Dear Sir or Madame-
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In this January 13, 2010 Publication:
Die Casting Industry Wages Slowed in 2009
ODC Manufacturing Limited Fined $55,000 After
Worker Injured
Castings Maker Intermet Corp. Closes Last 2 Foundries
Design Involves More Than the Product
Registration for CastExpo'10 Now Open!
Die Casting Industry Wages Slowed in 2009
The results of the 2009 Wage & Benefit Survey have been published. New for 2009 the
Survey comes completely downloadable! This is a fast and easy way to obtain such vital
information.
Since it is essential for your organization to thrive, it is important to recruit and
retain a top-notch staff in today's highly competitive job market. Your wage and fringe
benefit programs must be competitive in the current workforce.
The 2009 NADCA Annual Wage and Fringe Benefit Survey, is specifically designed for the
die casting industry. This report gives you:
• Representation of 39 companies in the die casting industry nationwide
• Detailed summaries for direct labor employees
• Wage rates for 13 key direct labor employees
• Analysis of insurance coverage
• Executive summary with annual trends
• Determining compensation standards
• Selecting fringe benefit plans and insurance
• Leading labor negotiations.
A glimpse into the results:
This year, the typical participating company had annual sales of $16 million per year;
utilized 16 die casting machines, employed 88 full-time direct labor employees. Six
(15%) were union shops. Less than one percent of the total production employees reported
were temporary. Almost 70% of the survey participants total employees were hourly
production employees.
Less than half the companies (23%) reported a general wage adjustment in the last 12
months but a larger percentage (28%) plan to make a general wage adjustment in the next
12 months.
The number of companies providing pension/retirement plans decreased to 28% overall, and
the percent providing insurance for retirees was 5%. While most unions do not provide
these benefits directly, union shops tend to have a much higher participation for these
types of programs compared to non-union shops.
Purchase NADCA’s 2009 Annual Wage and Fringe Benefit Survey at:
www.diecasting.org/publications. Make sure this survey becomes an indispensable tool on YOUR DESKTOP.
ODC Manufacturing Limited Fined $55,000 After Worker Injured
Barrie, Ont. - ODC Manufacturing Limited, a Barrie producer of die-cast parts, pleaded
guilty and was fined $55,000 on January 5, 2010, for a violation under the Occupational
Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after a worker was injured.
On June 29, 2007, a worker was operating die-casting machines. One of the machines
stopped. The worker put it in manual mode to examine it. The worker opened a guard door
and reached into the machine to reposition one of its components. The machine closed on
the worker's hand. The worker suffered severe hand injuries.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that when this type of machine is functioning
properly, it stops moving when a worker opens the guard door. At the time of the
incident, the company knew that the machine was malfunctioning. Two and a half months
before the incident, a supervisor warned the worker that the machine could keep moving
with the guard door open. However, on June 29, the worker believed the machine was
operating properly because no one had told the worker about the continuing hazard.
ODC Manufacturing Limited pleaded guilty to failing to inform the worker about the
continuing hazard of malfunction of the machine.
The fine was imposed by Justice of the Peace Moreland Lynn. In addition to the fine,
the court imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge, as required by the Provincial
Offences Act. The surcharge is credited to a special provincial government fund to
assist victims of crime.
Castings Maker Intermet Corp. Closes Last 2 Foundries
Intermet Corp., formerly based in Troy, but now based in Fort Worth, Texas, is
liquidating.
The company was once one of the world’s largest independent makers of automotive
castings, but has now ceased operations at two Virginia metal-casting plants, its last
remaining foundry operations, a company official said.
Operations ended late last month at the Lynchburg Foundry Co. in Lynchburg, Va., and New
River Foundry in Radford, Va., said the official, who asked that his name not be used.
To view the rest of this article,
click here.
Design Involves More Than the Product
There is no doubt about it — high-pressure die casting is a thermal process. The die
casting industry is seemingly satisfied to operate at 80% of possible optimum shots per
hour because of thermal designs or operations that do not test the greatest range of
heat exchange limits. The environment for effective and competitive design includes some
form of lean manufacturing, six sigma, 5S or Kaizen because maximum efficiency is
required for even the best design to succeed in today’s economy. To read more about the
broad subject of design for successful die casting and manufacturing of useful shapes,
read the January issue of Die Casting Engineer.
Registration for CastExpo'10 Now Open!
Attendee registration for CastExpo'10 is now open! CastExpo'10 will be held March 20-23
in Orlando, FL. To complement the show floor, CastExpo is held in conjunction with the
annual Metalcasting Congress, where the latest advancements in metalcasting research and
practice is presented every year.
For more information, please
click here.
