Metal Casting Plant-wide Assessment to Feature New, Emerging Technologies

October 22, 2001

OIT staff were recently joined by representatives of Oak Ridge National Lab in launching a metal casting plant-wide assessment at RCM Industries. The assessment is part of a longer-term relationship between OIT and the North American Die Casters Association (NADCA). The program represents a new approach to identifying new/emerging technologies that are high priority to industry and defining a dissemination program to make the industry aware of the technologies. It is an outgrowth of the OIT's plant-wide assessment activity and supports its technology implementation efforts and 'Industry of the Future' R&D agenda.

The activity involves three principal activities:

NADCA will compile a list of new/emerging technologies of potential interest to the metal casting industry. These technologies will include both those in OIT's portfolio and those being developed by industry.
NADCA and RCM will assemble a team of technical experts from the industry to assess the applicability/impact of the identified technologies. It is expected that the assessment and implementation of economically justifiable recommedations will result in 10-20% energy savings, 10% increase in productivity, 30-40% improvement in die life, and 10-15% reduction in scrap.
The results of the assessment will then be comminicated to the industry through final reports published in NADCA's bimonthly magazine, Die Casting Engineer, and on the NADCA website.

The technical project summary and energy checklist developed through this project will be available from NADCA for similar assessments at other plant locations. The NADCA Research and Development Committee will have the results of the assessments available to guide current and future technical projects toward greater energy savings.