5 Advantages That Make State Line Foundries Worth A Look

5 advantages that make State Line Foundries worth a look

When you need a quick delivery or complex, technically challenging castings produced, where can you turn?

Most large, automated foundries shy away from such projects, preferring to focus on the “sure thing” of high-volume, low-cost commodity castings to keep their large pouring infrastructure busy. On the other end of the scale, most small “mom-and-pop” foundries lack the technical expertise to be successful with these demanding projects.

At State Line Foundries, we welcome challenging casting projects.

We’ve assembled a unique set of capabilities that enable us to quickly produce technically complex prototypes and production castings with an exceptional track record of success.

Here are five reasons why State Line is worth a closer look:

1. Short lead times/flexible production

We’ve developed systems that enable us to move castings into production quickly. We use concurrent processes to reduce the time required to get your parts set up and running in our foundries.

Once we have a purchase order for a new product launch, we put a pattern into production immediately. At the same time, we run mold flow analyses to help us determine the optimal locations for gating. Plus, we move the project into our pattern setup process.

We’re more accommodating than most foundries when it comes to emergency part needs. We’ll squeeze these requests into our production schedule quickly, ensuring that you get the castings you need, fast – minimizing any disruptions to your production schedule. We have multiple melting furnaces and molding lines, so we can accommodate most short lead-time requests.

We’re also organized for speed and flexibility on the foundry floor: Our line changeover time is extremely fast. We’re set up to pour any alloy on any day. No waiting days or weeks for us to switch over to the material you need for your parts.

2. Highly responsive

We’ve organized our front office operations to be extremely responsive to our customers’ needs.

“We respond to quote requests and acknowledge orders within 24 hours. We answer customer emails within an hour. And we resolve casting quality issues fast,” explains State Line Foundries President Jesse Milks. “During the last 20 years, we’ve instilled this customer-centric mindset in our entire staff. It’s been the key to our growth,” he adds.

OEMs appreciate State Line’s depth of expertise in all aspects of the prototyping and casting process. “Many of the people we work with in engineering and procurement positions no longer have deep knowledge of foundry processes and materials. They trust us to provide them with advice on how to produce their castings successfully and cost-effectively,” Milks emphasizes.

The rest of the company is also optimized for speed and responsiveness. Our engineering, quality and foundry teams work collaboratively, which keeps delays to a minimum. Our streamlined processes and checklists keep projects moving quickly through pre-production, so we can quickly move your castings into production.

3. Capabilities of a high-end foundry

Most foundries that produce castings in the same size range don’t have all of the capabilities that we do. “We provide the breadth of services of a large foundry in a short-run, specialty casting environment,” Milks clarifies.

From an in-house lab and Magma flow simulation software to deeply experienced engineers and toolmakers backed by solid, proven processes, we have all the tools we need to create high-quality, high-end castings.

4. A large size range of castings

We can build tooling and pour a large variety of casting sizes and complexities, from 1 lb. to 2,500 lbs. That enables you to consolidate more of your casting production with fewer foundries.

5. Complex, highly technical castings

If your castings are complex or have highly technical requirements, we can help you to produce them. From unique alloys – such as high-silicon molybdenum ductile iron to austempered ductile iron – highly cored castings and those with strict quality requirements, we’re willing to take them on.

Our foundries have all the standard in-house lab testing capabilities needed to certify the chemical, mechanical and dimensional attributes of a casting in real time – without delays waiting on outside lab results. Depending upon the end-use application of the castings, we can do X-ray scanning or section them to check for internal porosity.

“We love a challenge, especially the types of projects that require more time and diligence to get them right,” Milks says.

The bottom line

State Line Foundries has carved out a niche in between the large, automated, high-production foundries and small shops that have limited capabilities. We offer the capabilities of a large foundry in a smaller, more responsive, short-run package.

Contact us today to discuss your casting needs.

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