PRODUCTION SYSTEM

The American Casting Company Production System incorporates pull production methodology pioneered by Toyota and other Demand Flow companies  These methods emphasize the elimination of inventory waste, allowing us to offer the casting industry's shortest lead times while maintaining world-class pricing and continuously improving product quality.

Line Design

Our foundry uses fully linked pull production lines.  Departments and queues are eliminated.  All employees on a line are trained to perform any task the line requires, and equipment is situated to minimize the distance must travel while on the line.  Total travel distance is less than 50 feet.  The result is a standard process time of 2 days, as opposed to the 30-40 days for a typical foundry.

Inventory

Inventory is allowed only at the end of the line in the form of finished goods for our customers.  The non-value-added cost of holding work-in-process inventory is eliminated.

Quality

Detailed quality checks are made at every step of our extremely short process.  These checks are recorded on visual instruction cards.  Castings are inspected immediately after they are removed from the ceramic shell; any deficiencies are recorded and corrective action is identified and documented on the visual instruction card.  In this way, quality is improved continuously and with little or no work-in-process inventory to repair or replace.