ABSTRACT
Die Casting operations are – among other metal casting / foundry operations – on one side the last frontier when it comes to digital transformation and digitalizationof company processes as ancient traditions carried forward by generations and huge amounts of experience may be replaced by modern state-of-the-art software-based company solution technologies, making the industry more attractive to young talent and providing new insights. On the other side die casting companies are catching up when it comes to digitalization like no other industrial area. The reason for this is the relative process easiness in comparison to iron / steel casting operations.
Although metals & alloys have been melted and cast in foundries and for many centuries and for die casting since many decades; ever since sophisticated planning and control systems were introduced, processes have changed, and these are now constantly being put to test.
Cost transparency, material and energy efficiency and process security in real time, combined with the much quoted “fast time to market”, have become essential if especially die casting operations want to survive. The digital transformation in die casting but very much in the foundry world is taking place right now with more and more interest in items like IoT = Internet of Things, BIG DATA management, Data Analytics and ultimately Data Visualization in real time – if possible.
In this paper, a case study of 2 totally different foundries are presented and on how a die casting operation can achieve process controls using “Foundry 4.0” insights, but the journey to that goal can be long.
INTRODUCTION
In a foundries business, like all competitive businesses, a good customer does not want a great deal nor the best deal. All he wants is a sustainable win-win FAIR deal. And a sustainable win-win FAIR deal is only possible when the supplier knows the right processes and have the expertise to manage the Product Actual Base Cost = ABC. You must know your ABC as it is YOUR strategic asset! This counts ESPECIALLY for metal casting operations!
By definition, ABC covers all the associated cost of raw metal materials, man-power direct cost, factory overhead, sales and the general administration cost all in a variable and fixed component where applicable. In metal casting we also name it C2C = Cost to Cast, comprising of more than just a BOM (Bill of Material) as it entails a “Bill of Operation”, “Bill of involved Machinery”, “Bill of Sequence of Work”, “Bill of Manpower used” and many more in a precise digital replication (digital twin = resource plan) of the metal casting process.
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
In most foundries that we have worked with, unfortunately, many do not know their real ABC. This happens because, often times, one fails to recognize that knowing the foundries process and knowing the foundries business are two different things. These two are inter-related and NOT mutually exclusive. If they are treated incorrectly, one may end up either overprice itself out of the market or in the other extreme case, underprice too low to even stay in the business. Many foundries we worked with look for $/kg pricing on their castings. That merely reflects (sometimes poor) assumptions and does not reflect actual situations happening daily. The more is assumed the rougher the ABC becomes the less precision is prevailing.
Furthermore, in many foundries and due to the above-described situation, they assume they are profitable as at the end of the month the cashflow is positive. However, they forget that maybe only a fraction of castings produced / orders fulfilled really contributed to this, whereas other orders / other castings produced actually created a loss to the operations.
Implementation Barrier
Many foundries fail to recognize and provide the right infrastructure and resources to an effective implementation. Like all Digital Platforms, FRP® works on a Data Base that requires timely inputs in order to CAPTURE the Actual Cost Data; material quantity, labor factor, cycle time and tie that to the product identification. In many foundries that we worked with, digital platforms as such fail to take off because of inadequate resources for the data inputs and the culture to sustain the system.
The challenges of determining a product ABC = C2C in foundries business are as per below and is considering all aspects of the main casting process having a discontinuous workflow. If foundries put their operations on an integrated digital platform with a seamless reporting chain and fully understand the importance of deploying a digital twin model in their daily operations, then they can easily overcome the described challenges.
THE 3 – “ABC” & “C2C” - CHALLENGES
#1. Metal Price Volatility:
Metal price volatility, although some degree of adjustment is allowed in some cases, but few in between. With proper database correlation foundries could easily create “raw material price scenario manager” hence be in a position to enhance their resilience against any price volatility. This is easily done when raw material prices are not merely captioned in an Excel file but in form of an integrated database with automatic and real time adaptions to international price indices as well external sources web-site source (e.g. Steel-Mint, Metalshub, etc.).
When this is done, a metal casting / foundry procurement officer / manager will be in a positive position to even “predict” future trends and counter react in an early fashion / manner since he knows the actual production cost / raw materials consumed and compares easily with the planned figures.
#2. Process Uncertainties:
Process uncertainties associated especially in die casting where tool life and the diecast machine operating conditions that make them determining a Standard Cycle Time impossible. In sand-casting the material conditions, melt quality, core quality and many more aspects contribute to these uncertainties. The metal casting process is THE ONLY manufacturing process where a product is shaped from a liquid. Hence, it is at times extremely difficult and involving a lot of guess work and numbers by experience, to check on the actual process conditions and accordingly on the process variables. The more this can be standardized again via bringing all on an integrated data platforms the better it is. Planning the process and making the plan precise is one thing. Executing the plan is another.
#3. Labor Cost:
Direct labor cost build-up as secondary process work increases with tool life. E.g. in die casting extensive deburring and reworks that kill your profit because many times it is not accounted for. In sand casting you would talk about additional fettling and cleaning cost OR in further secondary processes in additional heat-treatment and machining cost. Also, here the major principle counts: what you cannot measure you cannot control and the better you plan and better execute the plan the better you will be able to get your labor cost and many others under proper control. This may also involve organizational control at times.
