Engineering Outreach earns Tulsa company Governors Leadership award

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The New Products Development Center at Oklahoma State University, along with the OSU Applications Engineering Program worked with Oklahoma company, Tonkawa Foundry, to increase sales and decrease energy emissions.  Thanks to the energy reduction efforts, Tonkawa Foundry has earned the prestigious Governor’s Manufacturing Leadership Award. 

Each year, Governor Mary Fallin bestows awards on a select few Oklahoma manufacturers in recognition of their pacesetting standards. The award-winning companies must be progressive, forward-thinking and willing to adapt to change to become more successful in their marketplace.

Tonkawa Foundry saw an increase in sales from $1.5 million to $4.5 million through process improvements and plan for expansion, while reducing their energy demand by 8 billion BTUs per year. The foundry is also expected to reduce its emission of greenhouse gases and health-affecting pollutants by nearly one million pounds per year.

OSU Applications Engineer Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Ph.D., and a team of interns from the NPDC helped with the task of mapping out an expansion plan that doubles the foundry’s production capability. The design - coupled with more efficient sand reclamation method - resulted in a net decrease in energy use. To offset some of the investment costs, the Applications Engineering Program assisted in the successful application of the USDA Rural Energy for America Program Grant.

An awards committee made up of manufacturing professionals selected winners from a long list of nominees. The awards were presented at the annual Oklahoma Conference on Manufacturing recently in Tulsa.