Foundry Industry 4.0 Conference

Doug Kurkul & Steve Robison
American Foundry Society, Schaumburg, IL

Diran Apelian
Advanced Casting Research Center, University of California, Irvine, CA

The initial goals of Industry 4.0 typically have been automation, manufacturing process improvement, and productivity/production optimization. The more advanced goals are innovation and the transition to new business models and revenue sources using information technologies and services as cornerstones. There are several major tsunamis coming down the pike, and it is important to learn how to surf these tsunamis, and more importantly, leverage these changes to ensure value creation for end-users of the metal casting industry – our customers. The issue of workforce and the impact of these changes on the worker also will be reviewed and discussed.

The Digital Manufacturing Plant

Hicham Wazni
Howmet Aerospace, Cleveland, OH

Smart Manufacturing, or Industry 4.0, is not a plug-and-play approach. While the technology is available in different forms and platforms, the approach and the people element are the key enablers for a successful implementation and a sustainable culture of Industry 4.0.  This session focuses on the methodology to get started, the approach to accelerate it, and the social system to turn the implementation into a Smart Culture of Industry 4.0.

Michelle Pastel
Corning Inc., Corning, NY/ Smart Manufacturing Consortium Strategic Advisory Board Chair

Lance Fountaine
Cargill, Wayzata, MN/ Smart Manufacturing Leadership Consortium Strategic Advisory Board Vice Chair

Smart Manufacturing provides real-time insights and decision making through the integration of advanced sensing, process controls, modeling, analytics, data science, and computing platforms to speed up development, improve product and process performance, and lower cost within a plant, plant to plant, and across the supply chain. To fully unleash the power of digitally transformed manufacturing operations it requires businesses to think differently and work across organizational boundaries in ways never done to achieve new performance improvements and expand the definition of manufacturing eco-system management. This talk will provide insights on manufacturing strategy, and organizational approaches to assist you in charting a course to achieve the next level of business performance and new value streams for your company. It will also outline necessary change management for success including changes in cultures, perspective setting, cross-department collaboration, business practices, and relationships.

Adam Kopper
Mercury Marine, Fond Du Lac, WI

David Wang
Beet Analytics Technology, Plymouth MI

Jim Wenson
Sinto America, Grand Ledge, MI

Indsutry 4.0 is bringing and promising a lot of great advances. However, it can be hard to gain full adoption when your already spread thin teams don’t find an immediate benefit that can reduce their workload. By extending your expertise with strategic partnerships and embracing the cloud, you can get quick wins and change your digital culture.

Joe Campbell
Universal Robots USA, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI

Craig Zoberis
Fusion OEM, Burr Ridge IL

The Customer Perspective

David Furrer
Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, CT

Industry is continuing to progress down the path of Industry 4.0. This journey includes the new world of digital product and process definitions, computational modeling and simulation and automation. This technology evolution is bringing forth new opportunities, including enhancement in communication of requirements, enabling of computational process predictions, establishment of model-informed process controls and product testing, and automated data capture and analytics for continuous learning and improvement. Challenges still exist relative to data standards and across supply-chain data communication. A review of several current industry efforts to capture the benefits and overcome the challenges will be presented.

Heather Woodworth
Sikorsky, A Lockheed Martin Company, Stratford, CT

Lockheed Martin uses castings of varying sizes and complexities in critical applications with high quality parts required to meet mission requirements. This presentation will discuss their vision for the future and current work with foundries to utilize newer technologies to ensure that advancements in technology and processes are supported throughout the design and manufacturing lifecycle of the parts.

David Vasko
Rockwell Automation, Milwaukee, WI

Environmental Health and Safety

Cayla Zielinski
Camau, Southfield, MI

Operators in the manufacturing industry are increasingly incurring workplace-related musculoskeletal disorders due to repetitive manual tasks and awkward postures. Companies are looking to new innovative technologies such as exoskeletons to help reduce the risk of injuries and retain talent for years to come.

Melissa Glossup
KOSTechnology, Long Beach, CA

This presentation will discuss the innovative use of wearable biometric technologies in manufacturing to create smarter, safer industries and improve organizational operation and employee experience.

Mike Bartels
Tobii Pro, Reston, VA

The case study presented demonstrates how eye tracking technology can provide employers with valuable insight into the effectiveness of their workforce and serve as a powerful training tool.

Joe Marquardt
Rhino Tool House, New Berlin, WI

This presentation will focus on the Ironhand by Bioservo, a grip assist wearable glove that mechanically increases grip force for the end user. This technology is meant for applications that require gripping products or tools for extended periods of time throughout the day. With the Ironhand, much of that grip force required to hold the product or tooling is eliminated by mechanical means through the glove.

Case Studies in Process Control and Efficiency

Federico Sciammarella
MxD, Chicago IL

This presentation will highlight work MxD has done with its members to advance metal casting technologies such as looking at dimensional piece to piece variability (IAMFix), reducing waste in manufacturing large die-cast parts. It will also highlight digital technologies such as digital twins and the role MxD is now playing in cyber security awareness as the National Center for Cyber security in Manufacturing.

John Letts
Laempe Reich, Trussville, AL

The challenge of increasing machine performance and enhancing Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) of foundry equipment is often confronted with attracting, training, and retaining quality personnel. This presentation demonstrates the use of augmented reality (AR) to remotely support foundry personnel as they learn, inspect, troubleshoot and repair their coremaking equipment. The LAEMPE technician not only sees what the foundry sees, real-time, but can also place documents and instructions directly in view to accelerate and enhance the repair and training. With remote guidance from factory technicians, foundry personnel achieve repair, improved up-time, and training without travel costs and delays associated with traditional on-site support.

Ziad Salameh
ZS LLC, Milwaukee, WI

This presentation will present case studies demonstrating how the use of 3D laser scanning and BIM was an essential component of the planning and installation of equipment in complex industrial facilities.

Eric Baker
Harmony Castings, Harmony, PA

Brian Began
ASM International, Brecksville, OH

Speakers will discuss the use of adaptive degassing and other treatments to fully automate the melt treatment and degassing process at an aluminum foundry. This presentations documents some expected benefits achieved during the first year after implementation, including eliminating some production wastes and significantly improving mechanical properties. Higher productivity and lower metallurgical scrap were accomplished.

Jiten Shah
Product Development & Analysis, Naperville IL

Capturing the historical key process parameters, the methodology and preliminary results using AI technique to quantify uncertainty will be presented for better process control and scrap reduction.

Guilherme Viana
ABP, Union Grove, WI

Kohler Company, in partnership with ABP Induction, brings digitalization capabilities to its cast iron foundry located in Kohler, WI.

Jonathan Tomek
MadX LLC, Vienna, VA

The Industrial Internet of Things is a complicated part of our everyday life. How often do we think of the “actual” risks associated with it? What is the intent behind accessing these systems? Ransomware, supply chain, and general personal cybersecurity hygiene are among the many things to consider. Let us look at how malicious adversaries view networks, vulnerabilities, and your organization. We will go over a few examples of cybercrime and espionage, how they could affect your organization, and the best practices to remediate the issues.

Jonathan Tomek
MadX LLC, Vienna, VA

How safe is your manufacturing data and network? How about your engineering drawings and customer files?  Bring your questions to Jonathan Tomek and come prepared for a lively interactive session to help us better understand how to manage the risk as we move toward more digitally integrated manufacturing.

Case Studies in Process Control and Efficiency

Wil Tinker
Tinker Omega Sinto LLC, Springfield OH

Foundries can begin using Industry 4.0 in small steps that involve reduced down-time and cost spreading, and there are benefits in embracing the technologies one area at a time. This presentation will discuss the use of data collection and connectivity in the core making process for greater efficiency, higher quality and cost reduction.

Yohan Tremblay
Foundry Solutions and Metallurgical Services, Magog, QC, Canada

Small and mid-size foundries have unprecedented opportunities to improve their quality and productivity with the help of data-driven decision-making. This presentation explores how one foundry used smart technology to connect existing and new analysis and production equipment, such as tilt-pour machines and the laboratory, to collect important data to share with operators.

Dave Weiss
Eck Industries, Manitowoc, WI

Long duration space travel and habitation will require manufacturing tools to repair and build structure. Whether that is repair of radiation or impact-damaged flight hardware or the building of equipment needed to support habitation, a foundry is likely to be involved. The metalcasting foundry on a starship or in a remote habitat will be considerably different than either the perception or the reality of a foundry today. There has been much development in the last dozen years that give us a glimpse how that foundry may look and function. This paper discusses the integration of 6,000-year-old casting technology with the construction, maintenance and habitation of the most advanced structures we can imagine. The special manufacturing needs of advanced materials and what those foundries will likely manufacture are also considered. Lightweight, high-strength and radiation-resistant materials manufactured without environmental impact will be the product of these foundries, building on the technical advancements of the next 99 years.

Dennis Janitza
Norican Digital, LaGrange, GA

Digitally transforming casting quality doesn’t have to be complicated or slow. You can start small by applying Industry 4.0 tools to centralize all your foundry data, and then accelerate your digital journey with artificial intelligence (AI) to consistently cut scrap. Proven applications at various foundries show at least a 40% scrap reduction (and in some cases even a complete elimination of scrap), as AI-driven recommendations identify process optimization across the entire casting process. 

Andy Moore
CADDIS Systems, Bettendorf, IA

This presentation will review factors for successful data management across several manufacturing platforms and provide a case study of how one foundry has used a data management system to its benefit. Using current production data, a core machine can "learn" to set the right process conditions. These new intelligent solutions can create a digital transformation of core-making processes.