Ken Teh, NCAP’s Maintenance and Process Engineer, comments: "StrikoWestofen has always provided us with excellent service and their furnaces are truly built for sophisticated, long-term performance, while also being simple to operate. To have a melting furnace that produces so much melt, so efficiently, and the knowledge that we have modernization options like this to keep it running so well; that’s what maintenance engineers like me love to see.”

The Nissan Casting Australia Plant (NCAP) in Dandenong South, Victoria, makes parts for Nissan vehicles around the world. Its primary furnace, a StrikoMelter from StrikoWestofen supplies 90% of total daily melt requirements. NCAP’s Maintenance and Process Engineer, wouldn’t be without it. Especially when relining delivers good as new performance. Read on to learn more. 

The melting mega-resource powering production. 
NCAP, a subsidiary of Nissan Motor Co. Yokohama, Japan, produces aluminum die cast parts for vehicle models across the Alliance Group (Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi). Operating 24/7, the facility makes and ships over 2.6 million die cast components a year – 70% of which are destined for electric or hybrid vehicles. 

Owning 14 die casting machines, 33 CNC machines, and over 60 robots, the site relies on adopting the best technologies from around the world. For Ken Teh, NCAP’s Maintenance and Process Engineer, one piece of equipment stands out. 

“Our main StrikoMelter was introduced in 2012 and is a true workhorse for the company, providing sufficient liquid metal - using a 50/50 mix of ingots and returns claimed and virgin - to cover more than 90% of our daily needs. It is the most energy efficient furnace we have, requires very little maintenance, and has high availability, making it a very cost-effective and important asset.” 

The perfect performance boost

To ensure the long-term performance of its StrikoMelter, Nissan contacted StrikoWestofen to request a service check, reline the furnace’s refractory and deliver a dedicated training package. 

Ken commented: “First, the StrikoWestofen service engineer visited our site to carry out a thorough inspection – applying his knowledge and experience to recommending improvements that we could make to boost performance. This is a smart way to operate as is means anything identified can be implemented during the relining or re-commissioning phase. We were very happy with the advice we received.”

Refractory relining that delivers results.  
Next, two refractory specialists from StrikoWestofen arrived on site to carry out the relining project. Ken added: “The specialists were professional, knowledgeable, and worked very well with our local team of technicians. The process is like a Swiss watch in terms of precision step-by-step assembly.”   
 
Once recommissioned, a performance test was carried out to measure everything from melting throughput to gas consumption, “surpassing all expectations” of the Nissan team. 

Training to optimise operations.

Completing the equipment modernisation package, a StrikoMelter training session was delivered by StrikoWestofen’ s dedicated technical trainer, offering advice on ways to optimise system availability and energy-efficient production.  

Technology + service = satisfaction. 
Ken added: “StrikoWestofen has always provided us with excellent service and their furnaces are truly built for sophisticated, long-term performance, while also being simple to operate. To have a melting furnace that produces so much melt, so efficiently, and the knowledge that we have modernization options like this to keep it running so well; that’s what maintenance engineers like me love to see.” 

Nissan continues to take full advantage of the modernization options and technical support available, with software upgrades and the introduction of a Hot Gas Baffle among the most recent additions helping this automotive OEM with its mission to melt aluminum as cost and energy efficiently as possible. 

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