Automated refill monitoring for maximum efficiency
REFILL MONITOR is compatible with any make of holding/dosing furnace. It continuously checks dosing furnace fill levels against the metal consumption of the die casting process. It shows real-time insights, indicating when to refill, which alloy to use, and the required weight of metal-helping operators avoid downtime and maintain seamless production.
Successful pilot leads to full rollout
Following a successful pilot in 2023, LENAAL has gradually added more lines to the digital furnace monitoring system. This, together with investment in two additional casting cells fed by new Westomat dosing furnaces from StrikoWestofen (www.strikowestofen.com), has resulted in a 65% increase in production output.
Now all 13 Westomat furnaces – and the fully automated horizontal cold chamber die casting cells they feed – are digitally monitored, further efficiencies are anticipated. LENAAL is already impressed with the results.
Uptime increased by as much as 50%
Previously operators had to physically go to each furnace to check fill levels – a time-consuming process that sometimes led to furnaces running dry and causing production delays.
“We don’t have that problem anymore. We’ve seen between 25-50% more production uptime as a result”, says LENAAL Process engineer Jakub Pomajda.
A big difference to daily operations
In addition to dashboards used by the melting department team to monitor fill levels, LENAAL’s engineers also use the system to track and compare KPIs from each line, including furnace temperatures, dosing cycles completed over specific time frames, and average metal dosed per cycle.
Jakub adds: “I like everything about REFILL MONITOR, it has made a big difference to our operations. Best of all, it is very easy to use. As an engineer, everything I need for checking on daily tasks is right there in a simple dashboard so that I can report to my manager. It’s ideal for a busy die casting facility like ours.”
