The article presents the issues of costs analysis of iron casts manufacturing using automated foundry lines. Particular attention was paid to departmental costs, conversion costs and costs of in-plant transport. After the Pareto analysis had been carried out, it was possible to set the model area of the process and focus on improving activities related to finishing of a chosen group of casts. In order to eliminate losses, the activities realised in this domain were divided into activities with added value, activities with partially added value and activities without added value. To streamline the production flow, it was proposed to change the location of workstations related to grinding, control and machining of casts. Within the process of constant improvement of manufacturing processes, the aspect of work ergonomics at a workstation was taken into account. As a result of the undertaken actions, some activities without added value were eliminated, efficiency was increased and prime costs of manufacturing casts with regard to finishing treatment were lowered.

Vacuum conditions in foundry installations are generated using electric-driven vacuum pumps. The purpose of the experiment is to evaluate the performance of a vacuum-assisted system for compaction of moulding sand basing on registered plots of selected electric power parameters of the power-supplying system of the pumps. Model testing done on an experimental vacuum system installation, power-supplied from a system incorporating the recorders of instantaneous current and voltage values. Following the numerical procedure, the experimental data are analysed to yield mathematical relationships between the variations of the generated vacuum pressure levels and variations of selected electric power parameters. Registered and computed values of selected parameters: instantaneous and RMS voltage and current values, active, reactive and apparent power levels and power coefficient allow for diagnosing the adequacy and reliability of the system operation. According to the authors, the applied monitoring of the power parameters of a vacuum-assisted installation may become an effective and easy practical method of evaluating the performance of such installations, used also in foundry plants.