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Quality Control video
As a manufacturer of top quality product, Kohler Co. has one of the most comprehensive quality control systems in the foundry for immediate and full-service quality control. Kohler is continually pursuing and achieving the highest standards of quality in the industry. Quality that’s assured by thorough testing and monitoring throughout the
manufacturing process.
Sand Lab
All sand is analyzed and certified by the Sand Lab before it is placed into silos. During the manufacturing process, the lab continuously checks the sand for proper formulation and quality limits. That’s why Kohler is able to make and use only A-1 molds for production. To ensure consistent quality, the Sand Lab is able to analyze:
| moisture |
compactability |
| green strength |
permeability |
| deformation |
Methylene blue & AFS clay |
| screen distribution |
mold hardness |
| wet tensile |
loss on ignition |
| pH |
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Metals Lab
Along with the Sand Lab, the Metals Lab is a workhorse of the Kohler foundry. The Metals Lab checks the chemistry of every ladle to ensure its at premium quality for pouring. The Metals Lab is able to conduct:
- chemical and carbon/sulfur analysis
- microstructure and image analysis
- chemical composition, nodularity, microstructure content
- Brinell and tensile testing
By request, the lab also produces Materials Certification documents and test bars.
Corporate Lab
Unlike some other foundries that must rely on outside labs for detailed analysis or problem solving, the Kohler foundry can resource the on-site corporate lab should the need arise. This saves Kohler customers valuable time and expense. Areas of Corporate Lab expertise include analytical chemistry, engineering, metal/materials analysis and process technology. Furnished with state-of-the-art instrumentation and equipment, the Corporate Lab has hard-to-find in-house scanning electron microscope capabilities.
CMM Lab
Ensuring casting integrity is job one in the Coordinate Measurement Machine (CMM) Lab. Through industrial radiography and coordinate measurement testing, this lab verifies that castings, patterns and core boxes meet dimensional specifications. As an extra measure of quality control, the CMM Lab also performs preventative maintenance checks on tooling to make sure it consistently performs at top quality.
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