THE saying goes that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. This is certainly the case in today’s manufacturing industry, as many businesses are starting to see scraps and residues as a valuable resource.
Wayne Carracher, recycling manager at waste processing systems provider Swarf-Tech, says the ongoing challenge is to educate the mindset of management and help them understand the value of effectively dealing with swarf.
“Generally, a company will have small bins at each machining centre to catch the swarf for transfer to a larger bin outside.
“At this point, a system can capture the discarded swarf and process it automatically, extracting the coolant or oil and pumping it into the filtration system for reuse in the factory.
“Companies often have a reasonably large production of swarf coated in oils, so by discarding it they are throwing away a lot of money. In much of the metal industry, it’s a valuable resource. Also, from an OH&S point of view, it’s much safer than current procedures because it takes away the manual side of it,” said Carracher.
Realising the benefits
Redmond Repetition Engineers manufacture fine tolerance fittings for the hydraulics, automotive and processing industries in Australia and overseas. With a large manufacturing complex in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria, and a constant stream of oil contaminated swarf flowing through their processes, the company has implemented a $120,000 swarf processing system.
Geoff Pennycook, GM at Redmond, says that the major area of cost savings created by the recycling process has been in the purchase of oil, amounting to approximately $24,000 a year. He also believes that there are many other benefits of recycling swarf, but they are mostly seen over a long period of time.
“When looking to purchase equipment to undertake recycling, manufacturers should concentrate on all the long term benefits to be obtained, such as cost and overhead reductions, elimination of OH&S risks to employees through the use of an automated lifting and disposal system, a cleaner workplace and savings in terms of labour.
We previously had a full-time person processing swarf from our manufacturing process, whereas today the total process takes two or three hours work over the duration of the week and can be done by any member of staff,” he said.
“Redmond operates in a clean environment that is at odds with the vision of a messy workplace. It has demonstrated that improved work practices does not cost businesses in the long term, but actually increases the competitiveness in a world market,” Pennycook told Manufacturers’ Monthly.
Solidifying swarf into briquettes is also playing a major role in creating cost savings.
According to research from Swarf-Tech, companies that remelt their metal swarf have reported that its value increases by as much as 15-20% in briquette form, as solidified swarf has an increase in melting yield of up to 25%.
Once briquettes have been made, there are a variety of options available for companies. Manufacturers can resell the solid swarf direct to a recycler (if a company’s production rates are high enough), deal with a scrap metal merchant, or reuse the briquettes in-house in a closed loop system. Carracher believes that if a company is big enough to have its own furnace, the best option is a closed loop system, due to the substantial amount of money saved on the purchase of raw material.
“Manufacturers should consider whether they have the ability to run with the capital expenditure. If so, many cost savings can be made with a closed loop system,” said Carracher.
Victorian based brake systems manufacturer, PBR Australia, has seen the cost benefits of in-house recycling. According to reliability manager Grant Forbes, the company has managed to negotiate a 20% price increase for aluminium scraps by reselling it as briquettes instead of loose swarf.
“Having a swarf processing system has brought a lot to our organisation, such as going from having trucks on our site emptying loose swarf in the bins twice a day to having a truck on site once a week,” said Forbes.
“We’ve also introduced coolant recycling on-site since discovering that 23% of the swarf we used to ship off-site was coolant. Now that we squash the aluminium, we have the ability to recover the coolant, put it through the filtration system and back into the machines,” he said.
South Australian company, Performance Industries, manufactures alloy wheels and also reprocess their swarf into ingots for use in the foundry. This occurs in two steps; the aluminium shavings are first compacted into small briquettes, then placed in a high temperature, EPA approved oven to burn out the oils and create ingots.
Ed Sanders, MD of Performance Industries, says that alongside a saving of $300 per tonne of recycled aluminium, the company is seeing benefits in the reuse of cutting oil.
“When we’re machining the aluminium and getting the shavings, the work is done on lathes with cutting oil. We’re able to reclaim some of that cutting oil when the swarf is compacted into briquettes.
You can’t see the savings on an hourly basis but by the end of each month, we reclaim approximately 50% of what we use. This helps us stay competitive,” he said.
Swarf-Tech 02 6496 1222.
Redmond Repetition Engineers 03 9360 9666.
Performance Industries 08 8294 9455.
PBR Australia 03 9575 2200.