Revolutionizing Foundry Equipment since 1974

Gartland Foundry Reduces Lead-Times and Costs with Didion Equipment

Gartland Foundry is a family owned business founded in 1902. Bill Grimes, the third generation president leads the foundry operations in Terra Haute, Indiana. This 100 year old jobbing foundry's success comes from highly thin walled fragile and complex castings in grey and ductile iron. Gartland staked its future on a niche of quick turnarounds with investments toward maximum productivity and flexibility.

"We needed to lower our costs in shakeout and casting cleaning operations." Says Bill Grimes. "Based upon our experience with vibratory shakeouts and testing at manufacturers' plants, we chose DIDION to lower our shakeout and cleaning cost. DIDION offered the most efficient approach by combining shakeout, sand/blending conditioning, and double sand screening along with casting cleaning and cooling with their new MD-80 Mark 5 Rotary Media DrumĀ®. The media cleans the sand out of the cavities and between the fins so the sand stays in the sand system which keeps our finishing department clean. Cleaner castings at shakeout also accelerates casting cooling since the sand-free castings dissipate the heat quicker to the counter flow air stream. The media also acts as a heat sink as well as provides a protective bed for our fragile castings."

Bill said, "We were also impressed with the improvements on the new Mark 5 Design. DIDION really believes in and practices continuous improvements."

"The savings from lower finishing costs, less labor, cleaner work place, less maintenance, lower energy costs, and increased melting efficiency from cleaner returns have reduced our operating costs by 3 cents/lb. The reduction in air borne silica dust provides additional safety to all our employees. These savings continue long after the quick payback. The patented design provided us with the lowest operating cost/ton than any other system available worldwide."

Gartland is delivering castings in as few as 5 business days from the time of order, with 3-4 weeks typical across the board - cutting the industry norm in half.

To learn how DIDION Rotary Processing Equipment can improve the way you do business, please contact us today.