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This study explores aluminum casting processes' efficiency, focusing on comparing automated and semi-automated systems. Key factors such as productivity, quality, cost, and flexibility are examined to highlight the strengths and limitations of each approach. Automated processes generally offer higher efficiency due to their ability to operate continuously, ensuring better product consistency and reduced variability. In contrast, while initially more affordable, semi-automated systems may result in higher operational costs over time and require more human involvement, increasing the likelihood of errors. The decision to use automation or semi-automation largely depends on production needs: semi-automation is more suitable for small-batch production with frequent product changes, while full automation is more cost-effective for large-scale production with stringent quality control. Other factors, such as production cycle time, material consumption, machine downtime, and environmental impact, are also critical when assessing these processes. Additionally, the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metric is employed to evaluate the efficiency of both automated and semi-automated processes, identifying potential areas for improvement in terms of availability, performance, and quality. This analysis provides valuable insights into optimizing aluminum casting processes to enhance production efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure high-quality output in the foundry industry.
Keywords: OEE coefficient, automated process, semi-automated process, aluminum casting, foundry industry© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.