H&H Leading The Way in Foundry Automation
HISTORY
H&H Castings’ company reputation for quality began in 1965, when the Haugh family opened a full service aluminum foundry in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. Founded on the principal that quality builds loyal business, H&H initially focused operations on small run jobs with an emphasis on technicality. Operations continued in this manner for the next 24 years until demand exceeded production and the need for a larger facility was necessary.
In 1989, H&H Castings built a new foundry in York, Pennsylvania that allowed them to increase production and capabilities with modern machines. The current production capacity is now 90,000 sq. feet.
Fast forward to 2021, and H&H Casting’s furnaces process roughly 3.2 million pounds of aluminum a year.
AUTOMATING THE FACILITY
You may be wondering, how did a small foundry get to the point where they process 3+ million pounds of aluminum a year? In 1995, H&H Castings decided they wanted to lead the foundry industry in technology and wanted to automate their molding process. H&H purchased their first automatic molding machine in 1995, and were one of the first foundries in their area to have this technology.
“Sinto was a no-brainer decision for us back then and even now. They have custom programs designed exclusively for us.” –Dylan Hammill, Production Manager H&H Castings.
Throughout the years, H&H Castings has had seven Sinto machines through the door, with three in operation right now, FBO-II, FBO-III and FBO-V. One of the benefits H&H Castings has seen with the different Sinto automatic molding machines is that their operators can become very familiar with the equipment. From the control panels being similar to the maintenance getting the same analytics, these machines are truly plug and play.
FBO-V 32” x 32” AUTOMATIC MOLDING
In 2019, Sinto installed H&H’s FBO-V Automatic Molding Machine, Mold Handling line and sand-handling equipment, with the first castings poured on 11/1/2019. This made H&H Castings one of two foundries in North America that has an FBO-V for an aluminum application. The Mold Handling System and Sand Plant Integration were completely custom designed on H&H Casting’s specifications and production needs by the skilled mechanical and controls engineering teams at Sinto.
Hammill stated that with the addition of their FBO-V, they have been able to expand their customer base by being able to produce larger products on the 32” by 32” square and make larger parts for a larger customer base.
“With the automatic, it’s a closed loop, it’s the push of a button, the consistency from mold to mold is unparalleled compared to manual molding. With some of the jobs that immediately converted over to the FBO-V, we’re seeing 40-50 molds an hour so 500% increase right off the bat in production.” –Jacob Hammill, Executive VP , H&H Castings.
FBO-V Features:
- High Speed Flaskless Molding Machine
- 2 or 4 Station Design with Multiple Pattern Sizes Offered
- Industry 4.0 Analytics Integrated
- Aeration Sand Filling Technology
- Production Rate of 80 molds / hour without core setting and 50 molds / hour with core setting
TRAINING PROGRAMS
H&H and Sinto truly believes that it takes more than just the machine to make a foundry run, it takes the whole foundry working together in unison to get the best results. Sinto offers superior training and service technicians that help you accomplish this goal.
“Sinto provides tailor-made solutions, whether it comes from engineering to training programs. They will send someone on site and give you a custom training program to get people up and running quickly. We are able to train people in days now instead of weeks or months.” –Dylan
H&H has noted that the combination of training programs and the ease of use of machine, has allowed for higher quality molds. “I learned how to run the FBO-V in four days. I feel comfortable running the FBO-V just because I know I have the support of my team and Sinto if I need it. What I really enjoy about running the FBO-V is the pace, you’re not working on the same thing all day.” –Ernesto Alcala Iniguez, FBO- V Operator, H&H Castings.
INDUSTRY 4.0
Not only has H&H Castings been foundry leaders in automatic molding, they are also industry 4.0 leaders. H&H Castings has been running envision Process Visibility System (ePVS), a tool of Sinto Smart Foundry, since 2019 to digitalize all of their PLC driven processes. H&H has been able to digitize and visualize machine performance with real-time analysis and optimize their processes by focusing on areas that show changes in performance based on that real-time data.
H&H machine operators and maintenance managers are able to view the live analytics on a dashboard at the machine, while the machines are running. “I think there is a direct correlation between production revenue bottom line metrics in relation to the efficiency of your automatic molding and how many of them you have. “ – Jacob Hamill.
“We can be proactive instead of reactive and I can see what the machines are doing throughout the day instead of waiting for a piece of paper at the end of the day. We can see if a nozzle is blocked or if a gaskets going. There are so many tools that the maintenance department can use from the office instead of in the back of the machine.”-Dylan Hamill.
“Customers have seen more consistent products with our newer machines. It has also reduced a lot of handling time in our finishing department,” –Jacob Hamill.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Sinto is thankful to be partnering with a foundry industry leader.
“When I look at five years down the road, ten years down the road, usually a lot of that thought process starts with how many more Sinto machines can I fit in this building. We would also like to incorporate some auto loading drum blasters, which would make the job a lot easier and safer for our employees. We’re trying to stay at the forefront here with Sinto and brining that technology into H&H. ”-Jacob.
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