Month: May 2011

The design engineering teams from CWM and Cast Products collaborated on a new die cast product, a conversion from plastic to zinc. The results were an innovative product design and an award from the North American Die Casting Association for the design’s ingenuity, cost savings and overall quality.

The award was given in the “under 6 oz. non-electroplated” category and was presented at NADCA’s 2011 Die Casting Congress held in Columbus, Ohio.

Converted from ABS plastic to zinc die casting, the product’s durability and performance was greatly enhanced. The casting is used to hold a camera onto an interactive whiteboard. The camera picks up infrared light from the whiteboard and sends it to a computer. To accurately capture this, the camera had to be rigidly held in place. High product demand created an aggressive timeline to produce parts. The design teams met the challenge and samples were approved for production in just 5 weeks.

Chicago White Metal Casting was founded in 1937 in a loft building in the center of Chicago by Walter G. Treiber, Sr. and Samuel Gullo. As a custom die caster of recyclable alloys, the company operates today under 2nd & 3rd-generation Treiber family management from a modern 136,000 sq. ft. facility in Bensenville, Illinois.

From Zn to Al to Mg and Beyond. An early adopter of thin-wall zinc technology for hot-chamber die casting, CWM promoted Zn for complex, lighter-weight and lower-cost parts. With the addition of cold-chamber aluminum die casting machines, CWM soon integrated successive porosity-reduction techniques into Al part production. Today CWM engineers are leveraging the processing predictability of the Magmasoft® die casting software simulation system to optimize net-shape aluminum die cast components.

A Pioneer in Hot-Chamber Mg Production. CWM became a pioneer in hot-chamber magnesium die casting as the first North American custom die caster to offer this advanced, faster-cycling process. Its Mg experience has set the standard for close-toleranced, thin-wall, net- and near-net shape Mg housings: it operates the largest custom hot-chamber Mg department in North America. And today the cost-efficiency of miniature Zn & ZA-8 die casting is now offered.

High-precision in-house CNC machining, as well as complete contract manufacturing and assembly, became a part of CWM’s broadened services. CWM and its divisions are ISO 9001 registered and its environmental management systems 14001 registered, with best-in-class environmental practices recognized by EPA. For more on CWM capabilities, see the Capabilities Section.

House Majority Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam, a Wheaton IL Republican who represents the state’s 6th Congressional District, toured suburban Chicago businesses recently— later highlighting their plights before members of the local media.

At Chicago White Metal Casting in Bensenville, President and CEO Eric Treiber told the congressman the 240-person company has an employee who dedicates more than half of his time to complying with government regulations.

Regarding proposed new federal regulations Treiber said, “It’s a challenge to remaining competitive and profitable. It means trouble for new jobs and we’re not going to be able to invest in new equipment, new training.”

At a breakfast with the Greater Elgin-O’Hare Association of area businesses, Roskam described the federal government’s interactions with the economy on three broad levels — through legislation, spending and regulation.
“The final area is on the regulatory side, where new regulations can be unnecessary job killers,” Roskam said.

“Everyone is looking for remedies, everyone is looking for solutions on how to create more growth. We’ve got to grow the economy, not just cut government. We can do this.”