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Member Profile: D&L Foundry |
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Written On: January 2006 |
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Written By: by Ron Dalby |
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Casting for Customers — Mostly Outside of Washington
Even on the coldest winter day, casting iron is hot, sweaty work. After all, when you have to heat your raw materials to temperatures of 2,650 degrees Fahrenheit or more, it does affect the surrounding atmosphere.
One of the key things that makes D&L Foundry a success is the method it has chosen to reduce its basic raw material, scrap iron, to a fiery liquid. "We knew we needed a melting system that would be more efficient and more productive," D&L Operations Manager Jason McGowan explained in the July 2005 issue of Foundry Management and Technology. "Also, it needed to be cleaner, both in terms of harmonics-free power usage and reduced fume emissions."
A melting system consisting of two new four-metric-ton furnaces and a solid-state 3,250-kilowatt dual-induction power supply supplied by Inductotherm were the answer. D&L Foundry now casts about 100 tons of iron products a day and is capable of casting up to 120 tons a day if necessary.
D&L Founded in Utah
D&L Foundry has its roots in Provo, Utah, about a half century ago when owner Jack Leftwich approached the local foundry and offered them enough business to stay open year around. His was primarily a construction company then; he wasn’t casting his own iron.
As Leftwich gained inventory from the local foundry, he started supplying others. He was one of the first companies to begin in Las Vegas, and from there moved on to the San Francisco Bay area. As a contractor he had now become a supplier and "...no longer needed to pound nails," according to McGowan.
He then settled his operation in Provo and Oakland, Calif. where he was poised to capitalize on the big growth areas. This is in the 1960s and 1970s when he is still just a supplier, not a foundry operator.
Then came the environmental regulations of the 1970s, which, among other things, caused hundreds of foundries to shut down all over the nation. As this occurs, India and China with their hordes of cheap labor, begin getting into the business of casting iron, and Leftwich begins importing the castings he supplies to his customers.
Foundry owners who had been shut down finally wised up in the 1980s and begin political lobbying at the highest levels. From this comes the Intermodel Surface Transportation Act of 1991, which stipulates that only iron castings made in the United States could be used on federal transportation infrastructure projects. This act effectively stopped American taxpayers from unknowingly subsidizing overseas production of municipal castings.
From there, Leftwich decided to build his own foundry. D&L Foundry was founded in 1990, and poured its first castings in December of 1991. Using the advanced technologies described above, it is able to comply with environmental laws and compete nationally against competition from around the world.
"That’s why D&L Foundry was born," McGowan said, "to supply his [Leftwich’s] customers. We’ve grown every year since then."
D&L Foundry today employs 128 people, up from 23 when it opened in 1991.
When asked why Leftwich built his foundry in Moses Lake, McGowan replies with only two words, "Cheap power." He then goes on to mention that Leftwich had also hired a manager who was from the area and there were some tax advantages because Grant County was considered economically depressed at the time.
Scrap Iron at a Premium
Scrap iron—old engine blocks, automobile brake drums and that sort of thing—is the raw material of choice at D&L Foundry. The company collects it by the railroad car load, melts it, and pours it into sand molds. When cool, the sand is broken away and a brand-new product emerges from what was once somebody’s garbage. It is, in a sense, recycling taken to extremes. "We are the end of the recycling chain," McGowan claims.
But, the cost of scrap iron has really hammered D&L’s bottom line in recent years. "Scrap, which is our raw material, is leaving our shores by the boatload," McGowan said. Most of it is going to China. "Anything that’s more or less cast, is cast over there."
The cost of scrap metal, from which D&L employees must separate the iron they need from the steel, aluminum and whatever else shows up, is one of the key issues facing D&L and other foundries around the nation. "We would like to see a tax or duty on any scrap leaving our shores," McGowan said.
Sorting the scrap is also labor intensive. Here is another edge the Chinese have because their labor costs are very low when compared with those in the United States.
Despite the rising cost of scrap and the low-labor-cost competition from Asia, D&L Foundry competes. Surprisingly, it makes very few castings for Washington-based customers. Utah, Nevada and California municipalities rank among its largest customers, even for the custom projects like "personalized" manhole covers.
For the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, for example, D&L cast hundreds of manhole covers with Olympic logos. Other cities may ask for something simple like just the town’s name or they might want something more complex. Whatever design you want, D&L’s craftsmen can make the necessary mold and cast the piece accordingly.
Patterns Cast in Sand
Each casting requires two patterns, one for the top and another for the bottom. Several employees do nothing else but create the patterns to customer specifications.
The patterns are then pressed into a special black sand that will hold its shape until it is knocked off the final casting. The top and bottom sand molds are then mated together; a hole for pouring in molten iron is left on which ever one is on top.
A short distance in front of the furnaces, row after row of sand molds are arranged in a large, grid-like pattern. Molten iron is drained from the furnace into a large ladle hanging from an overhead crane. The slag is removed by hand and a team of two men move the ladle into position and go down the line filling each sand mold in turn.
After the iron solidifies in the molds, the sand is broken off, the iron is allowed to cool and necessary grinding is done to smooth out any ragged edges. The product is then crated and shipped to its final destination.
D&L Foundry operates around the clock with three shifts of people making cast-iron products for customers across the western United States. In so doing, it pumps more than $4 million in wages and $92,000 in property taxes into the local economy. Not bad for a foundry that was built just because a businessman wanted to supply his customers.
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