Unicast Company, founded in 1894 and located in Boyertown, PA, is a gray iron foundry that was looking to improve its casting operations. After research, its President & CEO, Louis Monaco Jr., recently purchased and installed a new Roberts Sinto FBO-II Flaskless Molding Machine and handling system. According to Monaco, “I’ve built several foundries and I’m always looking for ways to improve operations. When I came across the FBO-II Flaskless Molding Machine, I was looking for a way to improve our operation here at Unicast. I received a video in the mail that featured Roberts Sinto’s FBO-II. The film included testimonials from Jim Grafton at Blackhawk Foundry and other foundries. I get a lot of information about new equipment and nine times out of ten they exaggerate what the equipment can actually do. This video showed the actual working operation of the FBO and included statements from owners and managers. I decided that if what they said was true, I was going to check this equipment out for our plant. I proceeded to talk to anyone that was quoted in the FBO video. Every person I talked with agreed with what was stated in the video. I then contacted Roberts Sinto Corporation in Lansing, MI and checked out their experience in flaskless molding and foundry equipment. My management staff went to a number of foundries that had installed the FBO. They talked to foundry owners and FBO operators and looked over the casting results they were getting the with FBO-II. What was important to me was the machine itself. How it ran, what kind of castings it was making and what the operators said. We were very impressed. All of our research reaffirmed my first impression.”
Economic Justification Study
Monaco continued, “Here at Unicast we do a very sophisticated ‘Economic Justification Study’ before we make a decision to buy and install a new piece of equipment. We used the same system analysis with the FBO-II flaskless molding machine. The machine was to be used for our current production so it had to be very cost effective and highly productive. The research on the machine passed our analysis and if it operated as forecast, it would be a very productive tool for our foundry. So far, after months, we are right on target with our “Economic Justification’. I have no complaints. The FBO-II is everything that Robert Sinto represented it to be. On the whole, I’d have to say, of all the pieces of equipment that I have ever bought in this business, and I’ve bought a lot of equipment, it’s the best. In addition to the research analysis, we also do a very careful post-production audit. The FBO has met or exceeded our expectations in all cases. For example, we expected to hit a certain number at the end of the third month of operation and we exceeded that umber in the fifth week of operation!”
Unicast Casting Customers
“We have over 200 active customers, none of which represents more that 6% or our total sales. No one industry represents more that 10% of our total sales. We’ll make one casting that weighs one ounce or 100,000 casting that weigh one ounce. We can also make on casting that weigh 300 pounds or 100,000 castings that weigh 300 pounds. Are we targeting specific markets or industries? The answer is no. We go after smaller niche markets. Our delivery hit rate is 99.71%. We price competitively and if we tell you it’s going to be delivered on Tuesday at noon, it almost certainly will be. If we have any complaints from customers, it’s that we’re too early! We employ over 80 people and we are very proud of the quality of our castings and our service.
Major Industries Unicast Serves
“At Unicast we make highly engineered parts for valve bodies and pump casings, as well as parts for brake assemblies. We produce well fittings for drilling wells. We also make a register grate that’s used in floor registers for forced, hot air systems and the fine detail needed for that part is quite unique. Our daily production includes both ‘cosmetic’ castings and highly engineered castings. We cover a broad spectrum of just about anything out there that’s made of gray iron.
On-Time Installation
“The FBO-II and mold handling system was one of the cleanest installations that I’ve been a part of. A lot of that was due to good planning between Roberts Sinto and Unicast. We had a Roberts Sinto project manager who visited the site and spent quite a bit of time making sure that the FBO-II and handling system would fit our application.”
Custom Design For M/H System
Ed Chando, Assistant to the President, said, “We have a unique mold handling line that goes from 15” high in the pouring area, up to 39 ½” for cooling, so Roberts Sinto had to design and build two end transfers to accomplish that. The Roberts Sinto service technicians and the field superintendent were very meticulous in making sure the machine and the mold handling system were exactly where we wanted them. We installed the molding machine, including a green sand feed system to handle the FBO-II, on time. The Roberts Sinto service technician was an extremely important part of our installation and start-up. He not only provided valuable technical assistance while he was here, but he kept checking back with us to make sure everything was running smoothly.
Start-Up & Training
“Start-up was very smooth. The Roberts Sinto technician did an excellent job of training the people involved both from an operation and maintenance standpoint. He spent the time making sure the operators thoroughly understood the machine functions. Our first operator was trained in a matter of hours. We went through a three-hour class in a classroom where the technician went through each step of the machine and what it takes to make a mold. He then, physically, had the operators make a mold in manual, each step of the way. This was very helpful because it gave the operator a true understanding of the sequencing of steps necessary to accomplish making a mold from start to finish. We had our maintenance man on the FBO and gave him a day to learn the machine. Within an hour he was making molds on his own.”
Touch Screen Controls
“We have a bilingual touch screen for English & Spanish. The input/output touch screen is very user friendly. If you get stuck somewhere during a step, it will actually tell you were you’ve lost it, even though that’s very seldom the case. The operator knows that he can go to the input/output screen and see what happened. It is very simple to use even for anyone who’s not computer literate.”
Maintenance
“The screens on the machine are a good reminder to the operator in regards to lubrication, checking blow seals and other consumable items. The preventive maintenance program that came with the machine is very detailed and easy to understand. I am very pleased with the ease of maintenance on the FBO-II. Down time was less that 3 hours in the first 7 months and this was a simple problem that was covered under the warranty. The FBO-II is also remarkably quiet compared to our older equipment.”
Pattern Conversion
Chando continued, “One of the biggest selling points of the FBO versus any other machine out there, is that the pattern conversion costs are small. We were able to take existing plates and do very little to them to have them ready to run on the FBO-II. We are converting 540 jolt squeeze patterns to this machine. It takes thirty-seconds to one-minute to make a pattern change. In the first six months we turned over 324 patterns.”
Molds Per Hour & Cycle Time
“Our molds per hour is approximately 110 for non cored and 90 for cored. Cycle time is approximately 27 sec. We’re using most parts at medium cope & low drag. Total mold height is about 13 inches.”
Production
“We did an Economic Justification study using net present value-discount cash flow. We had in mind what we needed to do on a day-to-day basis to economically justify the purchase to the FBO-II. To date, we are producing a wide range of castings from between 60 to 65 lbs., and we are making multiple impression parts with up to 32 parts per plate. Although the FBO-II has met our expectations, we think that we can improve on that even further. We believe that the FBO-II has helped reduce our finishing costs. The surface finish and mold hardness is producing better, more consistent quality castings.”
Performance
Chando said, “ As to the performance of the FBO-II, let me just say that not a day goes by that the FBO-II doesn’t amaze me with it capabilities. Out of the first 324 patterns we ran, there were only 3 that gave us any difficulty. Everything I saw at the other foundries I visited, and everything I read about the machine, lived up to expectations. Mr. Monaco, our President, is always looking for ways to invest in the future of our firm. The FBO-II has turned out to be an excellent investment.”
Scrap Rate
“It’s tough to estimate scrap rate, but I would say we are at single digit, where before, we were not. Part of the selling point of this machine was lower scrap. All the Roberts Sinto customers we spoke to had this result and this has been the case here as well.”
Has The FBO-II Allowed You To Expand?
Monaco commented, “No, not as yet. We justified this machine with business in hand. The total economic justification of the FBO-II and the new mold handling system was for existing work with no additional business. When we designed and installed this machine, we actually built the foot print for a second FBO machine which will give us the ability to grow when we are ready.”
