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

K. Copper Foundry-1
Plant Profile
Copper Foundry-1 has approximately 100 employees and specializes in both copper and ferrous
(iron and steel) castings. For this analysis, the facility was classified as a copper foundry because
over 50% of its castings are brass, 30% ferrous, and the remaining 20% are of various copper
alloys. The facility employs a number of casting processes, including permanent mold, die
casting, and sand casting. It performs its own melting on site, utilizing both induction furnaces
and smaller crucible furnaces.
Copper Foundry-1 primarily ships to pump and valve manufactures and to electrical hardware
component manufacturers. Its most commonly produced casting is an impeller made of Si-
Bronze and Al-Bronze, of which it ships approximately 140,000 per year. The facility performs
many short runs for its customers. Due to this practice, pattern storage has become an issue that
may necessitate additional warehousing space. The large storage requirement is forcing Copper
Foundry-1 to consider charging its customers a warehousing fee.
Copper Foundry-1 quality and process control operations utilize the latest devices and techniques.
Process control procedures include continuous inspection of castings and analysis of casting
alloys during production to ensure compliance with product specifications. The quality control
system is designed to ensure customer satisfaction by employing controls throughout the
business, from receipt of customer order to the delivery of the products.
Onsite Assessment
During the site visit, the company’s president accompanied the assessment team. In the morning,
plant personnel provided the assessment team with an overview of plant operations and of their
implementation of Metal Casting R&D research results. The team then gave plant personnel an
overview of the free tools and services offered by the ITP BestPractices subprogram. The facility
was aware of the IAC services and had participated in an assessment in May of 2002. However,
facility managers were unaware of the suite of available BestPractices tools. The assessment
team toured the facility in the afternoon.
1. Implementation
IAC Assessment
Copper Foundry-1 participated in an IAC assessment in 2002. The facility’s president explained
how beneficial the assessment was and how it lead to some changes in their plant. The facility
incorporated some but not all of the recommendations made by the IAC team. This is because
some of the recommendations were low cost and simple to implement, while others were cost
prohibitive.
One IAC recommendation made to Copper Foundry-1 was to replace its lighting with more
efficient mercury lighting. The facility integrated this into 100% of its sand casting operation,
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