Documents/IJMC/Winter2015/IJMC Winter2015 Editorial Taker or Maker
From the Editor
Taker or Maker At the 77th Hoyt Memorial Lecture presented by Dr. Kathy Hayrynen at the 118th AFS Metalcasting Congress in Schaumburg, IL (published in Vol.8, Issue 3 of the Summer 2014 International Journal of Metalcasting), the audience was challenged if they were merely order takers or order makers. Hayrynen said that the order takers see the world as a commodity market and
“Many casting buyers, faced with short lead times and ever increase demands on quality, reliability and performance, often will defer to making that part as a fabrication and weldment.”
• technologies that assist creating samples quickly will help maximize the evaluation time and decisions made during this critical phase. Many casting buyers, faced with short lead times and ever increasing demands on quality, reliability and performance, often will defer to making that part as a fabrication and weldment. This decision also is influenced by the buyers lack of understanding of the benefits of metal castings. The struggle is that this decision often will cost more money and reduce design flexibility. “In many applications, the answer to cost reduction can be the transition of a weldment to a casting,” said Draper. “However, components are typically designed for fabrication regardless of cost saving advantages due to the lack of designer knowledge in casting principles. In addition, historical experience with casting quality issues results in senior personnel advising engineers to limit the use of castings. Current design philosophy is to produce components preferentially from plate, only designing for castings if geometric requirements preclude the potential for weldment manufacture. A fundamental paradigm shift is needed to realize the cost savings advantages of cast products. This shift can only occur via teaming between design agents and mate- Fig.1. As shown, 70% of a product’s cost is influenced by decisions made rial producers.” Our task as order during design. makers is to assist and often drive that design process. We need to incorporate FEA, process modeling and simulation, and deliver solutions in ever compressed timeframes using technologies like additive manufacturing. This is how we will transition our industry and secure growth and opportunities as makers of the future.
focus on price reductions to compete with other companies to just remove pennies a pound out of the overall cost as a strategy to survive. Send us the print or better yet existing tooling and like Best Buy, we will not only match the price of the competition we will go lower. The maker, while mindful of overall cost, pursues opportunities for conversions from a fabrication or weldment, ways to improve upon the existing design or create a new one to deliver better value at a price that they can set. A similar message also was conveyed at the recently held AFS Marketing & Selling of Castings Conference in Rosemont, Illinois. More than 100 attendees heard from Marketing Guru Steve Yastrow that they needed to “ditch the pitch” and focus on customer interaction and thinking input (listening to what the customer has to say) before output (what you were prepared to present). In a paper titled, “Design Agent Teaming for Casting Conversions from Weldments,” M. Draper, Welding & Materials Engineering Department of General Dynamics Electric Boat, presented at the Steel Founders’ Society of America T&O Conference in Chicago, Illinois, that decisions made in the earliest stages of the design process have the greatest impact on design and production cost. He stated, “70% of the product’s cost is influenced by decisions made in the design development phase.” As shown in Fig. 1, the precept is: • the design phase is the most critical aspect of a component’s life. • many manufacturing and performance isThomas Prucha sues created at this stage have long term impact on product cost. • an integrated approach using computer Editor based technology not only reduces lead-time International Journal of Metalcasting but improves the design AFS Vice President of Technology • this should be managed via a Disciplined [email protected] Program Management System.
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 9, Issue 1, 2015
5
Taker or Maker At the 77th Hoyt Memorial Lecture presented by Dr. Kathy Hayrynen at the 118th AFS Metalcasting Congress in Schaumburg, IL (published in Vol.8, Issue 3 of the Summer 2014 International Journal of Metalcasting), the audience was challenged if they were merely order takers or order makers. Hayrynen said that the order takers see the world as a commodity market and
“Many casting buyers, faced with short lead times and ever increase demands on quality, reliability and performance, often will defer to making that part as a fabrication and weldment.”
• technologies that assist creating samples quickly will help maximize the evaluation time and decisions made during this critical phase. Many casting buyers, faced with short lead times and ever increasing demands on quality, reliability and performance, often will defer to making that part as a fabrication and weldment. This decision also is influenced by the buyers lack of understanding of the benefits of metal castings. The struggle is that this decision often will cost more money and reduce design flexibility. “In many applications, the answer to cost reduction can be the transition of a weldment to a casting,” said Draper. “However, components are typically designed for fabrication regardless of cost saving advantages due to the lack of designer knowledge in casting principles. In addition, historical experience with casting quality issues results in senior personnel advising engineers to limit the use of castings. Current design philosophy is to produce components preferentially from plate, only designing for castings if geometric requirements preclude the potential for weldment manufacture. A fundamental paradigm shift is needed to realize the cost savings advantages of cast products. This shift can only occur via teaming between design agents and mate- Fig.1. As shown, 70% of a product’s cost is influenced by decisions made rial producers.” Our task as order during design. makers is to assist and often drive that design process. We need to incorporate FEA, process modeling and simulation, and deliver solutions in ever compressed timeframes using technologies like additive manufacturing. This is how we will transition our industry and secure growth and opportunities as makers of the future.
focus on price reductions to compete with other companies to just remove pennies a pound out of the overall cost as a strategy to survive. Send us the print or better yet existing tooling and like Best Buy, we will not only match the price of the competition we will go lower. The maker, while mindful of overall cost, pursues opportunities for conversions from a fabrication or weldment, ways to improve upon the existing design or create a new one to deliver better value at a price that they can set. A similar message also was conveyed at the recently held AFS Marketing & Selling of Castings Conference in Rosemont, Illinois. More than 100 attendees heard from Marketing Guru Steve Yastrow that they needed to “ditch the pitch” and focus on customer interaction and thinking input (listening to what the customer has to say) before output (what you were prepared to present). In a paper titled, “Design Agent Teaming for Casting Conversions from Weldments,” M. Draper, Welding & Materials Engineering Department of General Dynamics Electric Boat, presented at the Steel Founders’ Society of America T&O Conference in Chicago, Illinois, that decisions made in the earliest stages of the design process have the greatest impact on design and production cost. He stated, “70% of the product’s cost is influenced by decisions made in the design development phase.” As shown in Fig. 1, the precept is: • the design phase is the most critical aspect of a component’s life. • many manufacturing and performance isThomas Prucha sues created at this stage have long term impact on product cost. • an integrated approach using computer Editor based technology not only reduces lead-time International Journal of Metalcasting but improves the design AFS Vice President of Technology • this should be managed via a Disciplined [email protected] Program Management System.
International Journal of Metalcasting/Volume 9, Issue 1, 2015
5
