The UK casting industry came together for its 2019 Awards Dinner to celebrate the ‘Best of British Casting’.
The Component of the Year award was won by Finecast Foundry Ltd for its complex five casting Transcend Transmission Assembly for Jaguar Land Rover.
The five castings that make up JLR’s Transcend Transmission Assembly are a truly complex casting project featuring complex internal geometry, high dimensional accuracy and casting integrity, pressure tested to 20 bar.
The most complex of the five components is the largest central 20kg aluminium sand casting where, following Magmasoft simulation, both the design and logistics of cerabead core positioning and mould pack integrity were assessed and reviewed to create a workable solution throughout production. Finecast’s attention to detail and logical approach to overcome the many obstacles was notable.
“The whole team at Finecast are all very proud of these castings”, said Chris Heatley, Finecast’s company chairman. “It is hard to describe just how the team pulled together to take on this suite of components and how pleased we are to receive this recognition for their efforts.”
Shortlisted in the Component of the Year award were Peel Jones Copper Products for a 229kg blast furnace tuyere, and William Cook Rail for its 375kg steel bolster for the Citadis Spirit Light Rail Vehicle.
Company Achievement Award
The Company Achievement award was won by Sarginsons Industries Ltd for its investment and training programmes.
Described in the Sunday Times as an ‘outlier’ because of its commitment to do things differently, 2019 has been a year of investment in new technology and people for the company. With turnover up by nearly 50 per cent after a 30 per cent rise in 2018, capital investment across the company both in plant and buildings has been a key feature of the year along with the purchase of a CNC machining facility, new turnkey projects and the establishment of the Sarginsons Technical Centre to support design.
The additional capacity, expanded range of services and investment in its staff, in close co-operation with the National Foundry Training Centre has put Sarginsons in a strong position as it faces the future.
Shortlisted was Alucast for its bold strategic step into ‘lightweighting’ combined with investment in plant and people, and Dean Group International for its growth and focus on health and safety and environmental performance.
Innovation Award
The award for Innovation was won by RSM Castings Ltd for its unique and fully automated robotic core cell development.
To win a new one million pound order for hydraulic components, RSM had to achieve a 20 per cent reduction in costs. To achieve this, the company set about two key innovations at once – a new formulation for its resin coated sand and a major improvement in its robotics.
Working with the resin supplier for its shell core plant, a new formulation of thermally reclaimed resin coated sand was developed which resulted in no gas or finning defects, the traditional problem with the component. At the same time the company developed and installed a unique and fully automated core cleaning, trimming, venting, assembly and painting robotic cell, with a cycle time of just 13 seconds. Internal scrap was reduced by two thirds and customer scrap by 75 per cent, the need for chemical cleaning was eliminated and the new sand, combined with the innovative robotic solution, ensured that savings of 26 per cent were achieved.
The two shortlisted companies were CastAlum, for its work to reduce and remove solder in high pressure diecasting by combining additive materials and an understanding of conformal cooling, and Petrofer UK for its flexible new die face lube 5050BS for both traditional and micro-spray uses.
Speaking about the calibre of entries, Pam Murrell, CEO of the Cast Metals Federation, which organises the awards, said: “The UK cast metals industry never ceases to amaze as every year it continues to innovate and succeed in the face of uncertainty. The commitment we see in all of our many entries this year shows an industry committed to its people, its customers, through quality and professionalism and to a sustainable future, despite the difficult and somewhat insecure times we are working in.”
The awards were presented to the winners at the Cast Metals Industry Awards Dinner, hosted by CMF at Wolverhampton’s Grand Station on 22nd November 2019.
For more information on how to get involved in the 2020 awards visit: www.castmetalsfederation.com