Rada Manufacturing: A Foundry 4.0 Center Case Study

Rada Manufacturing is a family-owned business based in Waverly that started making aluminum handle kitchen knives just after the end of World War II. They utilize a unique permanent mold process to pour molten aluminum around prefabricated stainless-steel blades. Quality has always been a key metric and they take pride in their American craftsmanship. Some of their operators have been employed at Rada for over 30 years, and leadership started to worry about what happens when their seasoned veteran operators inevitably retire. 

Objective

Rada reached out to The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Foundry 4.0 Center after hearing about their expertise in foundry processes. After a brief tour at Rada with UNI staff, it was clear that Industry 4.0 initiatives were of significant interest. Rada employs equipment in their foundry that uses legacy control systems. The UNI Foundry 4.0 Center suggested the implementation of low-cost sensors to acquire process data that would describe how the seasoned veterans are creating that high quality, American craftsmanship that Rada and their customers value.

Solution

With the help of UNI undergraduate students studying computer science, a system based on a DragonBoard single board computer was developed that allowed Rada’s industrial engineer, Alexis Leisinger, to collect data they had never had access to previously like aluminum temperature, die temperature and environmental conditions. This allowed continuous improvement practices to establish limits on each process variable, improving the likelihood that they create a pristine knife every time.

“This is the best step we’ve taken to be able to identify where defects are coming from.” 

 

–Alexis Leisinger, lead engineer

Outcome

Rada’s operators were skeptical when UNI staff first started hooking up sensors and computers to their casting stations, but now the culture is changing. Every operator wants to know more information about what is happening at their station and how they can use that data to improve their casting process. In this ongoing partnership, the UNI Foundry 4.0 Center is working with Rada to teach their maintenance staff how to expand their data acquisition capabilities to other workstations.

The UNI Foundry 4.0 Center provides services targeted towards demonstration, education and consultation in additive manufacturing. Learn more at mcc.uni.edu/foundry-4.0.