Business View Magazine | October 2019

83 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2019 THE BUCK COMPANY to make their products in multiple alloys. We believe our commitment to improve processes and practices have given Buck a competitive advantage.” BVM: Any new expansions or upgrades on the horizon? Basham: “We will be one of the few jobbing iron foundries with auto-pouring capabilities. A new molding unit in the ferrous foundry will be accompanied by a new automatic pouring system instead of the traditional manual pouring system. With the unemployment rates so low the auto-pour will help reduce labor demands and employee turnover. The new line will be operational first quarter of 2020. We are planning to install more auto-pouring units on other molding lines in the near future. “Our finishing areas are being redesigned to increase throughput and reduce labor. Trim presses and automatic grinders are some of the new additions. The trim press will trim off excess material which otherwise would have to 3,000lb capacity; three 2,300lb resistance furnaces and four 1,500lb electric resistance furnaces. Furnaces in our non-ferrous foundry provide a daily melt capacity of 20 tons of aluminum and brass combined. We have three automatic molding lines, one 14”x19” and two 20”x24” in our non- ferrous foundry. “We have an on-site pattern shop consisting of CNC machines, that give us the ability to build some of our own tooling, where other foundries do not. Our engineering department has the ability, using our solidification software, to predict the way metal flows into the mold whether it is iron, aluminum, or brass. We also recently added a 3D scanner which can reverse-engineer parts and inspect dimensions on castings well as patterns. This helps us compare an actual casting to a 3D model which is typically supplied by a customer.” BVM: What characteristics give the Buck Company a competitive advantage? Kundratic: “We are a casting solution for a customer from beginning to end with the ability