AFW's automation alteration: for this largely manual green sand shop, installing a faster automatic molding system required automating the rest of the plant.

Brian Gerstmeier, operations manager of AFW Foundry Inc. in Lannon, Wis., was not yet 30 when he started thinking about conducting a major overhaul of the facility's only automatic molding line. The family-run, 95-employee shop, which had been in business since 1953, was doing well with its five squeezer lines, 15year-old automatic, flask-less molding machine and nobake molding room. Through AFW President Robert Gerstmeier's leadership, its customer base was diverse and steady enough to provide it a firm foundation in today's casting market.

But son Brian was staring at 35 years in the metalcasting industry ahead of him; thinking short-term might leave him stranded in the long haul. With an eye toward cementing the shop's future, Gerstmeier began to plan.

"The trigger for the big change occurred two and a half years ago," Gerstmeier said. "We asked, how are we going to separate ourselves from everyone else?"

Gerstmeier felt the answer lied in upgrading its current automatic molding line to improve productivity and quality while reducing scrap. But it wasn't going to be as simple as swapping out the molding machines.

"With our current automatic molding line, we were making 60 molds per hour, but that was a result of the whole system," he said. "It doesn't pay to make 200 molds an hour if you can only pour 80, so we had to look at the whole operation."

The plan to add a new DISA Match 130, and the speed and quality that came with it, meant AFW Foundry had to upgrade the rest of its line to make the most of the investment. Through a $3 million modernization project that included building a new warehouse, automating the sand system, adding . a new melter, dosing furnaces and automatic pouring, incorporating new mold-handling equipment and installing a conveyor system for shakeout, the Gerstmeiers brought their shop to a higher level of metalcasting.

Addressing Every Need

AFW Foundry was started as a three-man shop in 1953 by Robert Gerstmeier's father, Albert. Through the years, Albert, and eventually, Robert, led the company through several expansions, building it into the 95-employee aluminum and copper-base sand casting shop it is today. The lessons taught by the father and son were not lost on Brian.

"Every day I am here, I always try to think a little about the past and remember what it was like for my grandfather and then my dad to make things work when we were small," Brian said. "It helps keep us on track because we can look at the changes that are being made, knowing that they fit in with the values and work ethic that has always been prevalent at AFW."

Today, the firm produces parts ranging from less than an ounce to 500 lbs. in two shifts at its 51,000 sq.-ft, facility. Recently, it closed on an adjacent 8-acre parcel of land for future expansion. The firm's biggest customer amounts to less than 10% of its sales, with a few other customers accounting for 5%. The majority of the commercial caster's customers weigh in for less. The firm's mission is to be the answer to its customers' every question.

"I can't think of a single customer that doesn't have a mix of needs," Robert Ger stmeier said. "We envision servicing a wider range of customers with a wider range of quantity."

To meet those needs, AFW is currently working toward expanding its nobake line because of a growing customer interest for that type of service. The new automatic molding line will speed up production to bring in more high volume work, and the squeezer lines will stay to help the customers who need a method that is cost effective.

"Squeezer molds are older technology, but it still serves a need," Brian Gerstmeier said. "More and more metalcasters are taking out the squeezer molds and adding the automatic molding lines. But where will that leave our customers? There are customers who still need that flexibility of a squeezer line."

AFW also subcontracts with other companies to offer complete components to its customer.

Entering the 21st Century

Gerstmeier was eager to see his vision for the casting firm start, but he still spent considerable time researching equipment and formulating a solid financial plan for the installation.

"We wanted to make sure we had the capital and could afford the new system before we went ahead," he said. He spent nearly three years researching and number crunching, visiting with equipment suppliers and attending equipment shows. When AFW was ready to pull the trigger, he was confident the money was being well spent.

"We understood our financing," he said. "We did the research to justify the investment."

The casting facility's first step toward meeting the requirements for a faster line was to automate its sand system. AFW replaced its Didion LC20 with the bigger Didion LC 40 in order to recycle the increased amount of sand that would result from higher productivity.

In 2003, AFW added a 16,000-sq.-ft. warehouse to handle the extra material, core storage, metal storage and supplies that would come with the increased capacity. "This is where forethought came in," Gerstmeier said. "It is one of those things that we had to accomplish first before going forward."

The rest of the new molding line was installed in January. Along with the automatic molding equipment, which was designed for facilities with short and varied production runs, AFW replaced its turntable mold handling system with a conveyor line from Summit Foundry Systems. The new conveyor system provides 20 minutes of cooling time at 140 molds per hour. The turntable held only 24 molds at a time, compared to 50 molds with the new line.

AFW also .added a Stotek tower melter--the first of its kind in the U.S. The melter, which melts 2,000 lbs. of metal per hour, preheats the metal charge before it is added to the melting chamber, so less energy is required to melt it to a full liquid. The furnace, which replaced two crucible furnaces, allows the plant to degas its metal 24 hours a day and knows when to feed itself more charge material.

The automation of the molding line continued through to pouring with the installation of two dosing furnaces. The automated pouring is integrated with the mold handler, so if a mold is bad, it will be skipped.

In order to best monitor the temperature and status of all the furnaces at the same time, AFW hung large indicator signs near the pour unit and tower furnace, so that the operations manager would be able to check on all the furnaces from the same spot on the floor.

Lastly, a Conveyor Dynamics system was added to shakeout the castings as the molds are transported from the molding line to what will eventually become a grinding cell. Right now, the castings are picked up from the end of the conveyor and transported to the cleaning area, but in order to save a step and improve work flow, Gerstmeier has plans to include a grinding cell at the end to take off the gates and risers.

Prior to the new line, operations supporting the automatic molding machine were largely manual. Molds were hand-poured. Castings were physically lifted from shakeout and transported to grinding operations. Automation halved the staff needed in those departments.

No Retirement Plans Yet

During the installation, AFW was forced to shut down its only automatic molding line for a full month. Operations continued on the squeezers and the newly-expanded nobake line, but production was going to take a hit. To lessen the effect of the lost time, the firm ramped up production beforehand, running as many orders as they could before tearing down the old system.

The metalcasting firm had taken every precaution to ensure a smooth transition, but the weight of the installation still hung heavy during the winter weeks. "We tore out our only auto mated machine, so this had to work," Robert Gerstmeier said. "There was no Plan B."

In the end, AFW's complete overhaul of its automatic molding line doubled the capacity on that line using the same footprint and reduced scrap levels to a quarter of what they used to be.

"Now we are definitely committed to doing higher volume work," Gerstmeier said. "We've increased our ability to deliver more castings with out lengthening lead times. We've also been able to put more work and different kinds of work on the line."

The Gerstmeiers continue their planning for future improvements. Flow of materials and labor are main concerns. More efficient melt equipment for the airset and squeezer lines and cleaning work cells also are being addressed.

"A lot of foundrymen now are my dad's age and are at the point where they are planning exit strategies. Not much thought is spent toward the future," Brian Gerstmeier said. "I'm young, and I have a long way to go in this industry, so there's a definite plan to give this metalcasting facility a great future."

When Gerstmeier began the path established by his father and grandfather, working full time at AFW, he and Robert Gerstmeier would discuss metalcasting business at the end of the day. After every discussion, Robert would ask Brian, "Did you make a difference today?"

"In all of the excitement of expansions, new equipment and new programs," Brian said, "it is very important to never forget where you came from, never forget who got you there and never settle for where you are."

RELATED ARTICLE: Adding more nobake.

installing a new automatic molding line wasn't the only transition AFW Foundry Inc., Lannon, Wis., undertook recently. The casting facility also added a new line for nobake molds to replace an existing line with a smaller mixer and less space. The new line is housed in the 16,000-sq.-ft. addition built in 2003. The larger sand mixer can deliver 300 lbs./minute compared to 100 lbs./minute. The line wastes less sand and works faster.

Although not in AFW's original plans, growing customer need pushed the firm toward expanding its nobake molding capabilities. Five years ago, the plant was producing roughly 11 castings per week. Now it is making 50-60 a day.

"We kept getting opportunities from our customers to produce more nobake mold work," said Brian Gerstmeier, operations manager. "We had to make the decision to not do it anymore or set up a better center. Now, we can meet our customers' short-run and long-run needs."

AFW Foundry Inc. Lannon, Wisconsin 

Year Founded: 1953.

Metals Cast: Aluminum, copper, magnesium and zinc alloys.

Casting Processes: Horizontally parted green sand and airset/nobake

Markets Served: Pump, valve, construction, marine and lighting.

Casting Range: 0-500 lbs.

Employees: 95.

Shannon Kruse, Associate Editor