Services • Consultancy

A Consulting Foundry

Sarginsons is revolutionising the casting industry through the cost reductions and improved sustainability from its unique digital twin and topology technology. All whilst improving product performance, reducing development times and remedying current production problems. The improvements are extraordinary.

Casting is the most complex of all manufacturing methodologies, causing other foundries to avoid its technical challenges, rendering the extraordinary potential of liquid metal engineering unfulfilled. Sarginsons technology exploits these design opportunities through breakthroughs in digital twin simulations, topological optimisation, designed deformation, accelerated cooling, eAlloys, and intelligent tooling. It's a whole new world.

Sarginsons is a specialist aluminium foundry but increasingly consults, with any requirement to produce castings, on product design, problem remediation, weight and cost reduction for other foundries and OEMs, thanks to its extraordinary technology.

Design for Manufacture (DfM)

The massive potential of Design for Manufacture is well known, but rarely exploited, in the casting world. Yet, the enormous design flexibility of liquid metal engineering, means the potential benefit is probably greater than in any other production methodology. And this should not be ignored.

Sarginsons technical advances, particularly digital twin simulations, take the potential gains from DfM in cast components, to a whole new level. By integrating these and other technological advances into the casting, machining and finishing processes Sarginsons reduces costs, improves performance and lightweights components to a startling degree.

Sarginsons DfM+ is a world away from that of other foundries.

FEA Mapping

Sarginsons can now accurately simulate TYE mechanical performance, or fatigue, at any point across a casting; this data can then be mapped and exported to OEM’s FEA meshes for dynamic crash and other analysis. These specific simulations render redundant the practice of using homogenised TYE data.

Sarginsons is the first foundry in the world to be able to precisely simulate localised mechanical strength, and the first to truly exploit the lightweighting and design advantages of Topological Optimisation. This represents a huge opportunity for OEMs to reduce costs, improve products and shorten timelines.

Sarginsons is happy to provide this data as a separate consultancy to the casting of components. Seriously accurate, seriously useful digital twin simulations.

Industrialisation Hub

The innate variabilities of the casting process mean the evolution from prototype to production component is rarely straightforward. But there is so much more that needs to be controlled, before casting production can be approached with total confidence.

Sarginsons unique Industrialisation Hub starts with its extraordinary digital twin simulations and Perfect Prototypes, but then looks to cater for every other aspect of 'running at rate' in full production. Alloy selection, heat treatment, CNC, handling, fixturing and so on are all optimised so that components are totally production ready.

The result of this process is that OEMs can access any foundry in the world, knowing they have a complete casting solution that is consistent across borders and skill levels. With automatic monitoring ensuring process compliance, this a totally revolutionary way to minimise cost whilst guaranteeing quality.

Perfect Prototypes

Casting prototypes are typically made using a different process than that used for production, creating different performance and mechanical characteristics. This can be problematic. And can lead to all manner of downstream problems, which the production process has to accommodate, losing time, threatening quality and losing money.

Through precise simulations and a raft of other unique technologies Sarginsons creates prototypes, that exhibit the same mechanical performance and attributes as production components. A simple and logical step that leads to all manner of benefits and economies alongside the peace of mind from knowing production performance is predictable.

Getting a prototype right first time is better. In every way. Which is why Sarginsons has made it a strategic focus to produce prototypes that are as close to right as possible.

Casting Remediation

Sarginsons experience with complex, geometrically challenging castings has given it a unique ability to 'fix' castings that are already in production. Problems created by difficult to cast designs, poor metallurgy, or processes frequently cause long standing issues, resulting in costly and uncertain component production.

Sarginsons ability to precisely simulate the mechanical characteristics of a casting, allows it to virtually test potential solutions, without interrupting production, making process remediation as pain free as possible.

Sarginsons is happy to consult on improving difficult castings, with no expectation of production, and has done so for many foundries and OEMs over the years; frequently surpassing expectations by improving other aspects of the component.

Good enough, is not good enough.

Rapid Iterative Design

Sarginsons breakthrough with Digital Twin Simulations allows rapid iterative design to be utilised in evaluating multiple design permutations; producing optimal designs by mimicking nature's evolutionary approach, particularly when combined with optimised topology.

By reducing the number of variables and narrowing the range of design options, Sarginsons releases the potential of iterative design in casting. The time consuming, expensive lottery of physically testing cast components is rendered moot through accurate, rapid simulations.

These simulations are further enhanced, by Sarginsons ability to produce prototypes that perfectly replicate the mechanical performance of production castings. Cutting edge design pushes technical boundaries without breaching cost and time limitations.

Perfect is the enemy of good, but that's no reason not to seek it.

Virtual Supply Chain

A unique service that ensures an emergency casting supply by identifying and pre-preparing soft elements, (PPAP, CNC programming) and finding rapid casting solutions, in advance, for those hard production issues (Tools, Fixtures). The aim is to determine a supply solution in the time between production ceasing and component stock exhaustion.

Whilst it is hoped that this service will never be required, the fact it exists serves to reduce the risk of single source supply, mitigating insurance costs, whilst improving peace of mind at a cost substantially less than of dual sourcing.

This service is usually independent of Sarginsons role as an aluminium foundry, although it usually operates alongside Sarginsons sourcing components from abroad.