"New Bodine" comes of age.

Since Toyota offered a fork in the road five years ago, Bodine built a high-tech foundry and created new markets and opportunities - while maintaining separate jobbing and captive foundries.

There was quite a surprise five and a half years ago when word got out that a Japanese automotive powerhouse was buying a 78-year-old, family owned U.S. jobbing foundry.

Determined to begin relinquishing its dependence on imported castings for its Camry (assembled in Georgetown, Kentucky), Toyota searched for an American company to cast low pressure permanent mold (LPPM) aluminum cylinder heads. Unable to find a foundry that could meet its technological requirements, Toyota set out to buy an existing plant and build on its strengths to infuse the technology to the U.S.

The Japanese automaker purchased Bodine Aluminum, a medium-sized green sand and permanent mold foundry in St. Louis in January 1990. The foundry had been in the Bodine family since it opened as a pattern shop in 1912.

While Bodine brought a solid management and technical staff coupled with its reputation and good plant condition to the table, Toyota brought opportunity.

Looking back, this relationship's offspring is as evident in the new Bodine Troy Div. - a state-of-the-art LPPM and gravity permanent mold (GPM) facility in nearby Troy, Missouri, - as at the original foundry in St. Louis.

LPPM Technology

Widely used to produce aluminum wheels, LPPM technology (see related sidebar) for cylinder heads is relatively new to the U.S. Most U.S. cylinder heads are produced by the GPM method.

At Toyota Motor Corp. (TMC), however, LPPM is the more common method of producing heads. Toyota's captive foundries in Japan have decades of experience using a semipermanent mold version of the process (using shell cores) for heads and other parts. The automaker believes it is the best method of meeting production requirements for cylinder heads, including the ability to cast complex forms with excellent quality.

"LPPM is a very good way to produce high-quality castings with excellent yield," said Tom Hurley, Bodine executive vice president and Troy plant manager. "A lot of work is required in casting design, mold design and the process to maximize output, but once you make the initial investment, the ongoing costs and minimal variability make it very worthwhile.

"The principal benefit is yield and quality," he said, noting that the cylinder head is fed only by a very small gate. "It produces higher quality parts and lends itself well to consistent process improvement."

Troy Plant

Shortly after the purchase of Bodine, plans were drown for a $15 million, 120,000 sq ft casting facility to produce the LPPM head castings and GPM intake manifolds - both in A319 - that Toyota had been importing. After looking at several sites, Bodine officials selected Troy - a rural community 40 miles northwest of St. Louis - due to its good local work ethic and reasonable property costs.

The new Troy plant was designed to mirror TMC foundries - and features the same equipment, processes and plant layout.

"TMC officials really fine-tuned the process," Hurley said. "With each generation of machines, they modified the machinery to overcome certain problems. The process and the machines were developed in a side-by-side evolution."

Housing more than $45 million in capital equipment, the foundry was completed in July 1992. A spacious, clean and well-lit facility, it is designed for a straight-line, directional flow. At one end of the plant are two gas melting furnaces and three gas holding furnaces. About 10 yd away are the cylinder head and intake manifold production lines. A total of 13 shell core machines are arranged in cells on the two lines - a short distance from the casting machines - reducing time and material handling of cores.

Six LPPM machines make up the cylinder head line, while six GPM machines are located on the opposite side for manifold production. As the castings are produced, they flow into separate transfer finishing areas to remove flash and fins, and then on to separate continuous heat treat furnaces. Inspection areas are located directly behind heat treatment, followed by shipping.

The machining department, which features 16 machine cells for finish machining of intake manifolds and the engine brackets produced in St. Louis, is located in another area of the plant, but is also arranged for a straight-line flow system.

Different Operations

While the three-year-old Troy plant is completely captive to Toyota, Bodine St. Louis, a 230-employee green sand and GPM foundry, has remained in the same job shop format the company was built upon.

Of 200 customers, Caterpillar is Bodine St. Louis' largest, and the foundry produces a variety of highly engineered aluminum castings up to 200 lb, including parts for gas nozzles, diesel engines, electric power generators, and medical and heavy equipment. It ships more than 150,000 lb of aluminum castings weekly.

The foundry produces three types of GPM engine brackets for the Toyota V-6 Camry and Avalon (that were previously imported), which are machined at Troy and sent on to Georgetown.

"Some of our customers were concerned initially," said Robert Lloyd, Bodine president/CEO, "that we would veer from the jobbing business with our new ownership. Today, our customers are convinced not only that we're staying in the jobbing business, but looking for ways to expand it."

It was by design that Troy was located 40 miles away from St. Louis. Certain administration and management duties needed to be handled out of St. Louis, but the two foundries operate independently. "We looked for a site that was fairly distant from our St. Louis plant but still close enough to maintain good communications and management access," Hurley said. "Management and production thinking for the two operations was so different, we thought separation was important."

While a handful of management officials came from the St. Louis facility, all of Bodine's production workers were invited to volunteer to switch to Troy. The candidates were carefully screened to select those who could readily adjust to the different operating conditions. Describing the different mindsets, Hurley said, "For jobbing foundrymen, there's always a variety of jobs and type of work to do, and each day sees a different product mix. Work flow is on a batch-type basis.

"At Troy, we would face more routine schedules with a limited number of castings produced on a continuous, mass-production basis. We would employ the principles of the Toyota Production System to regulate product flow and minimize inventory."

While four employees made the move to Troy, 66 were hired through an outside agency. None had ever set foot in a foundry before.

Learning the Process

With the exception of Hurley, no one at Bodine had any experience with the LPPM process. Featuring $60 million in building and equipment, Troy would begin producing castings via a high-tech process - with virtually no prior experience with LPPM, much less any foundry experience for most of its workers.

Initially, Troy sent a crew of about 20 to TMC foundries in Japan, who were trained and instructed for months on operating the equipment and processes. Once the Troy plant was completed, Japanese officials were sent to retrain those who went to Japan and assist in training newcomers.

"LPPM is a very difficult and rather complex process," said Hurley. "There could've been potentially a high degree of difficulty because our people were inexperienced.

"We have a close and cooperative connection with the TMC foundries in Japan. As far as technology transfer or assistance in solving problems, we ask for help and they gladly give it," he said.

LPPM Start-up

Once the plant was completed in July 1992, Troy began a six-month long production trial. "We would cast, remelt, cast, remelt," Hurley said. "This exercise for training and production development was an expensive endeavor, but it's a testament to the fact that with quality, Toyota means it. Quality really is number one."

Prior to beginning actual production, some initial development was done for sources for primary materials. An example was a two-year effort by the foundry to find a supplier for a special resin-coated shell core sand to meet strict product requirements.

In addition, Troy experimented with mold temperature control, which Hurley said is one of the biggest LPPM variables, along with melt temperature control.

"We didn't keep any inventory until we had Toyota's quality approval," added Terry Henderson, Troy administrative group leader. They began shipping their first parts in January 1993 and slowly ramped up to full production in September 1993.

"I think the quality requirements expected of us are high but achievable. We're operating under a total commitment to quality," Hurley said. "They just do not give up on it."

"As we phased in production and were increasing our shipments to Georgetown," said Henderson, "TMC foundries in Japan were decreasing production. Our castings replaced those previously imported from Japan."

Recently adding a third shift that brings employment to about 100, Troy can produce 1350 cylinder heads and 1450 intake manifolds per day.

Production Styles

Personally, Hurley said that after 36 years as a jobbing foundryman, changing to a mass production system required some adjustment.

"All of our team members required training in principles of high-volume production," he said. "People from our St. Louis plant had to change from producing a variety of short- and medium-run jobs to running the same two castings day after day.

"In most cases for batch or jobbing operations, procedures and cycle times tend to be operator controlled. For our operations, the times are significantly machine-controlled. This change requires some adjustment for people changing from one plant to the other."

Corporate Involvement

TMC corporate representatives work at both plants. At Troy, engineers Sam Sato and Mike Nozawa assist in technical and management duties, while Alex Awazu and Paul Ogata work out of corporate offices in St. Louis to help in financial and management issues.

"They steer us to the principles of Japanese production," said Hurley, noting the principles are quite strict. "Traditionally, we would've operated much more loosely than what they're used to, but we've benefited from tightening up. We wouldn't have been successful with this plant if we hadn't followed Japanese production principles to the degree we have."

Bodine's corporate representation is lean compared to other Toyota-backed operations, which may have many more corporate officials onsite. In addition, Bodine is the only Toyota-backed company that has a local president, Lloyd, in top management.

When asked what the Japanese reps learned about Bodine's style, Lloyd said, "Really, I think we learn from each other. We've been very fortunate in the quality of individuals assigned to us by Toyota. While there are some natural differences in our business culture, we try to combine the old Bodine systems with the newer Toyota practices to achieve a consensus approach that is in the best interest of the company and our team members."

Working with the TMC coordinators has been beneficial, Hurley said. "They work with us on more of a coaching relationship than a demanding one. They help us to provide a self-assessment of our own problems that prompt us to take some action to avoid or countermeasure problems."

Operating Philosophy

When asked of lessons learned from the Japanese, Hurley answered: "How to be patient. Working under Japanese production principles is an extremely educational process. They are extremely quality-committed, and they plan extensively."

Henderson added: "We spend a lot of time devoted to hitting targets and meeting goals and then following up on those to make sure they're achieved."

Another aspect is Toyota's strong value and regard for our workers, Hurley said. "And not only that they're taken care of, but that we listen to them and take their ideas."

The major differences in U.S. and Japanese philosophies, he said, is that operational efforts originate at the team member level in the operation. "Traditionally in the U.S., the boss is the boss and everyone does what he says. The Japanese style is for management to see how it can assist workers do their jobs better," Hurley said.

For every decision, said Henderson, "Toyota wants to know how it is going to affect the team member."

"Truth be known," added Hurley, "the workers actually run the plant. We're here to coach them and see what we can do to help them. Interestingly, as a result, we've become surprisingly aware of the talents of our people. They are sharp and can find ways to do things that we've never dreamed of. We developed a much stronger appreciation of our work force."

Commenting on Bodine/Toyota's commitment to its work force, Lloyd recalled that when the economy soured in the early '90s, no layoffs were imposed. "We've come to the realization that upturns and downturns in the business cycle aren't the responsibility of our team members," he said, "but rather the responsibility of management."

Lloyd remembers pulling groups off of production lines for special training, process improvement projects and plant maintenance activities. "Now we treat hiring with the same criteria as a large equipment investment. If you consider the wages and benefits paid to a team member over a career of 25-30 years, that adds up to a potentially large investment.

"Visitors from other foundries have commented that both plants seem to be understaffed - and this appearance will continue," he said. "But we will keep numbers as low as possible to assure continual employment to our team members."

Changes in St. Louis

While Troy, in operations and philosophy, has the same feel as TMC foundries, Bodine St. Louis has improved its operations through the new corporate influence. Despite St. Louis' mission as strictly jobbing, Lloyd said Toyota is very interested in its success.

While there haven't been any widespread changes at the St. Louis plant, Lloyd said the plant has followed suggestions that resulted in improved delivery times, reduced setup times, quality control circle activities, suggestion systems and more concerted - and stretched - goal setting for scrap and productivity.

"We do more planning, especially regarding longer term business plans, and as part of a larger company, more reporting is required," he said. "But all of this has helped to mature and improve our company."

Today, the St. Louis plant is visibly different. Noticeably smaller batch quantities are used to better balance work flow and reduce in-process inventory. "Now we must fix problems as early as possible to keep equipment operating with a good preventive maintenance program," Lloyd said.

"We've also discovered that if you measure status versus targets and involve team members, progress and improvements will come naturally."

Japanese philosophies of kanban (simultaneous delivery) and andon are also visible. The plant practices andon through a series of stoplight-looking devices (green - OK; yellow - some attention needed; red - line shut down) at each work station to alert everyone else in the plant that there's a problem. Through this system, workers can stop production.

For instance, said Lloyd, if a molder is running out of cores or chills, he can alert others through a yellow light that he needs materials. "If equipment goes down, he can hit the red light, which will alert maintenance and other members of the support team that production has stopped," he said. "Our team members like the new system because they get immediate attention when they have a problem."

Future Direction

While Bodine St. Louis will continue to upgrade equipment and go after the same jobbing markets it always has, Lloyd said the Troy plant will be looking for ways to expand its business in the high-volume casting markets.

Hurley said Troy is focusing on further applying Toyota Production System principles that will help improve quality and reduce cost. "With this accomplished," he said, "we can then prepare ourselves to become a supplier of aluminum castings to the automotive industry."

When asked to look back on the past five years, Hurley said, "This was a situation that created better opportunities for our workers, while Toyota could absorb the benefits of an experienced foundry with its existing employees.

"Our people who've been here a long time see opportunities they never would've realized had Toyota not bought us. Troy's workers saw opportunity for new technology and business, while St. Louis sees the strength and stable backing for the future.

"We're a much better, stronger company as a result of it."

RELATED ARTICLE: The Low Pressure Permanent Mold Process

In the LPPM process, the mold sits atop the furnace chamber. As described in Aluminum Casting Technology, a refractory-lined stalk is mated or joined to the nozzle at the bottom of the mold and extends into the molten aluminum in the furnace. With the mold closed, low-pressure air (usually between 2-15 psi) is admitted into the furnace. The air pressure forces the surface of the melt downward and causes molten metal to rise up the stalk and enter the mold cavity.

The casting is fed by pressure on the metal in the sprue opening. This eliminates the need for risers because the mold cavity is filled and fed from the bottom, simplifying gating and increasing yield. After the casting solidifies, pressure is released and the still-molten metal in the stalk runs back into the furnace. The mold is opened and the casting is extracted.

Troy believes they get a higher yield and quality at a low cost. Because bottom pouring allows the controlled rate of aluminum into the mold, they've found there is less chance of foreign materials being introduced during casting and diluting the quality; complex forms can be more easily cast; and a higher overall yield can be obtained due to less "feed metal."

LPPM yield can be as high as 80-85%, compared to 50% for GPM.