METALS TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS

	An ATI-led metalcasting program has generated an estimated $50M in savings for Defense Supply Centers.

Improving Performance of Products

ATI manages several partnerships where government agencies and industry consortia work together to improve and sustain the performance of manufactured products. These partnerships have received public recognition and awards for the results they have achieved.

Eliminating Weight and Increasing Strength

ATI, industry partners, the University of South Carolina, and the Army are developing production processes and uses for vanadium alloy steel. Vanadium alloys allow greater strength and lower weight. Prototypes are being manufactured for the Army to evaluate use of vanadium steel in vehicles, portable bridges, and other structures.

An ATI-led program to develop technologies to quickly create tooling for legacy weapon system parts enables suppliers to rapidly provide replacement parts to defense and industrial customers. An ATI-led program demonstrated a 21% weight reduction in steel trailers used by the Army.

Saving Weight and Energy with Copper Motor Rotors

ATI, industry partners, and the Defense Department are developing new processes for making copper castings that allow improved performance of electric motors and lower their weight. Lower weight is key for electric motors used in aircraft and hybrid automobiles. Prototype motors have been produced for evaluation by the transportation industry and the Defense Department. Electric motors are used in ships, aircraft, missiles, and track and wheel land vehicles. Improving their performance will have a huge impact on the DoD and across multiple transportation industries.

Solving DLA Backorder Challenges with the National Tooling Database

The National Forging Tooling Database (NFTD) is designed to provide supply chain managers with forging die locations. Given the length of time (perhaps decades) weapon systems can remain operational after initial production, it’s not unusual for the original suppliers to retire, move, merge, or go out of business. The NFTD provides information to fill in the knowledge gaps. NFTD saves leadtime and money, reduces risk, backorders, and “no bids.” Currently, the database holds locations for over 200,000 forging dies, with an estimated value of $4.1B. These numbers continue to grow as the NFTD team adds more data.

The usefulness of this tooling database is illustrated by a case history. “An aviation part was in backorder situation for almost two years because no one could successfully make the part,” DLA program manager Dan Gearing said. “During this time the tooling database was built and someone checked it. It turned out that the tooling existed and in fact some extra forgings were in stock, so a two-year-old backorder was solved in a month.”

Sustaining Long Life Products At any given time, the Defense Department has billions of dollars invested in complex systems (like aircraft and ships) that are inoperable while waiting for or undergoing repairs to components. ATI is managing programs to return the weapon systems to operational status. ATI, industry, and university partners are working with the Defense Logistics Agency to secure qualified suppliers and production processes for component parts for ships and aircraft that are operated up to 50 years. One project involved the production of an accessible knowledge base on casting of metal parts. “To date, over 9,000 copies of the Design For Casting CD-ROM have been distributed to designers, specifiers, buyers, supply centers, and die casters. The die casting design, technology, and procurement data provided by this tool offer quality, best acquisition cost, and shorter lead times for improved readiness.” North American Die Casting Association, 2006

The before and after diagrams above illustrate a forge shop material workflow improvement based on a PFAST analysis report. Reduced Leadtimes through Job Shop Lean Lean methodologies in manufacturing are well-established, but applications are tailored for higher volume processes. The Forging Defense Manufacturing Consortium (FDMC), funded by the Defense Logistics Agency, and Ohio State University have partnered to adapt lean principles to the jobbing characteristics of forges. Ohio State’s Production Flow Analysis Simplification Toolkit (PFAST) algorithm is the heart of Job Shop Lean. It accepts existing process flow maps and analyzes opportunities for flow simplification, presenting alternatives for re-arranging process steps and/or process equipment. Ohio State graduate students have worked with Ulven Forging, Consolidated Industries, Weber Metals, and SIFCO in recent months as test-beds for the PFAST algorithm. In each case, work-in-process and leadtimes were reduced for the selected forgings. Costs were also tracked and reduced.