Sungwoo Automotive Case Story - DISA 240 C
The DISA 240-C New Generation vertical greensand moulding machine has demonstrated how innovation can provide the decisive competitive edge that foundries making automotive components in Far East Asia are looking for.
Sungwoo Automotive Co. Ltd is an automobile parts manufacturer based in Korea. The Castings Division is based in Pohang in the eastern part of the country. The Pohang Foundry Plant has a floor space of more than 58,000 square metres including machining shop for flywheel, brake discs, brake drums and other castings. The plan employs 360 people and has an annual output of 90,000 tons of automotive castings.
In April 2004 Sungwoo Automotive decided to purchase an automatic DISA 240-C with a mould size of 600 x 850 mm, part of the DISA New Generation family. The new machine was to supplement three existing horizontal moulding lines. Installed in May 2005 the DISA 240-C has since more than fulfilled the expectations of the Pohang foundry.
Quality and performance at low cost
“We took the decision to choose the DISA 240-C for the production of brake discs as a result of DISA’s impressive track record at other major foundries around the world,” says Mr Sung-Yong Hong, Project General Manager at Sungwoo Automotive. “Brake discs are a safety-critical component and our main requirements were dimensional accuracy, the right microstructure and metallurgy for matrix, strength and hardness properties and high output.”
“Another major reason for choosing the DISA 240-C was its promise of high output and low operating costs, Mr Sung-Yong Hong explains. “Our customers expect full delivery of high-quality castings at the lowest possible price. This means that uptime, maintenance costs and finishing are critical parameters for our business.”
The Pohang foundry is accustomed to effective castings production with an average uptime for the entire plant of 98 per cent. The DISA 240-C still managed to impress, however, with an average uptime of 99.5 per cent since installation. “The machine dependent mismatch of the DISA 240-C of under 0.15 mm has significantly reduced our finishing costs compared to our other moulding processes,” Mr Sung-Yong Hong continues. “We have also been able to reduce our scrap rate to as little as 2 per cent compared to our foundry average of 3.5 per cent, and our ambition is to reduce this even further to 1.5 per cent.”
Minimum maintenance
Precision and actual mould speed with an output of 330 moulds per hour and a high yield percentage has made the DISA 240-C a highly successful addition to the Pohang foundry plant.
As the high uptime figure suggests, service and maintenance requirements have been minimal. “When we were examining our options, we were impressed by the advances of DISA’s New Generation technology over traditional vertical moulding processes,” says Mr Tae Geun Kim, General Manager of the maintenance department. “The new design with far fewer moving parts and in-chamber spray means significantly less wear and tear, thus dramatically reducing maintenance requirements with respect to wear parts.”
Customised training
As the DISA 240-C was purchased primarily for the production of safety-critical brake discs, Sungwoo Automotive decided to ensure efficient, high-quality production from the very beginning by supplementing the purchase with six weeks of specially designed brake disc applications training for four operators. Two weeks of the course took place at DISA headquarters in Denmark, while the remaining four weeks were held on-site at the Pohang foundry under the expert guidance of DISA specialists.
Attentive customer service is essential
Another aspect that is essential in order to ensure many years of successful operation is access to qualified customer service and the availability of spare parts.
“This was another reason for choosing DISA as our moulding line partner,” Mr Sung-Yong Hong recalls. “One of the hallmarks of DISA in the international foundry community is their commitment to customer service. The knowledge that we can get in touch with a DISA expert at any time in order to obtain guidance if a problem arises is invaluable. Spare parts inventory planning is also essential in order to ensure that we have the necessary wear parts available when the time comes to replace them. And should a serious problem suddenly arise requiring the rapid delivery of a critical part, we also know that DISA will make sure that the part we need is shipped out immediately by airmail from their nearest stock.”
Competitive edge in a competitive market
South Korea is well known throughout the world for its quality cars at highly competitive prices and part of this success is due to highly effective suppliers. The DISA 240-C has demonstrated beyond any doubt at the Pohang foundry that DISA’s New Generation vertical moulding technology can provide the kind of competitive edge that is essential in building and sustaining a profitable supplier relationship with the Far East Asian automotive industry.