Waste Minimization and Cost Reduction in Process Industries

The complete process of iron angles processing; machining and coating by Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd. has been studied in detail. The different phases of production of the iron/steel angles include automation, CNC machines, Robo arms, overhead cranes and other mechanical equipments. After the straightening, shearing, punching, stamping, heating & bending operations are performed upon the different sections; each set of parts follow a sequence of processes. Once the sections are done with the machining processes, they follow the hot dip galvanization process. Surface Fluxing is the primary stage; followed by Steel Galvanizing and finally dichromate quenching. All the sections are arranged in their respective jigs. These structures or frames are handled by the overhead cranes and dipped in various tubs and lifted from them. Initially, the sections perform hot caustic degreasing followed by Hydrochloric acid pickling. Now these sections are rinsed in water and then soaked in a hot pre-flux. Before dipping into the Zinc tub, these sections are dried in the oven so that wet sections do not splash zinc off the tub. After taking out from the zinc tub, it is quenched in warm water. In the final step of this phase, all these sections are submerged into the dichromate solution to emboss a glossy texture. Here, in the whole coating process, it happens that the sections are to be immersed into various liquid tubs. So, when removing them out, many of the sections fail to be retrieved and remain inside the tub. So this decreases the production though negligible but with a feasible solution, it appears to be worth practicing. The objective of the project is to reduce the loss of iron angles and molten zinc during the coating of iron angles before dispatching.