Introducing
Bob McClintic
Die Casting
Consultant,
McClintic &
Associates
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First,
I would like to say that I admire Jim Hamilton and his numerous contributions
to the die casting industry. I consider him a fine and trusted friend and
advisor. His article was a "must read" for everyone who received
the magazine. I consider it an honor to be invited to contribute from my experience
as Jim so faithfully has through his presence in the die casting plants of
his many clients and to us, his readers. To Jim, I say, "good health,
and thank you".
Introducing: Bob McClintic, Die Casting Consultant, McClintic
& Associates
Bob began his die casting career over 35 years
ago as a Dynacast (multi-slide) machine operator at Diemakers, Inc. (Diemakers
is now part of the Intermet Corporation.) Over the following 13 years, his
skills expanded to support the growth of the organization and the technology.
Eventually the die casting operations expanded from the two Dynacast machines
to a zinc department of 18 machines, an aluminum plant of 3 machines plus
a hot chamber magnesium operation of 2 machines. The expansion included 2
new "green-field" plant designs with a lot of the innovations coming
from his experience. Bob trained operators, set up and maintenance people
and many of the supervisors.
In 1981 Bob joined Black & Decker, Fayetteville,
North Carolina as a Senior Manufacturing Engineer to support their hot chamber
magnesium die casting facility. "Robert Johnson (the department manager)
and I performed a 6 month turn-around on the facility with the existing work
force." "We repaired machinery and tooling and trained people. The
result was a 50% increase in productivity. We were able to drop back from
a 7 to a 5 day work week and shut off 2 of the 8 machines while maintaining
the same sales levels."
In 1985, Bob became the plant manager for a cold
chamber magnesium operation in Michigan. Over the next 13 years he would help
one company after another improve their technology and become more competitive
in the market place. "In one company, we grew from $25 to 45 million
in 18 months!" "That's a lot of new tooling and late night start
ups."
In 1998 Bob began consulting independently. "Numerous
friends and co-workers had encouraged me over the years to go in to consulting.
Finally in 1998 I made the decision to do it. My first big project was another
"green field" project. The design was a fine-tuning of one we had
laid out 5 years previous. It was also a "fast-track" project with
castings due out of the facility only a few months after ground breaking.
The facility was ready to pour metal 6 months after ground breaking!"
Since then, there have been numerous clients ranging
from New York to California and Mexico. They range in size from 1 to 36 machines
in zinc, aluminum and magnesium.
"The exciting thing about the business is
seeing the improvements people can make using the technology that is available
today. When I first started, process control was the second hand on a watch
and a very suspect pressure gage on the shot end. Now we can view the injection
process a millisecond and a few thousands of an inch at a time. We can relate
the process measurements to the final quality of the castings and make adjustments
that improve the quality both immediately and long term. The system is much
more reliable and this is reflected in the growing volume of castings used
in all types of applications."
In future issues, I will share a few of the lessons
I have learned the hard way. I look forward to hearing your comments, questions
or experiences.
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The above article
was first published in “Die Casting Management” magazine, December 2002.
Return to “Technical articles Index page”.
Contact information:
Bob
McClintic and Associates
Grand Rapids, Michigan
49534 USA
Phone:
616-292-0454
E-mail:
RMcClintic@DrDieCast.com
Copyright Bob McClintic and Associates: 1993 to 2024
Revised: June 27 2024