An Interview with Anderson Global CEO Mick North
Q: What are the top reasons why Permanent Mold Foundries reach out to Anderson Global?
A: I think there are quite a few reasons but If I had to list the top three it would be the following:
Reason #1: Customers come to us because AG is a Full-Service Turnkey supplier of Permanent Molds. By Full-Service Turnkey, I mean the following 4 process steps:
- Design for Manufacture (DFM) – The casting product will need to be developed for Permanent Mold. AG Engineers can review designs and make recommendations to make the casting process more robust and LOWEST COST over the life of the mold. Features such as draft angles, wall thicknesses and feature transitions will be reviewed, and changes recommended as needed.
- Simulation – AG engineers will simulate the casting process and design gating and riser configurations to achieve the lowest cost solution that meets the quality expectation for the project.
- Tool Design – AG Engineers and CAD designers will complete a full Unigraphics CAD model with all the required embedded standards to manufacture that design.
- Tool Build – AG Manufacturing Engineers will create the manufacturing processes to build the tools to the CAD models.
Reason #2: I find customers come to us because we are experienced and have a long history of supplying tools to Automotive OEM’s and Tier 1 suppliers. This means that we understand the business and manufacturing systems that you must have in place to supply to these very demanding customers. AG has a Program Management group that serves as the internal advocate for the customer and becomes the single point of contact that can supply critical information to customers when needed. I have had customers who have complimented me on our level of professionalism when providing timing information, project updates and hosting meetings in our shop for our customers client. In addition, we have the installed capacity and capability to handle a large volume of projects. That capacity includes 28 Machining centers, 7 of which have 5-axis capability.
Reason #3: Customers come to us is because of our broad experience in designing and building tools for multiple types of casting processes across many different market segments. We have built over the years…
- Permanent and semi-permanent Tilt Pour molds
- Permanent and semi-permanent Static Pour molds
- Permanent and semi-permanent Low-Pressure molds
- Precision Sand Tools
- Green Sand Tooling
- Die Cast Tools
- Core Box Tooling (hot, cold, prototype, production, etc.)
- Investment Casting Tools
It is this wide experience that has exposed us to the INDUSTRIES BEST PRACTICES and are applied to all the projects we build. This means that our customer who may be a specialist in one process will, through discussion and involvement with us, get an opportunity to learn about some different technologies that could help their business. We see this a lot as we bring on new customers. For example, one area of best practice we get questioned a lot about is that of cooling strategies for PERMANENT MOLDS. Over the years we have designed, developed, and built multiple ways of applying cooling to a permanent mold. When you contract us to design and build your project you get the benefit of that experience.
If you would like to learn more about Anderson Global and what we can do for you feel free to visit our website at www.AndersonGlobal.com. What I would really recommend though is to reach out to us and schedule a technical review of your project and we can give you our initial ideas on how we might move forward.