Computer control of pressure die-casting

The Ford Motor Company (Belfast) Limited manufactures pressurised aluminium die-castings for water pumps and oil pumps for the Ford automobile range. The paper describes a computer monitoring and control system, its development in the Ford plant, and the contribution which this system has made to improved quality in the components being produced. Initially, the system was retro-fitted to five existing die-casting cells but has now been integrated into the controllers for the new cells being delivered. Future plans involve the linking of the entire die-casting area into a computer integrated manufacturing system