Posts Tagged ‘molds’
Transformation Calendar: Continuous Improvement
The C.A. Lawton Co. strives to improve continuously. Today we examined the Transformation Calendar with industrial engineer Tricia Berg. What is a Transformation Calendar? Lawton’s Transformation Calendar is a visual listing of all activities sponsored by the company to improve the company’s safety, performance, and productivity. It covers every company area from quotation through the…
Read MoreShaping the future of the foundry industry
As I mentioned in a previous article about the challenges we face in the industry, the problems we are working to solve now are what’s going to shape the future of this industry. As we find solutions to the workforce, political, and environmental issues we face today, we prepare ourselves to overcome even greater obstacles…
Read MoreTwo women reflect on working in the Lawton foundry
For much of its long history, the metalcasting industry has been dominated by men. This has also been the case at Lawton – until recently. Now we have two strong women working in the foundry. We recently sat down with them to learn about their remarkable experiences at Lawton. First, meet Dani. She is 21…
Read MoreCasting history: fun facts
While researching our recent articles on the history of casting, we uncovered some interesting facts we just had to share! A heavy metal burial John Wilkinson, the creator of the cupola furnace, had such a passion for iron work that when he died in 1808, he was buried in an iron coffin beneath an iron…
Read MoreThe next best thing to being there
Ever since little red school houses dotted the country, field trips have been an awesome way to make learning memorable. But today’s rich multimedia technology has given the old-fashioned field trip a major upgrade: It’s now possible to virtually tour a facility to learn about it. A case in point: Students from the Ashwaubenon School…
Read MoreHow to optimize the cost of your castings
Cost Drivers for Casting from an Engineering and Design Perspective Let’s say you were in need of a vehicle and had a family of 5, were living on a single income, and had a budget of $20,000. Would you start by going to the local Chevrolet dealership and start pricing a new Corvette ZR1? On…
Read MoreHow Lawton’s 4-step process solves the challenges of transfer tooling
Many times, long-term production tooling is manufactured for use at one foundry and moved to another foundry during its useful life. This practice, referred to as “transfer tooling,” presents a number of challenges to the manufacturer who owns the pattern as well as the foundry receiving the work. These issues include the condition of the…
Read MoreIron 101 teaches the magic and science of modern casting
Old world ingenuity. Cutting-edge science. Two worlds that appear to be mutually exclusive. But they blend together perfectly at The C.A. Lawton Co., where engineers and craftspeople create high-quality, high-performance castings for some of the world’s most demanding OEMs. At a recent Iron 101 workshop, OEM design engineers and procurement people got a first-hand education…
Read MoreHow to avoid common casting design mistakes
As older design engineers retire, a new wave of young engineers are taking their places. What many younger engineers lack is an understanding of casting design – how to design parts so they can be cast with a consistently high level of quality. We recently sat down with Jeff Taylor, a casting engineer at The…
Read MoreEverything you always wanted to know about casting… but were afraid to ask
Casting is a complex art and science that dates back several thousand years. So it’s not surprising that it has its own world of specialized terminology that’s quite foreign to the average OEM design engineer or purchasing manager. That’s why we created this casting terms dictionary, to shed light on the most common terms you…
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