Clamason Industries UK LIMITED has helped many customers successfully upgrade their production from cast to press. More than ever before, the spotlight is on manufacturers to improve their environmental output.
Greener manufacturing has a host of benefits. Of course, the most important factor is how it helps to protect the planet and prevents global warming; but there are other gains, too. By using less energy, for example, rising costs can be mitigated, and the savings passed to customers – creating an improved price per part.
Businesses who use cast components in their products are often paying higher prices than those leveraging alternative manufacturing methods.
Creating die-cast components consumes a large amount of energy. With utility costs rising fast, it’s getting more and more expensive to produce metal castings – and the process is seeing one of the most significant price creeps in the industry.
Of course, it’s no surprise that this energy-guzzling process is also guilty of being one of the least environmentally friendly, too.
In order to shrink costs and act on green initiatives, many companies are focusing on how to improve these elements of their operation. Time and time again, switching from castings to stamped components is seen as the most practical solution.
Stamped parts have numerous advantages over a cast product.
For example, tooling for stamped parts will generally provide an off-the-press, finished component, without the need for further operations.
In addition, a press tool will frequently produce millions of parts before needing refurbishment – meanwhile, a casting will require dies that are refurbished regularly, often after a few thousand parts have been produced.
Because stamping is a cold-form process, there is also no need to introduce heat (whereas casting relies on it). This accounts for much of the energy and cost savings that metal pressings will bring, as well as helping manufacturers to meet the requirements for coveted environmental accreditations, such as the Ecovadis rating acquired by Clamason.
One such manufacturer was paying for expensive cast components and – due to the current economic climate – those costs just kept rising. They needed to improve their ROI and came to Clamason for advice.
Clamason’s design team came up with a cost-efficient, stamped alternative to their current part.
The re-designed pressed part also benefitted by being:
- Quicker to produce
- Less energy-intensive to manufacture
- Lighter than its predecessor
- More user-friendly at the assembly stage
- Just as high-quality as a cast part
Furthermore, the total cost-per-part saving meant that all expenditure on the press tool was returned within one year.
