Plumbing Industry Case Study

Polishing Quality / Plumbing Industry

Background

An Ohio manufacturer in the plumbing industry supplying spouts for drinking fountains, and utilized in-house sand casting capabilities. Typically, parts were polished first, then nickel and chrome plated.

A Lofthouse Sale Representative delivered samples of existing, polished forged components for the company to evaluate. He was certain he could offer a superior looking product at a competitive price.

Challenge

Interestingly, the manufacturer was experiencing a rejection rate in excess of 10%, due to porosity after the polishing operation. As well, too much product was failing pressure test due to porosity, an inherent by-product of the casting process. Scrapping parts after casting, machining and polishing resulted in very high “cost-of-scrap” values.

Lofthouse was asked a number of questions regarding porosity, surface finish and “platability” of forgings.

Solution

Lofthouse modified the design slightly and produced the part using C37700 brass. Even though the customer paid a 10% premium to convert to a forging, the modest increase was quickly offset by a dramatic reduction in rework. Porosity problems were eliminated, polishing time was reduced, and ‘fall-out’ after polishing was virtually eliminated. After a period of time with forgings exhibiting consistently high ‘pressure tightness’ values, the company was able to eliminate the testing operation entirely.

From an aesthetics standpoint, the customer was thrilled with the appearance of the component. A smooth, shiny, consistent finish replaced the previous dull, often rough surface found on the casting. The conversion was an outstanding success.

We FORGE support and engineering first. ™