Blue Ridge Pressure Castings

[kscarbel]

I thought it might interest some to mention Blue Ridge Pressure Castings. This successful American company is interwoven into the history of Mack Trucks, having cast countless components for the company from 1946 onwards including the Mack half-dogs.

In fact, on November 2, 1984, both Mack Trucks Chairman Alfred W. Pelletier and Blue Ridge Pressure Castings, Inc. Owner and President A. Donald Behler received the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America (Minsi Trails Council), the highest Boy Scout award given to volunteers.

 

(Mack Trucks began a tradition of involvement with the Boy Scouts of America after Eagle Scout recipient Zenon C.R. Hansen took over the company’s helm on January 7, 1965)

http://www.blueridgediecasting.com/html/product-examples.html

_________________________________________________________

June 21, 1990 / The Morning call

In 1946, few people took notice that year when a pair of New Jersey Zinc Co. employees rented a cattle barn at the Carbon County fairgrounds in Lehighton, opened Blue Ridge Pressure Castings Inc. and developed die casting that they deemed "high quality."

"There are no secrets to quality," A. Donald Behler, president of Blue Ridge and son of its co-founder, said recently. "Quality takes dedication and persistence from the top on down."

Today, Ford fights against Japanese imports by deeming quality "Job 1."

And the company founded by Allen B. Behler and Thomas C. Wilson is still die casting high-quality parts for automobiles, trucks, appliances and computers.

Mack Trucks, General Motors, IBM and Ford are among the top customers at Blue Ridge, which is now owned by Donald Behler. Andrew D. Behler, grandson of the co-founder, is project engineer.

Andrew Behler said there are misconceptions about quality circles, which are employee groups designed to discuss product problems. "In themselves, they probably won't improve quality in an organization," Behler said. "You have to buy state-of-the-art equipment; employ the proper procedures and technology, and have the ability to measure."

Quality was an important issue from the time the eldest Behler and Wilson purchased surplus war equipment from the government following World War II and settled in Lehighton.

Allen Behler had been a metals investigator for New Jersey Zinc, where he was involved in testing and developing Zamak 3 and 5, zinc alloys used in die casting.

The eldest Behler, always an innovator, made Blue Ridge one of the first die casters to implement the vacuum process that withdraws air from a die cavity before injecting metal.

Having outgrown the cattle barn, the business moved across Bridge Street to the Lehighton Industrial Park in 1953.

Six expansions later, the facility now measures 70,000 square feet and houses a machine shop and 18 die-casting machines measuring between 1,200 tons and 150 tons.

Originally started as a brass die caster, Blue Ridge remains one of the largest custom brass die casters in the United States, with annual sales of up to $20 million, according to the Pennsylvania Directory of Manufacturers.

But brass is now only about 35 percent of its business, Don Behler said. Today, about 50 percent of Blue Ridge's business is in aluminum and the balance is in zinc.

In total, the company makes as much as 8 million pounds of metal parts per year.

But changes in manufacturing methods have increased the market for high-quality parts.

The just-in-time process of delivering parts for immediate assembly rather than storage means that die-casted materials must not be flawed.

"In 1988, we were the first customer to be certified by Allison Transmissions," said Andrew Behler, the project engineer. "They sent a six-person team here over a year to inspect us. We supplied them for six months without a rejected part.

"With companies today using just-in-time delivery, no one can afford defective parts."

A dedication to quality is what makes Blue Ridge different from other die casters.

For years, Blue Ridge made the famous bulldog hood ornament, half dogs, "Mack" letters and side hood script for Mack Trucks.

But that contract ended recently when the financially ailing truck maker decided to make the half dogs, letters and script out of plastic rather than metal.

At every step of the process -- from blue print to shipping -- Blue Ridge makes an inspection for quality.

"There are four main potential problems that we deal with," said Andrew Behler: "the mold, the temperature, the pressure and the velocity that the metal is shot into the mold.

"What we've done in recent years is to apply electronics and computers to a foundry.

"We now have custom-designed microprocessors that correlate product quality with production. Then we have a group of people who do hands-on quality control to integrate the process."

Because of the speed of the molding process, the 200 employees at Blue Ridge spent much of their time studying computer printouts to assure that the product is within an acceptable range.

For instance, after bowling pin spotters are molded on a 1,200-ton die-casting machine, a robotic arm holds the product in front of a digital oscilloscope -- a special television camera -- which "inspects" the metal for any mistakes.

"Statistics are kept at every machine," Andrew Behler said. "The machine is stopped if the product is outside our level of acceptance. We then correct the problem."

At one time, Blue Ridge employed a quality control team. But today, with the advanced computers, the company uses about 18 roving inspectors over three shifts who are alternated from positions on the plant floor.

"The roving inspectors hold the same classification as other workers," Andrew Behler said. "In that way, all the workers in the plant are capable with the equipment."

Finally, Blue Ridge has a quality control room, where two or three workers operate a vertical arm co-ordinate measuring machine -- a computerized device which automatically takes 475 measurements on a part within 45 minutes.

Accuracy of the computer's eye is to 0.0002 of an inch.

"It used to take a couple of shifts to do that," Andrew Behler said. "Because of this technology, we can do more quality tests faster."

[rw613]

plastic bulldog ?????

[fullfuel01]

Plastic bulldog??????? Wthell

[2stacksuperdog]

Plastic bulldog?

[kscarbel]

On 3/25/2014 at 5:15 AM, rw613 said:

plastic bulldog ?????

The cast metal half-dogs originally used on R/U/DM cab doors were produced by Blue Ridge. They were replaced by a plastic version, Mack part-no. 230SX4 (chrome) and 230SX5 (gold).

[Lmackattack]

When did they go to plastic? I know the Mack hood script on r models were metal but are now plastic....

[kscarbel]

On 3/25/2014 at 3:08 PM, Lmackattack said:

When did they go to plastic? I know the Mack hood script on r models were metal but are now plastic....

Richard Knorr (R.D. Knorr Industries), a supplier, began providing Mack with the plastic front "Mack" lettering (3"- 230SX1 / 2"-230SX2) and side hood script (204SX105) in the 1970s.