Management Course Subjects

The availability of professional development programs for managers in the Die Casting industry is a vital ingredient in any successful organisation.

It is not uncommon for people with little or no previous experience in Die Casting to find themselves in a position of management responsibility. Alternatively, people with years of experience in technical or production positions in Die Casting can find themselves promoted to a management position.

Whatever your background, these subjects will get to the heart of the issues that all managers of Die Casting plants need to master.

Running a Die Casting Factory

This subject commences with the topic “Who is responsible for Die Design?” This is a question which in many companies is never asked, and never answered. As a result, there is often a lack of clarity of roles which extends much further than die design.
Why do some companies continue to commission and operate dies which are poorly designed and can never achieve the required level of quality and cost? Until this question is answered, it will never improve. From there, the range of roles and responsibilities throughout a Die Casting plant is addressed. Skills, training and career advancement follow on, along with multi-disciplinary teams, key performance indicators, and other relevant topics.

Die Casting Maintenance Management

This subject deals with the planning and managing of maintenance services in a Die Casting plant, including machine and equipment, dies and factory infrastructure. The advantages and limitations of preventative maintenance versus breakdown maintenance are covered, including how to use a combination of both. Planning systems, maintenance inventory and skills analysis are examined along with other maintenance issues.

Managing Quality in a Die Casting Plant

There are many internationally available quality management systems that apply to manufacturing companies. These provide a method to audit and accredit companies to common standards. But they provide no specific help to people who have to manage a Die Casting plant. This subject builds on the fundamentals of the international systems, but targets the issues which Die Casting companies have to deal with. Setting up key performance indicators, collecting statistics, knowing what to measure and when are essential to improving quality without blowing the expense budget.

Safety and Risk Management

Safety is a major issue in any Die Casting plant and managers are responsible to devise the policies and procedures which will lead to better safety outcomes. Risk management is a technique that matches the severity of a risk with its likely occurrence and method of prevention. Following this discipline enables safety improvements to be implemented in a rational and systematic ongoing basis.

Specifying and Purchasing Plant and Equipment

Management and technical staff are usually given the responsibility for the selection and purchasing of plant and equipment for use in a Die Casting plant. However, this is far from an easy task. There are many different suppliers and they all have a large range of models and options to choose from. This subject sets out a systematic method to tackle this task with an emphasis on the key equipment required for Die Casting.

Designing a Die Casting Factory

When it comes to laying out a new Die casting factory, or extending or improving an existing factory there are many things to consider. How should the machines be spaced out, and in what pattern? Should a group of machines be grouped into a complete cell, or is it better to group like processes together. How should the services such as electrical mains, gas, compressed air, cooling water and vacuum be laid out?
All these issues and more are covered in this subject..

Management Accounting for Die Casting

The technician-level subject “Costing of Die Castings” teaches how to determine the cost of any individual Die Cast part, often for the purpose of supplying a quotation. This subject covers the higher level design of the costing system and the accounting system so that the financial reports are in line with, and able to support the costing system. If the costing system and the account structure is designed by people who have little understanding of Die Casting, it is unlikely to be meaningful to the people who need to use it. This subject concentrates on the fundamentals and shows how every company is responsible for designing its own management accounting and costing system.