Management of the regeneration process of the moulding mixtures in order to reduce the costs of the foundry type industrial enterprises

Abstract

Continuous improvement of the performance of organizations is achieved through good management and by adopting a management system that works efficiently and efficacious. Each production activity within an organization is part of a process, each phase of product development has a quality requirement, explicit or implicit, which must be met and whose degree of fulfillment acts on the next phases of the technological process. In foundries, the integrated management system is a strong point due to the complexity of processes and phenomena that take place in the technological process of obtaining castings. These phenomena and processes are difficult to control; a deviation registered in the case of one or more technological parameters can cause various defects, some of which can be noticed only after the workpiece is mechanically processed and finished. Every day, due to the production activity, the foundries evacuate a series of wastes consisting of slags, refractory linings, powders, and sludge, but especially foundry sand (mixture). Of the total of these wastes, the used sand represents about 70%. If for slags, refractory linings, powders, and sludge we have no choice but to store them in the dump, for foundry sand, regeneration is a viable option, successfully tested in many European countries and, increasingly, in foundries in Romania. The paper presents the possibility of using regenerated mold mixtures in casting manganese steel parts. We also present the advantages of using regenerated mixtures in casting this type of parts. Industrial practice indicates a decrease in between 35 and 65% in the buying and storage cost when using 50–80% of regenerated sand.