Dotson Wins Casting Design Award!
Taking a welded component and turning it into a casting can help manufacturers save significant production costs. Dotson Iron Castings was recently recognized for one such casting conversion that saves costs at the Metalcasting Congress in Milwaukee. The 16.5 pound ductile iron casting is used in the cab suspension and fuel tank mounting by a large truck manufacturer. Originally this casting was a weldment, which was redesigned to meet the tight space and high load requirements for the multifunction part.
Dotson utilized software to create more than 50 mold filling and solidification simulations during the design stage. Dotson engineers were able to identify several opportunities to keep the overall costs down, including increased core production, automated core placement, reducing riser waste and using an automated trim press. The Dotson engineering team worked closely with the design engineers to gradually modify the product design for optimum production efficiency.
Along with the challenging performance requirements, cost savings was a driving factor for the final product. Through collaboration, the team designed a casting that met the requirements and reduced the overall cost of the system by 10 percent!
For its efforts, Dotson was recognized with a Casting Design Award at 2017 Metalcasting Congress in Milwaukee in April.
