Continuing advances in die-cast processing and control technologies have helped die casters to achieve high levels of precision in the last few years. Also, the production capabilities of the die casters have increased multifold.
Now, the customers can put forward the custom die casting requirements and remain assured that die casting companies will align it with their projected costs.
However, die casters need a criterion to maintain acceptable product quality. Part drawings, CAD/CAM databases, corporate standards, manufacturing specifications all help in defining standards and guidelines for the job. Here we explain how a die caster can provide quality assurance in custom jobs —
1. Communication in Engineering/Quality Team
Custom products that are consistent with the client requirements are only possible with the support from cross-functional engineering and quality team. These are also called a "simultaneous engineering" team.
Usually, this team includes design engineers, manufacturing engineers (from both sides — the die caster and customer) along with quality control and marketing personnel.
As this team comprises of the members from each group, this helps in establishing a coherent communication medium — between die-casters and clients. You can also form an informal team of key personnel if you don't have a formal engineering team setup.
The simultaneous team needs to meet several times during the product development stages to address important questions. Together, they can decide if the company needs very high precision die casting or happy with industry-standard tolerances.
A well-knit team provides real-time cost savings with accurate information to maintain quality assurance. Time and price, both increase with the project delay. This team helps in avoiding miscommunication, last-minute changes and uncertainty of design.
2. "Lean"— Continually Striving for Perfection
"Lean" is repeatedly used in the manufacturing process. It essentially means to continuously strive for perfection, decrease costs, have zero defects and push for expansion in the business. Lean theory helps in creating exactly what the customers want.
There are five principles to look for in "Lean Thinking":
- Value: Only customers can determine value.
- Value Stream: Actions and services that bring specific casting to market.
- Flow: Maintain the flow from the order desk to the shipping desk.
- Pull: Quick turnaround time where customers can pull the product from the caster.
- Perfection: Consistently work to reduce effort, time, space, cost and errors.
These steps help in maintaining proper sequence to avoid mistakes, rework and evade delays. Additionally, the lean approach answers questions that every party could have — hence, aggressively put their expertise into a specific area.
3. Finding the Perfect Surface Finishes
The finishing process ensures that parts have smoother surfaces, no imperfections and are suitable for use. There are different grades to suffice your finishing demands. You can go from utility-grade (functional grade finishing where the parts can have decorative coatings with spot polishes to remove imperfections) to commercial-grade finishing (for structural parts used in high-stress areas.)
Depending on your industry, you can get superior grade surface finish for limited areas of the casting as well. These finishes are alloy dependent and must have maximum value in microinches.
At Simalex, we know that customers are looking for great-looking, high-quality metal parts every single time. We take pride in our quality assurance and finishing process that has kept us in business. We commit to quality metal workmanship for your business. For more information about our custom die casting process, get in touch with us or request a quote here.
