Complex castings for the auto industry demand a combination of quality, support and competitive moulding lines. DISA has long been a preferred partner for leading Spanish foundries making safety castings for the automotive industry.
Competitive production of complex castings makes huge demands on both the foundry and its equipment. Added to that for three leading Spanish foundries are the demands of the automotive industry for consistently high quality and safety standards in critical nodular iron castings.
Major challenges
FYTASA FUNDICIONES S.A. based in Elorrio in the Bizkaia province in north-western Spain, makes about 21,000 tonnes of castings a year for cars, trucks and agricultural machinery on their two DISA moulding lines. Safety castings include calliper clips and brake forks, servo-steering components, differential housings, manifolds, crankshafts, swivels, supports, crankshaft seat covers, wheel hubs, pinions and gears.
“We face three major challenges,” says Gorka Zarrabeitia, technical director of FYTASA. “The first is to optimise our competitive performance by reducing to a minimum the number of processes in our daily operations. The second is to ensure complete quality standardisation in accordance with the demands of our customers. And the third is to always be on the look out for new technologies and options to sustain our competitive advantage.”
CEO Pedro Alonso, Infun Group, concurs, also stressing the importance of dimensional accuracy and consistency in critical components such as brake callipers and steering knuckles.
M. Salles, foundry manager at Fundería Condals S.A. who make some 30,000 tonnes of castings a year between 0,5 kg and 5 kg for customers including CONTINENTAL TEVES and R.BOSCH
on their DISA lines, sums up the challenge as a combination of foundry technology and good management in order to ensure process consistency and stability.
Competitive performance
All three foundries agree that DISA vertical moulding technology stands out as the best option for nodular iron safety castings. Not surprisingly, everyone also agrees that one of the major economic contributions of their DISA vertical moulding lines is production speed. Reliability and uptime, labour savings, mould stability and low scrap percentages in complex safety castings are the other main reasons why the DISA vertical moulding lines deliver superior competitive performance.
“In addition to casting quality, productivity was a major factor in our decision to use DISA for the production of safety castings,” M. Salles states, adding that the DISA moulding line has fulfilled the expectations of Fundería Condals with regard to uptime, labour savings and low scrap rates.
A DISA customer is never alone
Even the best engineering and technology are not enough without expert knowledge and good management. All three foundries report uptime well over 90 per cent on their DISA moulding lines. While some of the credit is due to DISA design and engineering as well as DISA’s spare parts service, the critical factor is the technical expertise and production management processes at the foundries themselves.
“We have been using DISA moulding lines since 1975 and have accumulated considerable experience and knowledge of the DISA moulding environment,” says FYTASA’s Gorka Zarrabeitia. “One of the pivotal advantages of having DISA as a partner, however, is the availability of on-site assistance from experienced technicians and engineers, as well as access to evolving methods and technologies that we can leverage to our own competitive advantage.”
Not surprisingly, both Pedro Alonso and M. Salles also regard on-site support as a decisive benefit. Innovation and safety are two critical competition parameters for automakers in markets where customer preferences are in constant flux, demanding the same kind of innovation and flexibility from their safety castings suppliers. “We do sometimes call on DISA for support or on-site assistance, and they have always provided prompt and competent service, enabling us to respond quickly to customer demands,” M. Salles remarks.
Effective documentation and guidelines
“When it comes to reliability, quality design and engineering are an essential precondition,” says Pedro Alonso. “But even the best machinery needs qualified and timely maintenance. Thorough documentation and maintenance guidelines are invaluable in enabling us to manage scheduled maintenance and repairs ourselves. This is the key to ensuring effective production of high-quality, low-tolerance safety castings”
“The availability of original spare parts, even at very short notice, is also an invaluable asset when constant and consistent production is critical for us in order to meet the expectations of our customers,” M. Salles adds.
Commitment to customer satisfaction
“DISA is committed to supporting its customers throughout the lifetime of their DISA equipment. This starts by ensuring rapid start-up through efficient planning and installation, and continues with personnel training in operation, maintenance and repair of the equipment as well as support and on-site assistance by DISA technicians,” says DISA’s local representative, Sr. Cadarso, Euroequip. “In other words, our mission is to help our customers maximise their revenues and minimise their costs by ensuring high uptime, low scrap and high yield.”