Pacific Alloy going green?

It is difficult for a foundry to be "Green" because we use so much electricity but we do try our best to use power efficiently. As part of our efforts to reduce our "Carbon Footprint", we are partnering with Power It Solutions and Southern California Edison to upgrade our electrical management controls with the newest generation of demand balancing equipment from Power It Solutions. Their system monitors and balances all large electric motors and electric melting furnaces for optimum production to reduce electrical demand peaks without curtailing production.

Power It Solutions describes the system this way: Spara EMS® gives users the precision control to significantly reduce energy costs without compromising operations. We captured the experience of hundreds of energy curtailment and control applications and packaged it into Embedded Operator Intelligence™, a potentially infinite number of user-selected rules that together become part of a synchronized energy management strategy that can be adjusted on-the-fly. Spara EMS carefully orchestrates all connected loads and makes continuous adjustments to maximize efficiencies while protecting operations through strict adherence to the pre-set rules.

Spara Price Response™ allows users to benefit from real-time and day-ahead pricing rates by automatically adjusting power usage based on the price of electricity. Using Spara's embedded pricing configurations users define different curtailment strategies to be implemented when the price reaches specific thresholds. When prices are low the user may opt for no or minimal reduction of loads, or perhaps even increase operations to take advantage of cheaper energy. However, as prices rise curtailment may become more aggressive.

March 2010

Pacific Alloy Casting Company Celebrates 130 Years in Business

Pacific Alloy Casting Company and the Leach family will mark 130 years of foundry operation and ownership on March 17, 2010. Patrick Leach started the first Leach family foundry in Portland Oregon on this day in 1880. (more)

Pacific Alloy Reclaims Water

Pacific Alloy Casting Co. has joined the growing list of industries who are tapping into reclaimed water as insurance against water shortages that threaten the state of California.

“Our goal is to not be interrupted during a drought so we can continue to serve our customers in the way they are accustomed to being served,” said Pacific Alloy President James Leach.

The foundry uses approximately 275,000 gallons or 366 cubic feet a month of water for cooling towers, molding sand and landscaping.

Instead of using fresh water, the foundry will now used reclaimed water from the Central Basin Municipal Water District, whose pipeline runs past the foundry’s property in South Gate, California.

Since California is in its third year of drought, Valerie Howard, the district’s public information officer, said reclaimed water projects are critical to secure regional water supplies.

Central Basin’s water recycling projects use water reclaimed by the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County for irrigation and industrial use at more than 230 sites throughout southeast Los Angeles County.

Pacific Alloy Casting Inc. Unveils New Website

Pacific Alloy Casting Inc. has launched its newly redesigned website at www.pacificalloy.com

The updated and expanded website provides enhanced visual content and a more comprehensive overview of Pacific Alloy’s quality cast products.

Pacific Alloy Casting Inc. is one of America’s leading manufacturers of abrasion-resistant, replacement castings for process and basic industries.

“Pacific Alloy has been a leader in the foundry industry for decades. We're honored to be helping them bring their extensive line of cast iron alloy products to the Internet,” said Sean Sloan of SSP, who designed the site.

“They have made a commitment to keeping their customers informed about their latest innovations in replacement wear parts and all aspects of the cast iron alloy industry.”

Customer feedback is essential here: if you have a comment or question about the Web site please feel free to write us at media@pacificalloy.com

Industrial Design students tour Pacific Alloy Casting Company

A dozen graduate students who are studying industrial design at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California toured Pacific Alloy recently to see first-hand how castings are made.

“They wanted to see what was involved in actually making something,” said foundry engineer Graham Jones, who guided the students. “Their job is to design it and that’s the end of it. The tour helped them connect the dots in terms of how to get from point A to point B.”

Jones walked them through the entire casting process from drawing to finished product. He offered detailed descriptions of materials used for making sand molds and the crucial role of cores and risers.

Students observed the foundry’s modern spectrometer used to determine the precise alloy compositions of metal and whipped out their cell phones to capture the spectacle of molten metal being poured into molds on the cope-and-drag machine.

 Associate professor Krystina Castella, who accompanied the students, said Pacific Alloy Casting was the first mass-production foundry that the students had toured. The foundry is one of five or six manufacturers the students will visit this term.

The purpose of the class is to explore various processes that are used to transform the products they design into tangible objects whether it’s a cell phone, a light fixture or a toy.

“They really enjoyed the tour,” Castella said. “They were really impressed with how educational it was. The lecture was very thorough and it gave them a lot of really good information.”