Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 10

Contact: PAUL COOPER paul.cooper@mmei-inc.com Reducing Errors & Labor During a furnace charging cycle when cold scrap metal is being added to the charge well, the metal temperature in the furnace will decrease. This is a time when we want to see the pump increase in rpm to increase flow and achieve a faster melt rate. Smart technology allows this to happen and provides another major benefit in that the operator does not need to be monitoring the pump controls and can be engaged in other activities. You can see how this can significantly improve the cost of operation by both improving the melt rate and freeing up human resources to focus on higher value- added activities. Longer Lasting Equipment In the scenario where we are transferring metal out of the furnace, and the volume of molten metal in the furnace is decreasing, we can use smart technology to reduce the rpm of the circulation pump, as we have less metal to circulate and less concern about melt rate at this time. The pump’s ability to slow itself down again frees up the operator to focus on other, higher value-added activities while also better preserving the graphite consumable parts of the pump as they will last longer when run at lower rpm. Over time, these types of incremental benefits can produce major cost savings. 9 Data Delivered There are other features of this type of smart technology that can provide major benefits to the operation. Just gathering the data on temperature and metal level provides very important real time information that can be delivered to plant management wirelessly, so that a manager can act on these variables at any time, whether on-site or not. Essentially, you will have a history of the pump operation that will allow you to see everything that has happened regarding performance and operation. Real-time Notification Vibration sensing technology that is part of the smart system is another major benefit in the event something happens to the pump during operation that would impact performance. In this case, the manager can be notified immediately, which has many benefits. Obviously, it allows for maintenance to address the issue in real-time as opposed to having to wait for an operator to discover the problem which minimizes down time or compromised production that can result for an issue of this type. It also enables management to pinpoint exactly when the problem occurred so that a better root cause analysis can be done as to what caused the issue to occur. The ability we now have to use Smart Technologies to drive improvements in metal processing will be an exciting chapter in the never ending quest for continuous improvement. As these systems provide added capacity for the machines to act on data it will allow the human resources to focus more of their time and attention on driving further innovations. We certainly look forward to continuing to do our small part in leading the industry forward in developing new ways to produce higher quality products, with reduced labor and equipment costs. HOW TO