Customer Background
A leading global manufacturer of pistons for both gasoline and diesel engines for use in the automotive, agricultural, industrial, recreational, marine, and heavy equipment industries. They are based out of Wisconsin and are a joint venture of two companies in Germany and Japan. U.S. plants are located in Wisconsin and Indiana. There are also plants located in Germany, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, France, China, India, and the Czech Republic. Pistons are made from various aluminum alloys, which are melted in the company’s foundry. The company houses the entire machining and finishing operations for their products.
Challenge
The customer needed a cleaning solution for aluminum pistons approximately 85mm diameter x 40 mm tall to remove loose chips and coolant from the manufacturing process. The production rate was 240 pieces per hour and the pistons needed to be 100% dry upon exiting the machine. They required a process to recycle the water and a heating system to handle cold incoming water. All documentation and equipment needed to be in both English and Spanish.
Solution
Alliance provided an Aquamaster CB-600E conveyorized belt parts washer with wash, rinse, and pressurized heated blowoff modules. Special clip-on nozzles with screw-in stainless steel tips are positioned above, below and on the sides of the wash and rinse zones. Water conservation was essential so Alliance filtered both the wash and rinse modules for re-use along with pump forward filling. A U-bend return conveyor system sends pistons through a refrigerated cooling module in a cellular configuration. An exhaust fan, micro filtration system, and belt-type oil skimmer were also incorporated into the machine design. All labels, instructions, drawings and touch screen buttons are bilingual (English and Spanish).
