Chris Ferrara
Over the years, investment casting has emerged as a critical manufacturing process for making parts with complex geometry. This is due to the various advantages offered by this technique. Today, investment casting parts are used in various mission-critical industries such as military, aviation, medical, and energy. Hence, it is important to purchase these services from a reliable investment casting company. Selecting the right investment casting company may involve certain considerations.
Source: http://americancastingco.com/blog/things-to-see-in-an-investment-casting-company/
Investment casting is a process of creating parts in net shape or near net shape configurations with tight tolerances. This can only be done using the right tools, equipment and processes. How can you assure that quality is the priority for your chosen company? For this, it is important that you either get a referral from an existing customer or take a tour of their facility. Most manufacturers are happy to host a guest in an effort to win their confidence. You can check if the company utilizes the latest manufacturing equipment and technologies, such as 3D printing, and if they have any experience working with materials specific to your industry.
Shorter lead times have become an important factor of the success across various industries. There is a misconception that investment casting is a slow process. The process involves various steps such as tool building, wax preparation, casting, finishing, and post processing. If not planned correctly, these steps can take several months to complete. Most companies perform them individually and there is a long gap between each step. American Casting has set up their production system with interlinked processes and has adopted lean manufacturing principles to minimize the processing times. In doing so, we offer the most competitive lead times in the industry.
An experienced casting company understands that customer communication is critical. Also, understanding customer needs and expectations from the start will ensure that their needs are met. A foundry like American Casting Company will help you at every step of the process whether it be quoting, tooling, scheduling or anything else and will offer prompt information so decisions can be made and schedules can be met.
There are times when your application may demand specific industry certifications. It is important to verify that the casting provider complies with the required standards. Some examples of this include AS9100, ASTM, AMS, MILSPEC, Boeing, NADCAP, or ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations). All these certifications are an approval of the quality standards adopted by the company.
The above-mentioned points will help you make the right decision about selecting the investment casting company you want to work with. With such an important role to play, it is important that you source your castings from a reliable company like American Casting Company.
Whether manufacturing prototypes, or first article and custom production products, we utilize the latest in 3D printing equipment and manufacturing technologies. We also specialize in the processing of nickel based superalloys (Vacuum Melt), cobalt based alloys, including implant grade CoCrMo, stainless steels and other critical aerospace and medical device materials.
The same unique system that gives us world class speed gives you extreme flexibility in making changes. We implement your change requests almost instantaneously. This means that you can increase quantity and make other changes without incurring setup charges or increasing lead time.
