Contact: STEVEN HARKER steven.harker@acetarc.co.uk 15 COMMUNICATION ISSUE will need maintenance over its lifetime. Is the ladle designed for easy maintenance, and is this something that can be carried out by your own maintenace team or does it require the ladle to be sent back to the manufacturer? (Not a practical option in most cases). Acetarc supplies ladles to foundries around the world which makes it impractical for a ladle to be returned to our factory for repairs and maintenance. We needed to design our ladles with the ability to be easily maintained by a foundry without the need for special skills or tools. A big aid in the maintenance and repair of a ladle is the “bolt-on” trunnion. This makes the replacement of a ladle’s trunnions an easy maintenance task versus a major engineering operation it can turn out to be if the ladle has welded on trunnions. However, again all of this has to be underpinned by good communication between all parties involved. Therefore, communication between the manufacturer and the user, especially at the design stage is critical as soon as the requirements move away from the completely standard. And, I’m not sure I can remember the last time we made a “standard” ladle. INTEGRATION In summary, ladles should not be looked at in isolation. They are an integrated part of your operation that include the ladle, lining, molten metal, operator, and foundry operation. There are a lot of design adjustments that can be made to the basic ladle design to ensure it meets all of your long-term safety, performance, and value requirements. Communicating them early on in the design stage is the best way to ensure a high performing, cost effective and integrated foundry ladle.
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