Cost Reduction Examples
CASE2 Recovery of oil floating on water soluble
processing fluid
What is floating oil?
Oil that floats because of the difference in specific gravity when coolant and oil are mixed together.
Because this is a source of nutrition for bacteria, it will become anaerobic by covering the liquid surface,
thereby accelerating the decaying of the fluid.
It is effective to remove this in order to control the quality of each type of water solution and to extend equipment life.
- Problem in floating oils
- 1, Solutions decay, thereby
requiring frequent replacement. - Increasing oil solution
purchasing costs - Increasing waste solution
treatment costs - 2. Degraded working environment
- Foul plant smells
- 3. Negative effect on post-washing
processes - Adhering of floating oil
- Benefits from recovering floating oils
- 1. Extended solution life
- More difficult for solutions to decay →
Reduced oil purchasing costs!
Reduced waste solution treatment costs! - 2. Improved working environment
- Improved working environment →
Resolved foul plant smells and improved
appearance - 3. Reduced processing trouble
- Improved product quality →
Improved welding problems and painting defects
Customer Concerns
Company A (automobile part manufacturer)
- To reduce grease purchasing costs, industrial waste-product treatment amounts, and treatment costs
- To extend the life of water soluble machining fluid
Present state
Uses a water soluble machining fluid soluble type
Replaced 3 times per year, but would like to reduce it to twice a year (late summer
and year-end)
- Company A machining equipment
[NC machine 24 systems; machining 18 systems]
Cost for using new oil per machine
(tank volume: Average: 320 L, diluted 20 times) - Amount and cost for purchasing new oil: 16 L x ¥520/L = ¥8,320
- Amount and cost for treating waste oil: Approx. 480 L x ¥48 = ¥23,040
- (Waste-solution amount: Includes amount to clean equipment)
- Labor costs and various fees: ¥30,000
- Total per unit: ¥61,360
- Total equipment new solution cost: 42 systems x ¥61,360 = Approx. ¥2.57 million
Our proposal
Reduced waste-solution treatment costs using
new recovery method and attaining longer
equipment life.
Before proposal
Conventionally, recovery was implemented using belts or disks.
However, only the oil in the solution that comes into contact with the repair surface
is removed; it is not very effective.
The two types in the photos above were efficient, and have become mainstream.
After proposal
- Floating oil separated into solution and oil
- Recovered oil
By removing the floating oil, it has become more difficult for the solution to decay,
thereby prevent foul smells from being generated.
We were able to attain longer equipment life, and to reduce the waste-solution treatment
costs.
At one automobile part manufacturer, we were able to triple equipment life.