In today’s hectic work environment: Is it sometimes difficult to pin point what is the most important things to address.  To add to the complexity, there is always an inertia that makes us do things the same way we have always done them.  Finally it is not always possible to get a qualified second opinion regarding if what we are doing is done in the most optimum way. With the above points in mind we recommend to establish a short term project with the customer. Project Name: Technical Support Consulting on Extrusion Process Optimization and Best Practices Knowledge Transfer. Project duration: 1 week per month for 3 months. Project Objectives:

1. Training of operators in extrusion optimization theory. Audit of extrusion processes.
2. Assistance in development of an optimization strategy.
3. Recommendations to management on potential areas of improvement: optimization of aging ovens, High Speed Alloys, etc.
4. Discussions with customer regarding best practices for their processes.

Benefits for the extruder: Press line optimization is one of the most important factors for the bottom line. We offer our technical help in order to assist the client with:

• Develop a clear idea of improvements potential for the extrusion lines.
• Optimize and document which optimum kg/hr can be obtained with the current press/alloy combination.  From personal experience doing this type of optimization work, it is normal to achieve a productivity increase between 5 and 10% depending on the press, alloys and peripheral equipment design. To put this into perspective.  For a press line that runs at 1500 kg/hr net (5 days a week), an increase of 10% in net press productivity yields approximately an extra 330,000 euros/year/press for the organization.
• Implement in the company a strategy / system of continuous optimization for the presses.
• Train operators in optimization techniques and assist them apply the theory to their daily work.
• Help with creative discussions about what future strategy / possibility would be best suited for improvements in press productivity beyond what is possible today.

In the following chart we can see the benefits that are obtained when the productivity is increased in one press line with a net productivity of 1500 kg/hr. It is our experience that it is often possible to extract between 5 to 10% more productivity out of existing press lines. As can be seen in the graph bellow, for a customer with one press line this amounts could total $330K Euros/year in extra gains.