee and the corporation. Incentives can be simple, non-monetary rewards such as a better
parking spot or an award, or they can take the form of a monetary bonus.
The Power of Empowerment: What the Experts Say and 16 Actionable Case Studies by Bill
Ginnodo (editor) shows how leading companies improve the performance of employees and
managers—as well as customer satisfaction, costs, competitiveness and the bottom line—by
giving individuals and teams the power to take action. 28 Empowering the foundry workers to
take action and improve energy consumption may lead many metal casters to lower energy
consumption and lower energy costs, thus improving their financial bottom line.
A case to highlight the importance of incentive programs is Kingston Technology Company, Inc.,
a world leader in independent memory. Founded in 1987 with a single product offering, the
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