TCaST helps your business grow.
Voice 1
Watanabe Engineering Corporation
Yoshihiro Saruwatari, Leader of the 3D and IoT Business Development Team
http://www.watanabe1886.com/
【 Company PR 】
Founded in 1886, Watanabe Engineering Corporation has been specialized in steel plate processing equipment, automotive steel wheel manufacturing facilities, industrial machinery and general purpose machinery for its long history of more than 100 years. We are also developing a new business incorporating 3D printing.
Rather than mass produced general products, we offer fully customized products made from scratch to meet the needs of each customer.
Our automotive wheel manufacturing facilities have a market share of 80% in Japan and also have been exported to the United States and Asian countries to explore global expansion.
Our achievement and future potential have been highly evaluated. In 2006, we were selected for an award as one of the 300 good-performing small- to medium-sized manufacturing enterprises to support future Japan by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
In the age of uncertainty, it is our mission to offer reliable support to our customers for their sustainable business.
In order to achieve the mission, all of us will continue to build the expertise so that every employee can make useful proposals that best match the changes in the environment.
1. What solution did you get with TCaST?
Many castings are used in our products, and the time to delivery of the castings has tended to be long. Moreover, the use of wooden patterns has led to consumption of time and cost every time a change is made to the shape. Storage space and asset management of wooden patterns have also been a heavy burden to us.
With TCaST, molds can be printed directly from a 3D printer, which significantly reduces the lead time.
We also no longer need to worry about storage of the molds which are now stored in the form of electronic data.2. What is good about TCaST?
Prototype castings are readily available, though degassing or some measure is necessary against the gas generated. Thanks to that, we can check the shape at an early stage. Moreover, the quality of casting surface and finish is higher than that in conventional sand casting.
We are now going to pour effort in a new business incorporating 3D printing.
By using 3D printers, we can solve issues related to procurement of castings; which will enhance our strength in the market as a machinery manufacturer.3. What do you expect more with TCaST?
We hope that manufacturing using 3D printers will become the norm, where TCaST will have more and wider applications.
It will be ideal if manufacturing using 3D printers be widespread by engineers who really understand the true advantage of 3D printers, not as a mere replacement of skilled workers who are retiring.
【 Company PR 】
Hyuga Casting, established in 1949, is a specialist of casting copper and aluminum alloys and provides integrated production from manufacture of wooden patterns to casting and machining, with technological capabilities that have been ever developed.
We can cast up to 900 kg of copper alloy, and are especially good at middle- to large-size (20 to 150 kg) casting of aluminum alloy.
With the combined use of general purpose machines and numerical control machines, we deliver an increasing number of products in fully finished form.
1. What solution did you get with TCaST?
It is very time consuming to manufacture wooden patterns and then modify them for a change. With TCaST, we can readily obtain prototype molds and check the shape before making the molds for mass production.2. What is good about TCaST?
TCaST enables prototyping. Moreover, the casting surface quality is higher than that available with existing sand molds. The data-based casting also leads to excellent dimensional accuracy.3. What do you expect more with TCaST?
It will be great if 3D printing materials, not just TCaST, will be available at lower prices. For a casting manufacturer, the cheaper the better.
Voice 3
Japan Excel-Management Consulting Co., Ltd.
Koji Hasegawa, Casting Technology Consultant
https://www.jemco.co.jp/
【 Company PR 】
Technical consulting business by Japan Excel-Management Consulting
Supporting Japanese manufacturing with "maestros of technology"
Technology supports manufacturing. Our "maestros of technology" help solving your problems with the technology.
We often hear that technologies originally owned by our customers have become no longer available to them due to the flux of engineers.
There are also an increasing number of customers who want to partly incorporate some external technology in their new business or product development.
There are many extinct or fading technologies, or you may be interested in technologies in the areas outside your specialty. Our "maestros of technology" can help you there in many ways.
Overview of the "maestros of technology" project
Retiring senior engineers who have high professional expertise second to none are available as your "technical consultants" and support you in solving technical problems you have.
More than 150 engineers are now registered and active!
☆☆We can help you if☆☆
·Technology originally owned by your company has become no longer available due to retirement of engineers.
·You want to reorganize the basics of technology, so to pass down the technology.
·You want to enhance the core technology by incorporating ideas and know-hows from other companies or industries in your new business or product development.
·You want to overcome a "technical bottleneck" in quality or yield, but you have no personnel capable of solving the issue from the technical aspect or training other personnel for that.
·Due to lack of engineers specialized in, for example, casting, your company has relied on outsourced manufacturers, gradually becoming short of various technical knowledge.
·You want to convey the spirit of engineers to young engineers or learn management as an engineer.1. What solution did you get with TCaST?
We have been working with Taiheiyo Cement to solve technical issues related to TCaST. In studying casting plans for the use of TCaST and measures against casting defects, we found various advantages. For actual manufacturing, wooden patterns are no longer needed, and mold-related costs and lead times can be greatly reduced. More efficient plant facility layout will be possible as the modeling process including core removal and mold removal can be simplified. Factory environment will be cleaner, and workload of modeling workers will be reduced, making casting no longer a three-D (dirty, demanding and dangerous) job.2. What is good about TCaST?
Casting with TCaST does not require pattern drafts, which will create new possibilities of products. There will be such an extensive advantage that various proposals can be made from the product design stage.3. What do you expect more with TCaST?
TCaST will be more widespread, as the speed of 3D modeling will increase. Further lead time reduction will be possible in the manufacture of consumables used in factories. Moreover, it will be possible to provide integrated services from data creation to finished products, and casting factories may be placed in an air-conditioned building in a built-up area. I am looking forward to the future development of this innovative technology.