For over a decade, MEP consultants have helped companies avoid wasting materials and energy.  We are committed to making every workplace a safe and hazard free environment.  We deliver these services knowing any investment in environment or worker safety must provide a positive return on investment for the customer.  MEP consultants work constantly to assure that the solutions they help you discover are consistent with your short and long-term business goals.

MEP provides services to improve small manufacturer’s performance in such areas as –

• Environmental management systems
• Energy efficiency
• Waste reduction
• Material section
• Recycling
• Worker Safety

These services are delivered through a systematic methodology called Clean Manufacturing.  Clean Manufacturing seeks to continuously improve processes and products to increase companies’ productivity and lessen their impact on the environment.  MEP service providers assure that solutions are consistent with the enterprise’s goals.  The Clean Manufacturing approach works in concert with MEP’s lean and quality service areas.  Clean Manufacturing is based on a continuous improvement foundation.  Most services begin focusing on specific processes in a manufacturing enterprise.  The MEP consultant helps companies discover the causes for waste and develop an action plan to improve performance leading to greater profits and long-term business success.  Once the project is completed and the company has evaluated project performance, the MEP consultant stands ready to provide assistance to address other processes or move to a broader focus and begin looking at the systems that manage the business.  If the business is ready, the MEP consultant can help the business develop and maintain an environmental management system that provides even greater opportunity for sustaining a commitment to a waste-free workplace.

Clean Manufacturing provides a new perspective on achieving better environmental, energy efficiency, and safety results. Companies adopting Clean Manufacturing will manage these issues as business decisions. Activities historically seen as cost centers can now provide value to companies. No longer will companies make decisions based only on legal requirements, but also on the return on investment Clean Manufacturing projects can provide.

“Without the assistance of the Iowa Manufacturing Extension Partnership we would not have been able to develop a strategic action plan aimed at identifying and assessing the factors critical to successful integration of the new chemical binder system into our current operations according to schedule.”
Philip D. Bruno
Vice President - Technology

Sivyer Steel Corporation manufactures plain carbon steel, low alloy steel, austenitic manganese steel, stainless steel, and high chrome iron sand castings. The company services the recycling, construction equipment, mining, power generation, pump and valve, defense contracting, and transportation industries. The company’s 200 employees continue to produce and sell castings ranging from 5 pounds to 20,000 pounds to industries worldwide, resulting in over $30,000,000 in annual sales.

Sivyer Steel's chromite and silica sand usage has more than doubled to 4500 tons per year in response to market demands for highly engineered cast components. Chromite sand is used in the Apha-Set no-bake molding of steel castings to promote directional solidification and prevent sand defects in areas of high heat concentration. While Sivyer reclaims approximately 50 percent of its silica sand, continued increases in chromite sand usage seriously threaten the effectiveness of this operation. When chromite sand mixes with the silica sand during processing, it contaminates the reclamation efforts.

Sivyer Steel was considering a chromite sand separation system that would allow it to both purify and reclaim the chromite-contaminated silica sand, and also reuse the separated chromite sand.

IMEP, together with Sivyer Steel, jointly developed an action plan that outlined strategies, participants, time lines, and costs, aimed at successfully achieving the desired outcome. Then IMEP worked to identify, contact, secure resources, and coordinate meetings between company and technical resources.  Once resources had been selected and terms of the research had been agreed upon, IMEP managed the project according to Sivyer Steel’s schedule and project expectations. Working with its selected resources, Sivyer Steel assessed the factors critical to the successful implementation of a Furan no-bake molding and core making system compatible with its current operations.

Results

• Estimated diversion of 8,544 tons of silica sand and 2,880 tons of chromite sand from the landfill to be reused annually (savings of $376,992).
• Explored new opportunities for alternative reuses of foundry sand.
• Anticipated waste stream reductions of $7,904, corresponding cost savings of $160,624, and reduced raw material costs of $1,003,686.
• Enhanced competitiveness of the company by reducing costs and improving steel casting quality.
• Increased throughput in molding areas using chromite sand through improved recycling procedures.

MEP takes environment, health and safety seriously.  We provide the resources and knowledge to provide companies with a competitive edge.  MEP helps hundreds of companies each year reduce their waste output, on the job incidents, and legal obligations.  More importantly we keep our eye on the company’s bottom line and provide each customer with improved processes and procedures that deliver real impacts.