MAPCAN, the newest manufacturing plant in Alliston, may only have one product and one customer but it’s gearing up for a 24-hour-a-day, five-days-a-week schedule once it’s in full motion.
“We’ll be into full production later this year as Honda ramps up their engine plant,” says <link _top>Molten Aluminum Producer Canada (MAPCAN) president Brad Wilson. “They announced they’ll be producing about 200,000 engines at full capacity.”
MAPCAN produces the <link _top>liquid metal for use in engine blocks and engine heads for the plant across the road, and <link _top>ingots for shipment to the engine plant in Ohio.
With associates on the floor at the engine plant monitoring the levels of <link _top>molten aluminum in the <link _top>die-casting <link _top>holding furnace, there is never a slow-down in production waiting for materials.
“We deliver it directly to their <link _top>die-cast machines,” says Wilson.
In a joint venture between the Honda Trading Group of Companies (HTC) and Asahi Seiren Co. Ltd., a $16-million facility was constructed to house this unique supplier.
“This is a clean and green operation,” said HTC’s president and CEO Motohide Sudo.
“Material that could otherwise end up as landfill – household siding, wheels, cars and other <link _top>scrap aluminum – is recycled into quality built, four cylinder Honda automobile engines.
“Virtually 100 per cent of the <link _top>molten aluminum we supply to Honda will come from recycled material,” he said.
All <link _top>scrap aluminum is purchased from major <link _top>scrap dealers in southern Ontario, Quebec, New York and Michigan, says Wilson. “We don’t buy from the public. The <link _top>scrap we buy is already prepared, sorted and baled.”
“We expect that this uniquely ‘green’ and hi-tech facility will achieve the target of 0 per cent <link _top>waste to landfill and provide valuable support to the HCM engine plant,” said Wilson. <link _top>Carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by as much as 1,600 tonnes annually.
This is a priority for owners and staff alike.
When received, the <link _top>bales of scrap are stored inside to retain a clean look outside and to ensure the metal stays dry. If water gets trapped under the <link _top>molten aluminum, there could be an explosion, says Wilson.
Consequently, <link _top>front-end loaders and forklifts deliver the <link _top>scrap from the inside storage facility to the open-well reverbatory <link _top>furnaces. Care is taken to include the necessary type of <link _top>scrap.
“Based on batch, we’ll pick up so much of this and so much of that – each type of <link _top>scrap has its own chemistry,” he explains. “We blend it to create the two types of <link _top>alloys we’re making.”
Engine blocks are made with <link _top>high-pressure die casting and the heads are made with <link _top>low-pressure die casting. The different processes require different characteristics of <link _top>molten aluminum. What is consistent is heat.
“Our customer has very specific delivery temperatures – requirements we must meet,” says Wilson.
“We are delivering on a just-in-time basis, so we have to be very careful.”
The <link _top>molten aluminum is shipped across the road in pots directly into the <link _top>die-casting machines by MAPCAN. For the U.S. destination, 65 12-kg <link _top>ingots are bundled together before shipping them out.
During the <link _top>melting process, the <link _top>chimneys are carefully filtered with washable filters to clean the air before it reaches the outdoors. And in the <link _top>furnaces, oxides that are <link _top>skimmed from the melting metal are sent to a specialty recycler in Quebec to be used again.
