A German technology group with 12,000 employees worldwide hired the interim manager to analyse and stabilize a production process that had recently become prone to errors. The company specializes in the processing of precious and special metals and produces, among other things, strands of a precious metal with a very high melting or solidification point. The continuous casting process used for this was no longer working reliably after several years of successful use. The employees responsible could not explain this. The company was under time pressure. There was only enough stock for a few weeks. Without new precious metal strands, the subsequent production chain was at risk. Very soon, the company would no longer be able to deliver - and would suffer a severe slump in sales.
Technical deviations in equipment and handling identified
The responsible managers and employees had already been searching for explanations for weeks without any resounding success. However, there was a growing suspicion that the materials of the equipment supplied and used for this continuous casting process might deviate from the standards. They therefore suggested that the interim manager look for new solutions based on these materials.
The interim manager immediately began by analyzing the materials of the components. As he did not find any reliable indications of the faults there, he quickly focused on examining the entire continuous casting process. In doing so, he identified a number of technical deviations in the equipment used and its handling.
Hitherto unknown cause of defects found and eliminated
In addition, he defined measurement and evaluation procedures that allowed a detailed analysis of the temperature behavior in the furnace and on the coolers during the casting process, which lasted several hours. From this, he developed a hypothesis for the development of defects that was not previously known to the company or in the scientific literature. Among other things, he deduced that continuous casting had previously been carried out at unsuitable temperatures.
In consultation with the management, the interim manager arranged for the furnace and its cooling system to be modified and defined new parameters for the machine settings. Once these measures had been implemented, he instructed the operational employees. After a very short time, significantly better cast strands could be produced.
Optimizing the continuous casting process saves costs and reduces rejects
The interim manager then began a series of tests that successfully led to further optimization of the continuous casting process. Thanks to the high quality of the cast strands, further process improvements were initiated, which led to cost savings and a reduction in rejects. Due to this success, the interim manager was commissioned to take on a further project to reduce rejects and increase productivity in the subsequent production chain.
