A manufacturing company on Clow Lane has discovered its niche and made it work in a competitive global market.

“Our niche is service,” said Don Hutchins, vice president and general manager of SanCasT.

Situated on 22 acres off Clow Lane, the company is starting its 31st year in Coshocton, and in recent years has grown from 40 to 65 full- and part-time employees.
“Business has been good for us,” Hutchins said.

SanCasT makes thousands of parts annually for the railroad, construction and mining industries.

The capital S, C and T in the company’s name are deliberate, Hutchins said, and tie SanCasT with its parent company - Standard Car Truck Co.

Illinois-based Standard Car Truck is a leader in providing stabilization systems for freight cars and connects SanCasT to the railroad industry, which comprises about 40 percent of its business.

More than a million friction wedge castings have been produced at SanCasT and are on about one-half of the freight cars in the U.S., including Burlington Northern Sante Fe, Norfolk Southern and Ohio Central, Hutchins said.

Another big market for the company has become manufacturing brake shoes or wear plates for the rail industry. The addition of another press and furnace to produce the part is planned for later this year.

SanCasT is also a Caterpillar-approved foundry and supplies parts to the Illinois-based builder of construction and mining equipment.

One of its more unusual markets can be widely seen right next door in Holmes County. SanCasT makes about 10,000 brake drums for Amish buggies annually, Hutchins said.

Although the majority of its products are shipped to customers within a 200-mile radius, more than 10 percent is shipped offshore to places like Australia, Africa, Brazil and the Republic of China.

This begins Hutchins’ 31st year in the foundry industry, his sixth in Coshocton, and he said the Coshocton plant is highly automated compared to some places he’s been.

“No one touches the part after the mold is made until the product is ready to be finished,” he said.

A series of conveyor belts move the parts from the mold press to where the hot iron is poured and through the cooling system. A conveyor shakes and moves the parts as they cool and the sand falls off. Once it’s completely cooled the extra parts of the form, or gating, are separated from the part by hand.

The process of sand casting begins by making a pattern for the final object, an approximate duplicate of the real part.

Sand is packed tightly around the pattern inside a container called a flask. The flask is opened and the pattern removed, and the sand imprint is checked, and a pouring cup called a sprue is added. Sand forms are also inserted to produce the internal features of the part, like holes or passages. The flask is then closed and liquid metal poured into the sprue, which is connected to a gating system that supplies the molten material to the mold cavity.

After the metal has cooled, the flask is broken open and the cast part removed. The sand is cleaned, refurbished and recycled back for the next casting operation. The sprue and gating system is removed and re-melted to use again.

Quality checks are done after the castings are ground and blasted.

About a year ago SanCasT bought a system that has paid for itself.

Watching a computer screen, metallurgist John Fox is able to watch a solid modeling program of a casting as hot metal moves through the mold. The simulation allows him to make adjustments for flaws and hot spots.

Before, production would have been shut down if a defect was found in a part, delaying progress by as much as three days while studies were done to work out the problems, he said.

“Using this program I’m 99 percent sure there won’t be any problems,” he said.

SanCasT carries an inventory of more than 250 parts for its key customers so when they call the product is on its way. Inventory sometimes isn’t a cost-effective way of doing business, Hutchins said, but delivering on time and service are the attributes that keep SanCasT competing in today’s world. Sales have quadrupled in the past five years, he said.

The heavy-manufacturing company has gone 1,490 days without a lost-time accident, which is very good for the industry, Hutchins said.

“We are blessed with a great work force that has a very good attitude,” Hutchins said.

source : www.coshoctontribune.com

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