In tough financial times, cost savings are nice, but making more money is brilliant! This was the emphasis of the 2009 North American User Group Meeting on September 16-17, 2009.
North American MAGMA User Group Meeting 2009
In tough financial times, cost savings are nice, but making more money is brilliant! This was the emphasis of the 2009 North American User Group Meeting. Attendance for the meeting was higher than the previous year, with a total of 87 participants.
The meeting opened with a conceptual idea of how cost savings are viewed. This laid the groundwork for the first guest speaker, Doug Dallmer from CMS Associates. Doug showed the group how “Activity Based Costing” is a good approach for determining from where foundry costs really come. Brad Harris from Bremen Castings followed Doug with an example of how using MAGMASOFT® to reduce sampling can lead to big cost savings. Vadim Pikovich from Oshkosh Corporation showed the group that, when simulation is incorporated into the design process, parts go to production faster, and redesigns as well as engineering support efforts are reduced. Vadim defended these claims with some interesting examples of fabrication to casting conversions. Scott Phillips from Hendrix Manufacturing shared some fabrication-to-cast work that has yielded steel machinery components with higher strength and improved versatility, all at a lower cost.
The meeting shifted into high gear when Al Spada from AFS gave an explosive presentation on “Competing Globally”. Al compared U.S. foundries to those in the other major casting producing countries. This gave users a chance to gauge their productivity, wages, efficiency and use of technology. Dennis Barter from John Deere presented some success stories which showed that MAGMASOFT® can lead to cost savings far greater than the cost of the software. He went on to share a valuable quote with the group: “Lesson learned: cost avoidance is preferred to cost savings.”
To finish the first day, Eric Johnson from John Deere Technology Center shared his work on using neutron diffraction to measure residual stress and the very good agreement achieved with MAGMAstress results. Brian McClory from GM Powertrain complimented this with a presentation on stress and property mapping in iron engine blocks.
Day two of the meeting started with small group sessions and customer presentations covering topical themes around iron, non-ferrous, and steel casting, as well as high pressure die casting and MAGMAfrontier. The joint afternoon sessions began with a presentation from Dr. Von Richards, who explained how MAGMASOFT® is utilized at the Missouri University of Science and Technology to educate the foundry engineers of the future. In the second and real eye-opening presentation, invited guests from MPP&W informed the audience about a research tax credit program that U.S. customers can take advantage of.
This year the following speakers were chosen for “best in class presentations” from each of the four small groups: Iron – Bill Kasmer from Wellsville Foundry, Steel – Ahmed Figueroa from Hensley Industries, Non-Ferrous – Orlando Nino from NEMAK, and HPDC – John Jekl from Meridian Technologies. This year’s grand prize winner was Ahmed Figueroa. Ahmed showed an impressive breakdown of exactly how much cost savings were realized over a period of time, as well as some examples of how this was accomplished and how Hensley intend to continue along this path of success.
The meeting wrapped up with a group of kiosks where MAGMA staff was available to answer questions and provided live demonstrations of MAGMA5. Thanks go out to all customers who participated, but especially to those who presented. After all, it is you, the USER that make this meeting what it is.
The meeting opened with a conceptual idea of how cost savings are viewed. This laid the groundwork for the first guest speaker, Doug Dallmer from CMS Associates. Doug showed the group how “Activity Based Costing” is a good approach for determining from where foundry costs really come. Brad Harris from Bremen Castings followed Doug with an example of how using MAGMASOFT® to reduce sampling can lead to big cost savings. Vadim Pikovich from Oshkosh Corporation showed the group that, when simulation is incorporated into the design process, parts go to production faster, and redesigns as well as engineering support efforts are reduced. Vadim defended these claims with some interesting examples of fabrication to casting conversions. Scott Phillips from Hendrix Manufacturing shared some fabrication-to-cast work that has yielded steel machinery components with higher strength and improved versatility, all at a lower cost.
The meeting shifted into high gear when Al Spada from AFS gave an explosive presentation on “Competing Globally”. Al compared U.S. foundries to those in the other major casting producing countries. This gave users a chance to gauge their productivity, wages, efficiency and use of technology. Dennis Barter from John Deere presented some success stories which showed that MAGMASOFT® can lead to cost savings far greater than the cost of the software. He went on to share a valuable quote with the group: “Lesson learned: cost avoidance is preferred to cost savings.”
To finish the first day, Eric Johnson from John Deere Technology Center shared his work on using neutron diffraction to measure residual stress and the very good agreement achieved with MAGMAstress results. Brian McClory from GM Powertrain complimented this with a presentation on stress and property mapping in iron engine blocks.
Day two of the meeting started with small group sessions and customer presentations covering topical themes around iron, non-ferrous, and steel casting, as well as high pressure die casting and MAGMAfrontier. The joint afternoon sessions began with a presentation from Dr. Von Richards, who explained how MAGMASOFT® is utilized at the Missouri University of Science and Technology to educate the foundry engineers of the future. In the second and real eye-opening presentation, invited guests from MPP&W informed the audience about a research tax credit program that U.S. customers can take advantage of.
This year the following speakers were chosen for “best in class presentations” from each of the four small groups: Iron – Bill Kasmer from Wellsville Foundry, Steel – Ahmed Figueroa from Hensley Industries, Non-Ferrous – Orlando Nino from NEMAK, and HPDC – John Jekl from Meridian Technologies. This year’s grand prize winner was Ahmed Figueroa. Ahmed showed an impressive breakdown of exactly how much cost savings were realized over a period of time, as well as some examples of how this was accomplished and how Hensley intend to continue along this path of success.
The meeting wrapped up with a group of kiosks where MAGMA staff was available to answer questions and provided live demonstrations of MAGMA5. Thanks go out to all customers who participated, but especially to those who presented. After all, it is you, the USER that make this meeting what it is.