Sapporo Kokyu Imono Co., Ltd.

　Since approximately 30 years ago when production shifted from cast iron to cast steel and other special steel, Sapporo Kokyu Imono added "furan self-hardening molding" to its original process of "green sand molding," relying on these two processes for production. In the time following, as orders for stainless steel increased, problems such as carburization and sulfurization occurred in these processes, and because they were not suited to grid molding, we introduced "VRH molding." However, due to the large amount of waste and casting defects, in 2015 we decided to introduce an environmentally friendly "alkaline phenol process" to resolve these issues.

　Although we started producing molds using this alkaline phenol process, we were troubled by the pungent odor generated during this process.This same unique odor was also generated after pouring and spread around the factory.  Director, Omura recalls how you could tell which employees had performed this work as soon as they returned to the office from the smell that remained on their clothes. Further, a large amount of steam is released when the mold is broken open, preventing employees from opening their eyes for a time afterward.

　KAO STEP SH-8020, a new product, was developed after seeking advice from Kao-Quaker regarding these issues of smell and productivity. We were quick to introduce this new product at Sapporo Kokyu Imono. At the time, we experienced warping in some of the molding processes. However, harnessing the experience we have cultivated over many years, we resolved this problem by improving some of our work process and ultimately succeeded in producing high-quality castings. This was the moment that Kao-Quaker's technological innovation and our experience came together to achieve a drastic improvement in product quality.