Driving down component turnaround time whereas enhancing quality and reducing waste is being achieved at Weir Minerals Africa’s thrilling new Replicast Plant in Isando, Gauteng.
Umar Smith, plant supervisor at Weir Minerals Africa’s Isando facility, highlights that the progressive improvement allows the corporate to provide more parts at a time – and more quickly. This will help in assembly growing buyer demand, whereas additionally lowering rework and wastage.
“As a half of our Project Vuka, this new plant permits us to forged a number of small parts per batch somewhat than just one by one,” says Smith. “We can even reduce our knock-out instances from days to only a few hours.”
The state-of-the-art amenities allow Weir Minerals Africa to cast excessive chrome components weighing up to 250 kg. There are two phases to the model new course of, he explains, which makes use of polystyrene to create moulds. The first phase is the polystyrene moulding process, which occurs after the polystyrene beads have been expanded. The second section is the place the ramming, pouring and demoulding takes place.
In distinction to the standard moulding line – where resin and catalyst are used to bind sand – the Replicast Plant uses silica sand of 30-35 AFS grade along with the polystyrene mould, he says. เกจวัดแรงดัน includes a vacuum bin, from which all the air is eliminated to compress the sand.
“The absence of resin and catalyst – as properly as having no clamping course of – leads to much less scrap being produced, and therefore brings operational savings,” he says. “The quality of castings is also raised, with a better floor finish and fewer defects.”
He notes that the geometrical stability of parts is improved, as there’s less fettling of the finished product thereby reducing dimensional variation between the identical components. This in turn contributes to the reliability of the tools using these elements. He says the foundry will also realise important environmental benefits on account of using no chemical substances within the sand.
“This new plant aligns well with our company sustainability objectives, ensuring that our processes aren’t solely compliant however constantly reduce our environmental impact,” says Smith. “Our new moulding techniques ensure that fewer gases are emitted through the casting course of, and there are zero emissions of harmful substances similar to benzene.”
The new know-how is also resulting in much less frequent disposal of silica sand, and the sand itself is extra environmentally pleasant because it accommodates no resin or acid.
“A exceptional side of developing this new plant was the reality that it was carried out with our native abilities and largely in the course of the COVID-19 lockdowns,” he says. “Despite the novelty of this know-how, and the logistical challenges created by the pandemic, it was efficiently implemented on time and within finances.”
The plant contains greater than 16,000 individual elements, and uses over 1,900 m of cabling, 300 m of water piping and 55 tons of metal.
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