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Weekly UpdatesThe two facilities named Metalcasters of the Year--Blackhawk de Mexico and Intermet Stevensville--appear to be as dissimilar as possible. Sure, they both produce castings. But Blackhawk is an iron green sand shop located in Mexico, and Stevensville is an aluminum low pressure/vacuum permanent mold plant in Michigan. Blackhawk caters to customers in the agriculture and truck markets, while Stevensville is tied to automotive. Blackhawk is the only metalcaster in its group, while Stevensville is one of many.
But when you dig a little deeper into both facilities, you will find some interesting similarities.
Both facilities have succeeded by redefining their niche. For Stevensville, this occurred when shifting from almost exclusively nonautomotive diecasting to low-pressure/vacuum permanent molding (termed pressure counter pressure casting or PCPC) to produce aluminum components almost exclusively for automakers. The goal of this drastic change was to set itself apart from the competition.
"We begged for the opportunity," said Dave Patterson, shop manager. "We wanted the PCPC process for survival. Diecasting is a dog-eat-dog world."
In the case of Blackhawk, the firm went from producing entirely gray iron in 2001 to 84% ductile iron last year. The plant knew it needed to be focused on a growing market rather than a mature market to generate sales opportunities.
"We needed to establish a clear market strategy and change the focus from making tons to profits," said Patricio Gil, chief executive officer.
A second similarity is driven by each plant's lean initiatives. Stevensville began to focus on lean after securing Honda as a customer in 2005, which allowed it to learn the process and its benefits from a master.
"We latched onto many of the techniques and became real believers of the operational system, particularly in regard to identifying wastes," said Fred Sanders, general manager. "Waste isn't just scrap, it's overproduction or inventory, and it affects cost, quality, delivery and even associate morale."
Since January 2007, Stevensville has kept its defects per million castings shipped close to zero every month (after peaking at 6,000 in the past).
Blackhawk's first lean initiatives began in 2007 when it empowered its workers through kaizen events. The goal was to eliminate waste and increase throughput using the ideas of all its workers.
"We are a small metalcaster that believes in the empowerment of the people. If we establish a system for communication, the results will happen," Gil said.
From 2004 to 2008, Blackhawk has reduced its man hours/metric ton by more than 35%, a tribute to automation and equipment expansion as well as lean principles.
The third similarity is a common one in today's metalcasting industry--changes in ownership. Blackhawk's ownership switch occurred in 2003 when it was acquired by Grupo Quimmco. The fresh start allowed the firm to change its direction in production, marketing and management style. In reality, its current success probably would not have occurred without the ownership change.
Stevensville is in the midst of its second ownership switch. It was acquired by Intermet in 1998, and just last month, all the assets of Intermet Corp. were sold to Cerion LLC and its parent company. The original acquisition by Intermet is what opened the doors to the PCPC process and its current opportunities. Only time will tell the results of the recent acquisition.
One lesson to take away from these award winners is that you can learn something from every other metalcaster in the world, whether or not they share your metal, process or location. Maybe you can learn what not to do rather than what to do. The key is that you take advantage of the opportunity to learn by seeking out other metalcasters. Your perspective is important, but the perspective of others can be enlightening.
Alfred T. Spada, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
If you have any comments about this editorial or any other item that appears in MODERN CASTING, email me at aspada@afsinc.org.
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