Castech – Smart manufacturing

Based in Wingfield, in Adelaide’s northern suburbs, Castech installed 368 solar panels rated at 270 watts on its factory roof-top last June and it has been progressively reducing its power bill by around $3,000 a month ever since. This could save the business up to $36,000 annually in energy costs. The panels are also providing a renewable energy feed of 14,000kWh to Castech’s foundry and Castech 3D, its additive manufacturing spin-off business.

Recent increases in SA’s electricity pricing has had a large impact upon the state’s commercial businesses and Castech was faced with a 64% increase in supply charges, prior to installing the solar panels. To counteract these rising power costs, Castech’s Quality Manager Brad Walsh says that the panels were installed to cut the massive power bills that the foundry generates and to provide the plant with emission-free energy.

“The panels will never provide the amount of power that we need to run the foundry’s induction furnaces from 7.30am to 4.00pm each day,” says Walsh. “Before the solar panels were installed, our power bills were around $18,200 per month. It’s a big expense up front, as the 368 panels cost the company $124,000, but they will pay for themselves in four years with our reduced power costs.”

Should other manufacturers invest in solar panels or other renewable power sources? Walsh says that it has to suit their particular operation: “We draw so much power for the foundry and besides, we own the site, so it made good sense to have the panels installed.”

The installation of the solar panels is just one example of the ways the company finds smart ways to boost its bottom line. Business is booming for Castech. Walsh says that the foundry has so much work on that three extra workers have been employed over the past four months. This brings the employee numbers to around 21.

“The foundry is still the main part of the business and always will be,” Walsh explains. “Castech 3D, which operates on the same site as a separate business, started in early 2017. We wanted to provide customers with a new high-technology side of the business. It is our aim for it to provide around 10% of the company’s income, and customers’ demands for 3D printing jobs are growing progressively. The 3D printing facilities also have benefits for the foundry, as you can print patterns for customer’s components.”

Castech was founded in 1947 by Don Stoddart & Partners as Cu-Base Foundry producing brass and aluminium castings at a site in Woodville. Don’s son Phil Stoddart, the company’s present owner and Managing Director, purchased the business in 1983, and immediately upgraded and modernised operations. The new foundry in Wingfield was completed in 1989 and has been going from strength to strength ever since. The business is certified under the ISO 9001-2015 Quality Management system.

Walsh, a metallurgist by trade, has been with the company for just over two years. He did his traineeship and learnt the foundry industry ropes at Port Kembla Steelworks, where he was employed for 14 years. Walsh then moved to Brisbane and landed a job in the foundry at global mining parts manufacturer Bradken for a few years. Looking for a career change, he took on a sales role as a supplier to the Australian metals industry for over two decades, before his current job at Castech. He’s been heavily involved in the Australian Foundry Institute for over 30 years and was at the helm as its president for five years.

Manufacturing for multiple sectors

“We have a lot of exciting projects happening now in the foundry,” says Walsh. “We have been developing cast aluminium after-market accessories for a major automotive manufacturer over the past 12 months.”

Castech has also been working on defence projects for around six years and Walsh says that the defence sector work is expanding all the time: “Currently we are making engine exhaust manifolds for the Royal Australian Navy’s Collins class future submarines through ASC. Castech is also involved in the development of suspension type components for armoured fighting vehicles.”

Among its other defence projects, Castech is manufacturing aluminium castings for a leading Australian defence and space company. Personnel from the French Naval Group that’s building the future submarines for Australia have visited Castech several times for discussions about potential projects.

Castech is also involved in the architecture sector, making ferrous and non-ferrous castings for a variety of projects and applications.

“We make fluid transfer pumps for many industry sectors,” Walsh adds. “An example is the super duplex stainless pumps which go into a high-corrosion environment. They range in size from a dinner plate to a desk. We also do a wide range of general engineering casting work, from one-off replacement parts to production runs as required.”

How does Castech get all this work when the company doesn’t do a lot of marketing?

“We are often too busy making things and handling the ongoing orders to always promote the business, although we do get many of the jobs via our website. Phil’s daughter helps with marketing, websites and social media and the company has been going a long time, so we have a good reputation for excellence. The other positive is that in our foundry we work with a wide range of alloys including steel, aluminium, brass and bronze. Most foundries only work with one or two alloys.”

Castech has a healthy order book at present, but they have to be careful with the work they take on, so as to maintain high customer satisfaction.

“The foundry industry does not usually have that situation of having good forward orders, so we are very lucky in that regard,” says Walsh.

Unlike the foundry with its regular on-going customers, the 3D printing side of the business can vary from one-off prototypes to production parts’ print runs, all done in thermo plastic.

“At the 3D business, customers might come to us with a CAD model and ask us to print a prototype,” Walsh explains. “After it’s made, the customer can evaluate the item and may make a modification to improve it. Recently, we did our largest print run to date, producing 3,900 electronics specialised brackets for a defence and security company. Each batch printed had 99 items on a plate and it took three days of continuous printing to complete the batch.”

Castech 3D has a large-format printer, a medium-sized one and four smaller ones. Walsh says that some 3D printing businesses in the USA have 50-60 printers running non-stop.

“It’s called ‘lights-out manufacturing’ as no one needs to be in the plant and the machines keep running,” he says. “In our 3D plant, we only really have two people working there at present. 3D printing is mostly not cost-effective for bulk manufacturing of consumer items. If you are talking about 10 to 100 items, then 3D printing can be very cost-effective as high-cost dies are not required. All you need is a CAD model that can be reasonably inexpensive to produce. Prototyping is where 3D printing really comes to the fore.”

Walsh explains that Castech exhibited at Austech for the first time this year, mainly to promote and expand the 3D side of the business: “The foundry side is already well known in the industry. On our Austech stand, we displayed several samples of our 3D-printed products. Austech provided many visitors to our stand, with great exposure to the capabilities of our foundry and our 3D printing facilities.”

Expansion plans

On the foundry side, Walsh says that the business is constantly investing in new equipment: “We are in the planning stage of expanding the factory, which also includes getting another furnace, an overhead crane and a new shot blast unit. As we are getting to a limit in production at our current foundry space, we’ve received quotes for another building, to be located at the back of our site. There are also plans in place to buy another mid-sized printer for the 3D printing plant, as the current mid-sized one is used constantly.

“Our 3D plant provides high-tech services to a range of customers from very large organisations to SMEs wanting a prototype for their product. We are also very proud of the fact that we could assist a local lady who came to our plant to see if we could make a cog for her roller door. So, we drew it up on the CAD system and printed it for her for just $35. It would have cost her $1,500 for a new roller door. That epitomises our customer service.”

When asked how Australian manufacturers can succeed in today’s competitive market, Walsh responds: “You have to find the right niche, and you can’t compete with our Asian neighbours. Provide excellence in product quality, delivery and service. And that’s why our foundry is so successful. If you want a quality product delivered on time and you want to talk to someone, we are here to assist you.”

www.castech.net

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