Back in the late sixties when there were many foundries in the Midwest, I had an opportunity to work for a rather large foundry. The job itself was very interesting. I moved through the facility looking for ways to save the company money. By coming up with some ideas and implementing a few changes, the impact appeared in the bottom line reports. My boss told me that I needed to generate a minimum of $50,000 in savings per year. Coincidently, that figure was about twice my annual salary. Recently, as I looked back on those days, I wondered if any companies today employ people whose job it is to save them money. Then it occurred to me that efficiency can and should be everyone’s job.
For someone who would spend a good share of his life in metalworking chemistry, the foundry was a very good place for me to start. The transition from the foundry to metalworking made a lot of sense. I was able to understand castings before and after they were machined with an eye to efficiency. If I were to visit your machine shop I’d immediately look for ways to save your company money.
When looking to shrink costs and expand profit, coolants often come to mind first. Maybe that’s because I’ve been involved in coolants for more than 25 years. It might also be because the effort needed to make a change is minimal and the rewards can be significant and seen almost immediately. Let me explain some of the ways every machine shop can save money, starting today.
If you are machining metal you are probably using coolant of some type. Depending on the type of metal you are machining and the operations involved, you may be using a synthetic, semi-synthetic or even a soluble oil coolant. How do you know what the concentration is when mixing water with coolant? For example, if you add one quart of coolant concentrate to 4 3/4 gallons of water, you could correctly claim to have a five percent solution—but not for long. In less than a day the concentration will have changed. During the machining process, water naturally evaporates leaving a greater concentration of coolant behind. Adding plain water is the logical solution but how much is enough? Add too little and you haven’t solved your problem. Add too much and the total solution will become too weak.
Saving Tip No. 1 — Refractometer A refractometer is the answer! A refractometer is a small optical device that allows the user to measure a liquid’s concentration. By placing a few drops of coolant on the tail piece, you can look through the lens and read a scale in much the same way you read a thermometer. When coolant concentration is too high, the machine is using more coolant than necessary and money is being wasted. When coolant concentration is too low, the metal parts being machined are not getting adequate rust protection from the coolant. If rust develops, profit is lost.
So, you can start saving money in your machine shop immediately by purchasing a few refractometers and testing your coolant concentration each day. Assigning this as a daily task for machine operators or supervisors is good way to make coolant efficiency a regular part of your shop’s routine.
Saving Tip No. 2 — Oil skimmer Let’s face it, coolant gets dirty and no one wants to clean out the coolant tank. I know this to be a fact because usually the person who gets stuck cleaning the coolant tank is the one with the least seniority. One great solution for this poor guy is not to clean the coolant tank as often. How can this be accomplished? Well, Navy vets will recognize the expression, “clean as you go.” It means keeping the coolant clean as its being used. If you can do this, the coolant will require less frequent changes and the company will save money.
Start by removing tramp oil. Tramp oil finds its way into coolant from a number of sources. It leaks in from gear boxes, conveyor and hydraulic systems, even from parts that have oil on them as a rust preventive. When you figure in tapping fluids and other oil contaminants, it can all add up to equal a lot of tramp oil. Removing this oil will help the coolant last longer and function better throughout its useful life. This in turn will save the company money.
There are almost as many oil skimming devices on the market as there are coolants. The best place to start your search for a good oil skimmer is to ask the expert, your coolant salesperson. The amount of money you spend on oil skimmers will come back to you with lower disposal costs and less down time. Skimmer prices vary in direct proportion to the effectiveness of the skimmer, so don’t be afraid to spend just a little more on a better quality skimmer.
Saving Tip No. 3 — Water treatment We’ve all heard the saying, “You have to spend money to make money.” Well, that truth becomes very apparent when you start to consider improving your water quality. De-ionized (DI) water and Reverse Osmosis (RO) water remove the impurities from your water and allows you to mix your coolant with, in most cases, extremely well-purified water.
In every case I have come across in the past 25+ years, when the quality of the water is improved, the amount of coolant being used is reduced by a minimum of 20-25 percent. From there, the calculation becomes pretty simple. If you spend $30,000 per year on coolant for your machine shop, you can expect to save at least $6,000 to $7,000 once you’ve installed a water treatment system.
Again, I suggest you contact your coolant service representative as they are in the best position to help you save money by improving your machining process.
Note from the author
If you read this column regularly, you have probably noted my suggestion that you contact your coolant salesperson for a variety reasons all pertaining to helping you improve what you are doing. You might think that I’m suggesting more than your coolant salesperson can deliver. The truth of the matter is that all of the salespeople associated with S.C. Chemical are thoroughly trained to offer assistance in every aspect of metalworking, so I just imagine that all coolant manufacturers would train their salespeople to this level as well. Let me just suggest that if you are not getting the help you need from your current supplier, it might be time to at look what else is available.
Saving you money by helping improve your operation is just part of what we can do for you. time.
This article originally appeared in Shop Talk magazine in February of 2007. Shop Talk is published
by Magellan Publishing.
