Driving down part turnaround time whereas improving quality and reducing waste is being achieved at Weir Minerals Africa’s thrilling new Replicast Plant in Isando, Gauteng.
Umar Smith, plant manager at Weir Minerals Africa’s Isando facility, highlights that the revolutionary growth allows the corporate to supply extra elements at a time – and extra rapidly. This will assist in assembly growing buyer demand, while also decreasing rework and wastage.
“As a part of our Project Vuka, this new plant allows us to forged a number of small parts per batch rather than just separately,” says Smith. “We can also cut back our knock-out occasions from days to simply a couple of hours.”
เกจ์วัดแรงดัน -of-the-art amenities enable Weir Minerals Africa to cast excessive chrome components weighing up to 250 kg. There are two phases to the brand new course of, he explains, which uses polystyrene to create moulds. The first part is the polystyrene moulding process, which occurs after the polystyrene beads have been expanded. The second part is the place the ramming, pouring and demoulding takes place.
In distinction to the traditional moulding line – the place resin and catalyst are used to bind sand – the Replicast Plant uses silica sand of 30-35 AFS grade along with the polystyrene mould, he says. The system includes a vacuum bin, from which all the air is eliminated to compress the sand.
“The absence of resin and catalyst – as properly as having no clamping course of – leads to less scrap being produced, and subsequently brings operational savings,” he says. “The quality of castings can additionally be raised, with a better surface finish and fewer defects.”
He notes that the geometrical stability of parts is improved, as there may be much less fettling of the finished product thereby reducing dimensional variation between the identical components. This in turn contributes to the reliability of the equipment using those elements. He says the foundry may even realise important environmental benefits because of using no chemical substances in the sand.
“This new plant aligns well with our company sustainability targets, ensuring that our processes are not only compliant but continuously cut back our environmental influence,” says Smith. “Our new moulding systems ensure that fewer gases are emitted during the casting process, and there are zero emissions of harmful substances such as benzene.”
เกจวัดความดันแก๊ส can additionally be leading to much less frequent disposal of silica sand, and the sand itself is extra environmentally friendly as it accommodates no resin or acid.
“A remarkable side of developing this new plant was the fact that it was done with our local skills and largely during the COVID-19 lockdowns,” he says. “Despite the novelty of this know-how, and the logistical challenges created by the pandemic, it was successfully carried out on time and within price range.”
The plant contains more than sixteen,000 individual elements, and makes use of over 1,900 m of cabling, 300 m of water piping and 55 tons of steel.
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