Job Shop Regains Control of Pouring Process with Automatic Pouring Ladle

摘要

When it was time for The Dotson Co., Mankato, Minn., to upgrade the equipment it uses to pour gray and ductile iron castings, the firm had one goal-reduce variation and physical requirements. The best way to do that is through automation. But for a green sand job shop, options for automatic pouring ladles were almost nonexistent, "Automatic pouring ladles are great if you are running a lot of tonnage through." said Dennis Dotson, Dotson's president. "But as far as I know, it is a tool that just did not exist for low-volume production. We tried to work through the problems that exist with bottom-pour ladles, but it wouldn't work from a quality or consistency standpoint." Then Dotson came across the EconoPour ladle from Roberts Sinto Corp., Lansing. Mich. In July, the firm became the first job shop in North America to have an automated tilt-pour ladle designed specifically to meet the production requirements of job shops.