AFS – Twin Cities Chapter

Saugus Iron Works Historical Site
cc photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

On April 10th, Dennis Dotson of Dotson Iron Castings presented his vision of the future of foundries and manufacturing. Dotson’s plan, titled “Saugus2″, was named in honor of Saugus Ironworks, America’s first iron foundry founded in 1646. Like the original Saugus, Dotson’s plan intends redefine and reinvigorate the industry by “[recapitalizing] the American foundry industry with 20 new advanced manufacturing facilities by 2022″.

The highly detailed plan outlines the ideas and concepts foundries must embrace to succeed well into the 21st century. Technology exists to track castings in real-time through the foundry, production can be integrated to deliver a complete product from a single source, automation can eliminate movement tasks to eliminate injuries and increase quality…these are among the many ideas which Saugus2 emphasizes to become the next generation of manufacturing.

The Saugus2 team recently visited 50 manufacturing plants from around the world to “investigate best of best technologies”. Foundries from Turkey, Thailand, and Italy were showcased as being the cleanest, most advanced foundries — just what Saugus2 intends to be. The next phase is location selection, plant design, customer buy-in, and capitalization. The Saugus2 is self-admittedly ambitious, but ambitious is just what the industry needs. Will we see 20 new, highly advanced foundries by 2022?

Dennis Dotson (R) accepts the speaker's gift from Vice Chairman Josh Jaycox

cc photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

The Twin Cities Chapter of the American Foundry Society and the 4-F Technical Committee will host a half-day seminar and dinner meeting on Tuesday, March 13th at the Green Mill Hampton Inn in Shoreview, MN.  The half-day seminar  will feature Dr. Scott Giese, Stacey Clifford, and Dave Jablonski on “Refractory Coating Basics: More Than Meets the Eye.”  The evening presentation will feature Dave Jablonski on “What’s Happening to the Sand Supply?”

cc photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

About the seminar: In keeping with our mission of providing effective educational opportunities in our industry, the seminar committee would like to have one or two examples of coating defects on sand or suspected coating related casting defects submitted by attendees for class discussion. Please discuss your submission with Josh Jaycox (jjaycox@dotson.com) or Ross Vass (rvass@riceindustriesinc.com) prior to the seminar by March 9th.

More information can be found in our newsletter here.

Registration: Reservations are due Friday, March 9th at noon by emailing joyclifford@comcast.net with name, company, member, guest, or student, and registration choice:

• Members & Nonmembers: $150 for Seminar and Evening Presentation/Dinner ($125 for Seminar Only; $25 for Evening Presentation/Dinner Only)

• Full Time Students: $20 for Seminar and Evening Presentation/Dinner ($10 for Seminar only; $10 for Evening Presentation/Dinner Only)

cc photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

On February 15th, the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Foundry Society gathered at the wonderful Jax’s Cafe in Minneapolis to receive Leo Baran’s “State of the Industry” presentation. With an impressive career in metal casting and as Director of Membership Services for the American Foundry Society, Leo’s presentation was much appreciated and informative throughout.

Leo Baran (R) accepts the speaker's gift from Josh Jaycox (L) of Dotson Ironworks.

Simply put, “State of the Industry” for metal casters is looking positive. Economic data shows the hardships of the last few years have hit their lowest and rebounding has begun. In general, industry leaders forecast an increase in casting sales and quantities. These indicators were welcomed by the metal casters and suppliers in attendance considering how the foundry industry suffered through the last recession. But American metal casters are not in the clear quite yet: Asian and Indian competitors are gaining ever larger shares of the casting market. American foundries must continually advance their capabilities to remain advantageous within the industry.

Overall, the presentation was well received and as usual the food and atmosphere at Jax Cafe did not disappoint!

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About the presentation: January 10th’s presentation will demonstrate how Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T) and new scanning technologies improve the understanding of castings. The following areas will be addressed:

• Benefits of using GD&T
• How to apply GD&T to measurement
• Laser scanning and Profile Tolerancing

Jordan Pepin, Senior Applications Engineer of Productivity Quality, Inc.

About the Speaker: Jordan Pepin is a Senior Applications Engineer for Productivity Quality, Inc. in Plymouth, MN.  Jordan’s education includes ASQ Certification and ASME GDTP-S Certification (Technologist and Senior Level).  Jordan has fifteen years of experience in metrology and CAD, with an emphasis on CMM’s and Laser Scanning. Since 1968, Productivity Inc. has been dedicated to helping manufacturers in the Midwest implement innovative solutions to meet manufacturing challenges and achieve a high standard of quality with superior results.

More information can be found in our newsletter.

cc photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

The Twin Cities Chapter of the American Foundry Society will host a half day workshop and dinner meeting on Tuesday, November 8th at the Green Mill in Shoreview, MN. The featured speaker for the workshop and evening presentation is Jill Kelby, owner and president of Kelby Ergo Design LLC.

Jill Kelby, President and owner of Kelby Ergo Design, LLC

About the Speaker: Jill Kelby is the president and owner of Kelby Ergo Design, LLC in Eden Prairie, MN. Kelby Ergo Design (KED) is a company whose focus is on developing and delivering strategic solutions to today’s productivity, safety and health issues. Ms. Kelby has over 19 years of ergonomic and human factors experience in several areas including manufacturing, healthcare, lab, pharmaceutical and office. Ms. Kelby brings a holistic approach to solving clients’ workplace performance, process and safety issues by combining her experience as a physical therapist, ergonomist and continuous improvement specialist.

She is an experienced speaker who presents regularly at local and national conferences, industry associations and community groups. Ms. Kelby holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Physical Therapy and is a Certified Ergonomics Associate (CEA) through the Board of Certified Professional Ergonomists (BCPE).

About the workshop “Ergonomics in Foundries:  The Key To Increasing Productivity and Safety”:  The goal of ergonomics is to optimize the performance and well-being of the human.  In business, ergonomics is used to evaluate and design the work space, work flow, task and equipment so that it fits the workers abilities and therefore results in increased productivity, efficiency and safety. Examples of metrics and return on investment for ergonomics programs will be reviewed.  This workshop will provide attendees with a solid foundation of ergonomics, ergonomics assessment, root cause analysis and low to no cost solutions.  Actual foundry examples will be presented using video and/or pictures.

About the evening presentation: The American workforce and the general population as a whole have undergone significant changes in the past decade.  Some of these changes include increases in the age of the workforce, obesity, chronic health conditions, stress and mental illness.  The impact to employers is increased worker presenteeism and absenteeism, healthcare costs and workers’ compensation costs.  More and more employers are implementing wellness programs but in isolation of other cost control methods such as ergonomics and workers’ compensation. Research has shown that the ROI of each program in isolation is much lower compared to when they are combined.  In this session attendees will learn the costs of workers’ compensation and employee benefits, the characteristics of today’s and future workforce , employee benefits vs. workers’ compensations vs. ergonomics and the wellness-ergonomics business strategy.

Register for the workshop and/or dinner: Reservations are due Friday, November 4th at noon by emailing:  joyclifford@comcast.net with name and company.  Specify “Workshop” ($125-Professional Development Hours-3) and/or “Dinner” ($25).

More information can be found in our monthly newsletter.

Steven Haeg (L), Principal Scientist and Research Engineer at MTS Systems, was the keynote speaker at the tour and dinner on September 13th. Ross Vass, Rice Industries, presented Steve with a speaker gift, a Minnesota State Quarter metal casting.

The Twin Cities Chapter AFS was treated to a presentation and tour of the MTS Systems facility in Eden Prairie, followed by a Gyros Buffet in the atrium.

Steven Haeg, a 25+ year Principal Scientist and Research Engineer at MTS gave an overview of the various testing capabilities and applications to approximately 44 attendees. Tour guides led them through the facility to view engineering and simulation processes for testing in various industries including rail, geomaterials, energy, materials and industrial manufacturing, aerospace, and biomedical fields.

Thank you to MTS Systems for an informative presentation and tour!

The Twin Cities Chapter of the American Foundry Society will host a dinner and meeting on Tuesday, October 11th at the Green Mill in Shoreview, MN. The featured speaker, Joe McGreal, regional manager at Ervin Industries will present “Lowering Blast Cleaning Costs”.

About the talk: With the rising costs of steel abrasives, attention to the blast cleaning machine is paramount. This presentation will discuss specific details on decreasing machine wear, steel shot conservation, and improving  throughput.

Joe McGreal, Ervin Industries, is the guest speaker on October 11th.

About the speaker: Joe McGreal has worked for 22 years in surface preparation sales and services. For the past 18 years, Joe has worked with Ervin Industries (Midwest region) in blast cleaning and shot peening applications, materials, and technologies. Joe is a director for the AFS Hawkeye Chapter.

Reservations to attend dinner are due Tuesday, Octover 7th at noon by emailing Joy Clifford with name and company. Cost is $25.

More information can be found in our newsletter.

MTS Systems Corporation -- Eden Prarie, MN

The Twin Cities Chapter of the American Foundry Society and MTS Systems Corporation will host a tour, dinner, and meeting on Tuesday, September 13th at the MTS facility in Eden Prarie, MN.

About MTS: MTS Systems Corporations’s high-performance testing and sensing solutions are deployed around the world, enabling precise control of forces and motions as well as real-time feedback that optimizes performance. Working side-by-side with engineers in a wide range of industries, MTS solves complex challenges and helps customers adapt to changes, anticipate new requirements, and take on even the most difficult tasks with speed and confidence. From massive wind turbines and electric vehicles to fossil fuels, MTS plays a critical role in a rapidly changing energy industry. Meeting global demand is the challenge of our time — one MTS addresses with technologies that make renewables viable, push the limits of exploration, and maximize efficiency.

Reservations to attend the tour and dinner are due Tuesday, September 6th at noon by emailing joyclifford@comcast.net with your name and company. The cost is $25.

More information can be found in our newsletter.

First place awarded to JB Testing (L to R: Dale Peterson, Silver Tip Associates; Jeff Boisvert, JB Testing; Paul Bailey, Coynes Inc.; and Rick Bertram, Painting Experts, Inc. -- not pictured)

The 66th annual TC Chapter AFS Golf Outing held at Majestic Oaks Golf Club successfully raised over $10,000, which is applied directly to FEF and Stout scholarships and educational funding for Minnesota schools. A huge thank you goes to our sponsoring foundries and suppliers, to the chapter’s golf co-chairmen, Dave Thibideau (Rice Industries) and Mike Bensing (Stantec Consultants), and to their committee and volunteers for making this year’s event “the best one yet”!

The foursome from Pier Foundry took second by a difference of one stroke. Pictured are Joe Kranz, Aaron McCord, Rick Peterson, and Nick Grilz

The foursome from CPP took third place. The foursome consisted of Mark Krings, Harun Sampaz (not pictured), Mark Gerten, and Mike Medina.

The women's longest drive went to Wendy Zylla from Smith Foundry.

cc photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

Tee up for a great cause by taking part in the 66th annual Twin Cities Chapter Scholarship Golf Outing. Your entry fee includes green fees, golf cart, locker room, 2 beverage tickets, lunch, dinner, and prizes. $15 of your entry fee and proceeds from hole games are donated directly to the scholarship fund. Since the tournaments inception, thousands of dollars in scholarships have been awarded to worthy metal casting students. This is due to the generosity and cooperation of foundries, suppliers, and their employees.

To register, complete the form found here. Registration and payment must be received by Monday, July 25th.

More information and directions here.