Cursing the Status Quo
Two years ago, Brown made another leap, purchasing Magma solidification software for his 250-employee job shop.

“For our size metalcasting facility, it’s not common to have solidification software because it is expensive, but I think it’s the way to go,” Brown said. “We just bit the bullet, and it’s been a cost-savings for us.”

Brown hopes incorporating solidification software will strengthen the company’s ability and position in the prototyping market. But prototyping wasn’t the main reason for purchasing solidification software. BCI uses it daily on difficult jobs. A full-time associate is dedicated to running the simulations, which are set up during the day and then run at night

“We rank our jobs from 1 to 10, 10 being the most difficult,” Brown said. “On jobs 7 and above, we try to run a simulation before producing samples. If you don’t put a full time person on it, it will not pay for itself.”

Solidification simulation played a role in a scrap reduction initiative that Brown tackled when he became president in 2006. (His father James E. Brown is the company’s CEO, and his mother Maryln Brown is corporate secretary.) JB Brown had been director of operations prior to taking the helm and hired Dan Hirsch as his replacement with the express purpose of lowering scrap and keeping it lowered. Scrap rates, which consistently ranged between 8 and 13% before Hirsch was hired, were reduced to below 6% in 2008. For the first quarter of 2009, BCI’s scrap rate was 4.9%.

“That’s because of teamwork, [simulation software], being disciplined and being extreme in doing analysis,” Brown said. “To have scrap under 5%? I’m thrilled with it. I never thought we’d get there. But it’s because of extremism—that’s the only way it gets done.”