Sometimes it can be really hard to keep track of every process at a foundry. Large production halls, complex production lines and casting in different alloys can make it difficult to oversee every step of the casting process and to make the right decision.

To keep die casting machines running at full efficiency, the dosing and holding furnaces should always be fed with enough liquid metal. 

Our new cloud based Refill Monitor is a perfect example of how to use the power of sensor data for perfect refilling just at the right time.

It continuously checks the fill levels of any dosing furnace and compares them against actual metal consumption of the casting process. Refill Monitor forecasts time and quantity of topping up metal. This means operators know in real-time when to refill each furnace with the exact amount of metal needed. This eliminates any risk of running dry or over-filling and the stoppages they cause.

Norican Digital’s NoriGate hardware powers Refill Monitor, capturing and storing sensor data for dashboard-based visualization.

The solution is designed specifically to deliver machine uptime:

• Get full transparency about all filling levels in real-time at a glance
• Limit the number of filling runs to the minimum. With Refill Monitor, the productivity of metal supply increases by up to 15%
• Average 0.5% - 1% overall productivity increase, by reducing downtimes and optimizing filling cycles
• Increase machine uptime by avoiding:
  • production stops from delayed filling of the dosing furnaces
  • refilling with the wrong alloy
  • melt not ready in melt shop
  • scrap from filling at too low metal level
  • overfilling of the dosing furnace (which mostly would cause production stop)