CPT International 01/2016

www.giesserei-verlag.de 

March 

2016 

CASTING 

PLANT AND TECHNOLOGY 

INTERNATIONAL 

CHINA 

Special 

1 

Creating economical and 

eco-friendly casting processes

SUSTAINABLE 

TECHNOLOGY 

–– 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABP Induction Systems GmbH, Kanalstraße 25, 44147 Dortmund, Germany, Phone: +49 231 997-0, www.abpinduction.com

EDITORIAL 

The Chinese dragon takes 

a stand! 

According to the latest World Census of Casting Production, China’s foundry 

industry was again well ahead of other casting producers in 2014 – with production 

of 46,200,000 tonnes. The Country Special in this issue focuses on 

this far-eastern country. The Executive Vice President & Secretary General of 

the Chinese Foundry Association gives his view on his country’s development 

in this issue of CASTING: China wants to develop its foundry industry into a 

post-industrial sector focusing on efficiency, productivity and environmental 

protection (from P. 42). Reports of major orders recently received by German 

foundry equipment producers for appropriate technologies had already pointed 

towards this. The Beijing-based Association’s intentions were confirmed 

and enlarged on by the President of the Hong Kong Foundry Association: in 

“The impact of ‘Made in China 2025’ on China’s die-casting industry” in this 

issue (from P. 45) he calls for a change in awareness away from single-minded 

production and towards concentration on design, high value creation and 

competitiveness – the Chinese dragon takes a stand! 

Another highlight in this issue is the 

report “Cast iron and e-mobility are 

a perfect match” on the production 

of castings for e-vehicles by Georg 

Fischer in Herzogenburg (from P. 32). 

It is illustrated with photos taken by 

Warren Richardson, the current holder 

of the World Press Photo Award 

2015. Richard son has already collaborated 

on several works reports in Hungary and Austria with the German-language 

GIESSEREI and the English-language CASTING. He won the award with 

a picture of a refugee passing a baby under a barbed-wire fence at the Serbian-Hungarian 

border. We reprint the picture for you here again. 

We also met Dr. Ioannis Ioannidis (Chairman of the VDMA Foundry Machine 

Trade Association and CEO of the foundry machine producer Oskar Frech) at 

the EUROGUSS trade fair in Nuremberg and talked to him about the current 

situation in the die-casting industry, 3-D printing, and the trend towards Industry 

4.0. You can read the interview from P. 6. 

Other trailblazing articles in this issue include the report by Florian Hartung 

on the installation of the Climatic exhaust system at Georg Fischer in Mettmann 

(from P. 16), an article on Industry 4.0 technologies at Karl Casper Guss 

in Remchingen (from P. 28), and the production of iron wind turbine hubs 

weighing up to 30 tonnes at Heger Ferrit in Sembach (from P. 38). 

Have a good read! 

Robert Piterek, e-mail: 

robert.piterek@bdguss.de 

Casting Plant & Technology 1/2016 3

FEATURES 

INTERVIEW 

Ioannidis, Ioannis 

“3-D printing opens doors for die casting which did not exist before” 6 

MOLDMAKING 

Gieniec, Anton; Hurkes, Natascha; Vietoris, Peter; Dieckhues, Harald 

 

 

MELTING SHOP 

Turner, Lynn 

 

Cover-Photo: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTION 

Hartung, Florian 

 

 

QUALITY ASSURANCE 

Schulz, Doris 

 

CLEANING, FETTLING & FINISHING 

Ibounig, Verena 

 

AUTOMATION 

Kramer, Olaf 

 

Lüking, Malte; Throm, Stefan 

 

 

 

 

 

 

28 32 

Industry 4.0 is a hot topic in the media and in political discussions. 

Most German foundries are still hesitant, but some 

pioneers see it as a strategic objective (Photo: Casper Guss) 

Light-construction specialist GF Automotive has received 

orders amounting to 50 million euros to produce components 

for e-vehicles (Photo: Warren Richardson)

CASTING 

1 | 2016 


INTERNATIONAL 

COMPANY 

Piterek, Robert 

 

Junker, Pit 

 

 

 

CHINA SPECIAL 

Ping, Wen 

 

Liu, Siong Song 

 

 

 

Seidemann, Harald 

 

Wibbe, Christine 

 

 

 

Editorial 3 

News in brief 56 

Brochures 64 

Fairs and congresses / Advertisers´ index 66 

Preview of the next issue/Imprint 67 

41 

According to the latest World Census of Casting Production China’s foundry industry was again well ahead of the foundry industries of other 

countries regarding casting production. And the Chinese dragon has many plans: efficiency, productivity and environmental protection are to 

play a major role in future (Photo: BMW)

INTERVIEW 

“3-D printing opens doors for die 

casting which did not exist before” 

Dr. Ioannis Ioannidis is Chairman of the Board of the Trade Association for Foundry Machinery of 

the German Engineering Association and CEO of the die-casting machine producer Oskar Frech. 

CASTING, PLANT & TECHNOLOGY met him at the EUROGUSS trade fair from January 12-14, 2016 

Dr. Ioannidis, what is the current mood 

among die casters and gravity die casters? 

They are cautiously positive. They were 

satisfied with 2015 and are starting 2016 

with restrained optimism and the hope 

that they will be able to continue last 

year’s performance. 

What is affecting the mood? 

Well, we have already seen some investments 

and larger projects. So a relatively 

large amount has been invested. In general, 

however, the world economic situation 

is not exactly booming. So the two 

factors come together and result in this 

restrained optimism. 

What is your forecast for 2016? 

We completed 2015 with double-digit 

growth and assume that we can maintain 

this level. We naturally want to do 

better on the earnings side. I am convinced 

that the possibilities are there, 

though we must also recognize that we 

have already had several years that were 

relatively positive. But overall I am optimistic. 

What are the strengths of Germany’s 

machine and plant constructors? 

We are not just strong in mechanics. 

What we are really good at is combining 

electronics, electrics and mechanics. 

There is, however, something else and 

(Photos: A. Bednareck) 

this is new: we are ahead in the fields of 

energy and resource efficiency, as well 

as regarding the topic of Industry 4.0, 

where we are probably the only country 

in the world that really understands 

what is involved. 

In the iron casting segment the socalled 

‘smart factory’ opened recently 

at Kurtz ersa in Hasloch. Is there also 

something like a smart factory in the 

die-casting sector? 

There are many small smart factories 

in the die-casting sector, in which the 

experts’ experience has already been 

adapted and combined with practical 

data. As a result of this combination, 

something like an automatic process 

control is possible in these small smart 

factories. 

What opportunities do new IT technologies 

offer die-casting machine and 

plant constructors for increasing their 

competitiveness? 

We must always look at IT in combination 

with modern data capture, i.e. sensors 

that are capable of providing data 

that can be processed with information 

technologies. For this to work, of course, 

you need someone who can recognize 

what the data offer and what can be determined 

with the assistance of IT. You 

can detect a lot with IT, but whether 

you can actually recognize it is another 

matter. The opportunities are anyway 

immense. 

What improvements can German producers 

of foundry and die-casting machines 

make? 

We must concentrate on the process. 

When we do this, we can gain even 

greater control over the process and 

6 Casting Plant & Technology 1/2016

determine how we insert the hot metal 

into the mold: at what speed, with 

which turbulences. Then we can succeed 

in working with less air and air inclusions 

and thus achieve better structures. 

On the other hand, I think that 

modern Selective Laser Melting (SLM) 

technology, i.e. 3-D printing, in combination 

with die-casting technology 

opens doors for die casting that have 

never existed before. 

How can die casting and additive technologies 

be combined? 

I’ll give you an example: we already 

used 3-D printing six years ago during 

the development of the Frech Gating 

System (FGS), for low-sprue casting. 

So there are parts used in this innovation 

that were already created using 

SLM. This smoothed the path for this 

new innovation. Additive technologies 

offer us the following opportunities: 

they can help us, for example, to 

almost eliminate critical areas in tools 

by working on near-surface cooling, 

which is only possible with the help 

of the SLM process. Let me explain. A 

core in a mold does not last as long as 

the mold itself. If you now produced 

this core with SLM technology and if 

you designed the internal channels 

differently it would last longer and you 

would have considerably better productivity. 

It is relatively easy to exploit this 

technology. But you need modern scientific 

knowledge and many years of experience 

to exploit it optimally. 

Where do you see the greatest dynamism 

worldwide? 

Europe now offers decent dynamism 

and is strong. The USA is also developing 

positively and I believe that India 

will strengthen again. The Prime Minister 

of India is changing and modernizing 

quite a bit and that is valuable. The 

market in China naturally continues to 

offer major possibilities. 

This year’s EUROGUSS has 110 exhibitors 

more than in 2014. What is your 

impression? 

I think that the proportion of international 

exhibitors has risen again. It is an 

interesting trade fair, of which those in 

the sector say, seven months after GIFA, 

that it is worth going to! And one has 

more time for discussions in smaller circles 

there. 

According to current information, 2018 

will be a super-trade-fair year: EURO- 

GUSS, GIFA and Aluminium will all 

take place. How will the sector handle 

this? 

We like meeting in Europe and talk 

about casting with great passion. And 

I believe that the sector also recognizes 

this and appreciates it. The management 

of the EUROGUSS trade fair will 

be thinking about this – there are many 

possibilities both for EUROGUSS and 

for GIFA. I would have nothing against 

the foundry world meeting in Germany 

more often. 

An increasing individualization can be 

observed in what the sector offers, 

with many special customer requirements. 

Will this development continue? 

Yes, customers must continue to work 

on their competitiveness. This results 

in ideas that they want to implement 

in order to stand out. As a supplier, if 

one wants to support this one must also 

take it into account. That is why we at 

Oskar Frech have set up a dedicated department 

in our R&D to deal with this. 

How important do you think EURO- 

GUSS is for recruiting young talent, 

and what is the situation regarding 

young talent in the die-casting sector 

overall? 

The world is changing. In the past, the 

die-casting sector was not so conspicuous. 

It is, however, becoming increasingly 

interesting and attractive. We simply 

feel that there are many people who 

are interested and that this is increasing. 

On the one hand, this is due to our manufacturing 

tangible products while, on 

the other hand, there is the combination 

of our sector with IT. For us, however, 

young talent is not just the trainee. 

Young talent is also the engineer 

– someone from the circle of employees 

or someone from a different country. 

The refugees also represent many potential 

employees coming to us. Do 

you think this will lead to anything? 

Yes, we offer trainee positions and language 

courses at Oskar Frech. We are 

very open in this regard. We already 

have personnel from numerous different 

countries. 

And what is the position regarding 

specialists in the die-casting sector? 

The situation here has improved I think 

because we, together with the German 

Engineering Federation (VDMA) 

and the German Foundry Association 

(BDG), have understood very well how 

to get young people interested in metal 

and machine construction. This can 

also be seen from the growth in the 

numbers of people studying mechanical 

engineering. 

Thank you very much for this interview 

Dr. Ioannidis! 


Production hall of Grunewald GmbH in Bocholt, Germany. For the last several years the company has particularly developed 

the low-pressure casting of thin-walled aluminum sand castings (Photo: Andreas Bednareck) 

Authors: Anton Gieniec, Business Line Manager No-Bake Europe, Natascha Hurkes, Head of Laboratory, Peter 

Vietoris, Area Sales Manager Germany North West, ASK Chemicals, Hilden, and Harald Dieckhues, Foundry Manager, 

Grunewald GmbH, Bottrop 

mentally 

friendly binder system 

The demands of global competition are growing all the time. Besides high cost pressure and short 

delivery times, foundries need to meet the highest quality requirements. In time for its 50th anniversary, 

Grunewald, Bocholt, Germany, has taken account of these needs. With a new hall and 

ultramodern process technology in the molding shop and reclamation plant, it has been able to 

increase its capacities considerably. Meanwhile an inno vative Pep Set system, which is optimally 

tuned to local processes, has been developed together with ASK Chemicals from Hilden, Germany 

Next to tool and component construction, 

the casting segment is the third 

largest pillar of the international firm 

of Grunewald company, which employs 

240 staff at six sites worldwide. 

Grunewald is one of Europe‘s leading 

manufacturers of thin-walled aluminum 

structural parts for the automobile 

sector, the semiconductor 

industry and machinery construction, 

possessing excellent know-how in prototype 

and small series production for 

the different industries. 

Owing to new and increasingly varied 

customer demands and rising cost 

pressure, the foundry was expanded to 

a total 2800 m 2 in 2013. This was an important 

step toward safeguarding the 

future and enabled the company to 

concentrate and restructure the whole 

production at one site. 

Already in the early stages, work was 

carried out in conjunction with ASK 

Chemicals on changing the binder 


system in order to achieve further optimization 

in terms of processing and 

costs, such as improvement in the casting 

quality and greater productivity in 

mold making. The furan resin system 

used hitherto was, first of all, unable 

to satisfy the demands for an improved 

casting surface with simultaneously 

improved productivity. Likewise, the 

reclamation of used furan sand is subject 

to certain limitations: a thermally 

reclaimed mold material produced by 

an acid-hardening process has a high 

proportion of metal oxides. These 

metal oxides slow down the acid-catalyzed 

hardening reactions on the reclaimed 

material (Figure 1). 

The use of a thermally reclaimed 

mold material compared to fresh sand 

and mechanically reclaimed sand prolongs 

the strip time almost threefold. 

To bring reactivity (the strip time) to 

the level of mechanically reclaimed 

sand, it is necessary to increase the acid 

catalyst amount by approx. 30 %. An 

increase of the acid catalyst, however, 

leads to a considerable increase in SO 2 

emissions and also comes along with 

a deterioration of the casting quality. 

Thermal sand reclamation was not 

planned initially, but after extensive 

analysis it offered the advantage of a 

higher quality of reclaimed material 

and, due to the increased proportion 

of reclaimed sand, an almost 15 % reduction 

in the waste sand requiring 

disposal. 

Due to its many outstanding advantages, 

the polyurethane no bake 

system, so-called Pep Set system, was 

a potential alternative system for 

Grunewald. Pep Set binders are based 

on a polyaddition reaction between 

a phenolic resin (polyol component) 

and an isocyanate component. Pep Set 

involves a 3-component system consisting 

of a binder (Part 1), a hardener 

(Part 2) and a liquid catalyst. Hardening 

occurs without the formation 

of elimination and by-products such 

as water or formaldehyde (Figure 2). 

The Pep Set system is characterized 

by a relatively long processing time 

with simultaneously very rapid curing 

(Figure 3) and thus guarantees maximum 

productivity thanks to very fast 

cycle times. 

Figure 1: Reactivity of a furan resin system with fresh sand, mechanically 

reclaim ed and thermally reclaimed sand (Photos and graphics: ASK Chemicals) 

Figure 2: Curing reaction of a Pep Set system 

Figure 3: Hardening diagram of a Pep Set system compared to a furan resin 

system 


MOLDMAKING 

Old 

Figure 4: Strengths of a Pep Set system using silica sand H33 

New 

Dependency of reactivity on temperature 

Figure 7: Comparison of casting surface; 

sand molds manufactured: old 

– with furan resin, new – with 

 

Figure 6: Polystyrene model after demolding 

The strengths are at a very high level 

(Figure 4), enabling the addition 

of binder to be significantly reduced, 

which in turn reduces emissions of 

10 Casting Plant & Technology 1/2016 

the contaminants during molding 

and casting. The standard addition of 

a Pep Set system is very often below 

0.6 % per part. 

The curing speed is only negligibly 

dependent on the ambient temperature 

and / or sand temperature 

( ) and can be controlled, almost 

as preferred, with the quantity 

and / or quality of catalyst (catalyst 

amount specific to Part 1: 0.5 - 5.0 %). 

Another important aspect for 

Grunewald was that the binder system 

does not interact chemically with their 

polystyrene models (Figure 6). To fulfil 

these needs solvent combinations and 

manufacturing processes for Part 1 as 

well as for Part 2 have been optimized. 

In close collaboration, an innovative 

Pep Set system was developed, which 

can be applied directly to polystyrene 

models in aluminum casting without 

coating. Pep Set 10 Part 1, Pep Set 20 

Part 2 and Catalyst 3595/20 have since 

been successfully used for the series 

production of molds with thermally 

reclaimed sand. The castings are now 

»

CASTING 


INTERNATIONAL 

International foundry competence – 

printed or digital 

As reader of CASTING, PLANT AND TECHNOLOGY you are 

always on the cutting edge of technology! Supported by 

the successful GIESSEREI family, the English- language 

journal discovers the latest technology trends and offers 

specialist knowledge and interviews with top decision 

makers in the industry - read the CP + T in the 

proven print format or as a free e-paper! 

Print & 

E-Paper 

CASTING, PLANT AND TECHNOLOGY – 

online and mobile! 

Access the website www.cpt-international.com 

and click on the e-paper 

button! You can enjoy the magazine on 

your PC or download it as a PDF file. 

GIESSEREI 

VERLAG

Characteristics Thermal reclaimed sand Silica sand H 33 

Average grain in mm 0.27 0.27 

Fines content (< 0,125 mm) in % 0.30 0.40 

AFS number 52 53 

pH value 9.3 7.0 

Electr. conductivity in μS/cm 49 11 

Loss of ignition in % 0.15 0.00 

Table 1: Characteristics of the thermally reclaimed material vs. silica sand H 33 

Figure 8: Pep Set mold with thermally 

reclaimed sand 

created with such excellent surfaces 

that the amount of reworking, especially 

in deep pockets and cavities, has 

decreased significantly (Figure 7). 

Owing to the optimally adjusted 

ratio of processing work time to strip 

time, accompanied by very high final 

strengths, it has been possible to increase 

the cycle time in the mold shop 

considerably. The excellent flowability 

of the Pep Set mold sand enables even 

the finest model contours to be formed 

with maximum precision. Due to this 

the need for proper models as well as 

for high qualities in mold and tool 

making processes even has increased 

enormously (Figure 8). 

The sand strengths also attain high 

values with the thermally reclaimed 

material. Despite the sometimes complex 

geometries, it is possible with the 

new system to work with a minimum 

binder and catalyst amounts. The thermal 

reclamation of the used sand proceeds 

in a very stable way (Table 1) and 

facilitates both resource-efficient and 

cost-saving work. 

Thanks to the efficient collaboration 

of Grunewald and ASK Chemicals, 

an innovative Pep Set system has 

been developed, and both productivity 

and casting quality have increased 

considerably. At the same time, due to 

the thermal reclamation of the used 

sand and the possibility of binder and 

catalyst reduction, not only cost savings 

are made but also the health of 

staff and the environment are protected 

in the course of lower SO 2 

emissions. 

www.ask-chemicals.de 

www.grunewald.de 

Second-hand Foundry machines 

FSG Giessereimaschinen GmbH 

D-46147 Oberhausen 

Im Quellgrund 38 

Frank Stapelmann 

Mobil: 0049-172-2052173

Modernized melting shop at a foundry in the UK: In record time the holding VIP (Inductotherm inverter technology) 

was removed and the existing 2500 kW VIP repositioned and installed to run one 4 t furnace. Finally a new 3,500 kW 

Dual Trak was installed (Photos: Inductotherm) 

Author: Lynn Turner, Inductotherm Europe Ltd., Droitwich 

A molten mission impossible 

 

its melting facility without any loss of production. Such was the complexity of the project that it 

was initially described by those involved as ‘mission impossible’. However, precise planning and 

absolute collaboration between foundry and supplier saw the project completed on time and to 

the satisfaction of all involved 

Imagine the call from Thomas Dudley’s 

foundry division director Mick 

Cramphorn to Inductotherm Europe 

Ltd., Droitwich, UK – “your mission 

should you choose to accept it is to install 

and commission new melting capabilities 

in just one week.” 

Cramphorn takes up the story: “It’s 

been a six-year journey to transform 

Thomas Dudley’s foundry division 

into a world-class manufacturing facility. 

Since 2009, we have proactively 

doubled our turnover with 60 % of 

the people, generating profit to support 

further investment. Despite this 

phenomenal turnaround, the two major 

constraints going forward were that 

we did not have enough molten metal 

capacity or talent in depth. The project 

has confirmed that we now have 

enough metal and a team capable of 

delivering on many fronts.” 

A known commodity 

With existing Inductotherm equipment 

on the site – which has served 

the foundry for 28 years – Cramphorn 

and his team looked to the leading induction 

melting supplier to take the 

foundry into the next phase of its development 

and ensure future demand 

could be met. “The three existing furnaces 

from Inductotherm were very 

reliable and there was nothing wrong 

with them. They had been well maintained 

and serviced but they were only 

giving us 4 t/h and our plan was to expand 

to 6 t/h. The problem was that we 

are growing at such a rate that we just 

could not afford to lose any planned 

production days so whatever we did 

had to take place during our autumn 

shutdown period.” 

Working with their tried and tested 

supplier, Thomas Dudley opted to increase 

the existing 2,500 kw Power-Trak 

single output to a 3.5 MW Dual-Trak 

and integrate the system with the existing 

4 t furnaces. The installation 

would also include a new transformer, 

cooling, hydraulic and control systems. 

The whole project included moving 

existing equipment to act as a backup 

and excavating the metal melting area 


MELTING SHOP 

as an additional ten to twelve feet of 

space was needed to accommodate the 

larger equipment. The control room is 

underground so much of the work was 

undertaken by several contractors in a 

confined space. 

The timescale quoted – six weeks, the 

timescale demanded – eight days! “Quite 

frankly on paper it seemed impossible – 

Mick even called it mission impossible,” 

Craig Holdback, area sales manager at Inductotherm 

Europe, said. “But the thing 

is once we were on site and everyone was 

working together I never once doubted 

that we could do it. We all worked 

around the clock and the Thomas Dudley 

employees were amazing – it couldn’t 

have happened if they hadn’t have integrated 

well with Inductotherm and Emsco 

engineers who worked a 24 h shift 

pattern. The team at Thomas Dudley 

were some of the best we have worked 

with. They had a passion not to let their 

customers down and it is a credit to all 

involved that the team truly respects its 

values of safety first, customer focus and 

continuous improvement.” 

Phased intervention 

The only realistic way to achieve the 

timescale of installation and commissioning 

during the one-week autumn 

shutdown was to pull four-five weeks 

out of the project in advance. Thomas 

Dudley had to undertake a huge civil 

engineering project earlier in the year 

whilst the foundry was still in full production 

by expanding into the existing 

scrap bay to acquire the extra space 

needed, they built new oak-lined scrap 

bays, replaced flooring to accommodate 

charging cars, installed water 

cooling and pipework. 

Inductotherm worked with Thomas 

Dudley to ensure all was in place for 

the October shutdown deadline. “We 

undertook the project in phases,” says 

Craig Holdback. “On 16th June 2015 

the radiator was delivered and we had to 

crane that in over the roof of the foundry. 

In July the rectifier/invertor panels 

of Dual-Trak were delivered with pump 

set hydraulics etc. to enable much of 

the piping and wiring to be done. In 

September we installed the transformer 

so more wiring could be carried out. 

Then came the October shutdown week 

Figure 1: The first metal was poured a week after installation of the furnace 

which we had all been working towards. 

“The foundry closed on Thursday 

night and we had to wait several hours 

for the furnaces to cool down before 

we started work at 6 am on the Friday 

morning. The existing holding VIP was 

removed and the existing 2,500 kW 

VIP was repositioned and installed 

to run one 4 t furnace. Then the new 

3,500 kW Dual Trak was installed and 

commissioned. The metal was being 

poured a week later on 2nd November 

(Figure 1). It really was a testament 

to teamwork and dedication from all 

concerned.” 

The result is a project that everyone 

involved with can be proud of and a 

melting capacity lifeline for a tra ditio 

n al foundry, which has expanded 

to satisfy growing demand. “There’s 

no other way of putting it but this was 

a massive exercise and we didn’t lose 

any production time or hurt anyone,” 

said Cramphorn. “Inductotherm, Emsco 

and the Thomas Dudley team were 

great. It is a testament to great planning 

and great people.” 

Cramphorn says he was confident 

from day one. “We were given the commitment 

to the project from right at 

the very top of the Inductotherm Europe 

organization and I have to say the 

superb project management and the 

skill level of all parties to accomplish 

this in a one-week shutdown is tremendous. 

Everyone just knew what they 

were doing and what was expected.” 

A powerful position 

The two constraining factors for the 

foundry’s future melting ambitions 

were that the existing melting bay 

wasn’t large enough and the power on 

site wasn’t sufficient. A higher than 

expected quotation from the existing 

electricity supplier to install more 

power on site has meant the foundry 

revised original plans but Inductotherm 

has designed a scalable system 

to allow Thomas Dudley to continue to 

expand. “If we buy the power in the future 

we can install another Dual-Trak,” 

Cramphorn said. “You have to remember 

that 20 % of our downtime was 

caused by waiting for metal – this is 

virtually eradicated now. We are now 

getting around 5.6 to 5.8 t/h out of the 

new plant and are working an extended 

day shift. Metal is still our biggest issue 

but now we are equipped to pursue 

the market opportunities as we continue 

to expand.” 

Cramphorn and his team also have 

confidence in the latest generation of 

Inductotherm equipment – a company 

that has provided the foundry’s 

molten metal for three decades. 

What was that word again? Impossible, 

clearly not as far as the induction 

melting specialists in Droitwich are 

concerned. 

www.inductotherm.co.uk 



Author: Florian Hartung, General Manager of Infuser Germany GmbH, Mannheim 

 

reduces BTEX and other hazardous 

substances in foundries 

Successful implementation at Georg Fischer Automotive in Mettmann 

ties 

of the Earth’s atmosphere in a compact reactor by a hundred-thousandfold (Photos and graphics: Infuser) 

Foundries (not only in Germany) are 

under increased pressure to design their 

manufacturing processes as environmentally 

friendly and efficiently as possible 

– not only because of the revision 

of the German Technical Guidelines on 

Air Quality Control (TA Luft). After successful 

tests and a significant decrease 

of emissions Georg Fischer Automotive 

now examines the option of implementation 

of the innovative Infuser exhaust 

air purification system at the Mettmann 

plant. Even the use of gas curing molding 

materials such as Cold-Box, BetaSet 

and other binders from Hüttenes-Albertus, 

Düsseldorf, Germany, can be 

further improved through the application 

of the Climatic system, as it purifies 

exhaust air in a powerful yet environment-friendly 

manner. 

In Germany, there are currently directives 

and laws being developed or 

transposed into German law, which 

were developed on European level and 

regard air pollution control. This includes 

the CAFE programme (Clean Air 

for Europe) launched in 2001 and the 

Clean Air Policy Package from 2013, 

both of which focus – amongst others 

– on particulate matter, ground level 


Cleaning procedure of the Climatic 

ozone and nitrogen dioxide. In addition 

to air pollution caused by transport, 

heating and agriculture, the legislature 

has particularly addressed 

industrial emissions. 

In addition and complementary to 

numerous European regulations, a revision 

of the Technical Instructions on 

Air Quality Control (TA Luft) is being 

developed at the German Federal Ministry 

for the Environment, Nature Conservation, 

Building and Nuclear Safety 

(BMUB). The need for adjustments 

was due to the further development of 

the state of the art since the guidelines 

were last amended in the year 2002. Alterations 

are being expected for the entire 

immission and emission part of TA 

Luft. The integration of the list of particularly 

carcinogenic substances such 

as crystalline silica or formaldehyde is 

expected, too. 

C 

M 

Y 

CM 

MY 

CY 

CMY 

K 

HC_01_05_B2.pdf 1 01.03.16 13:15 

Crude gas Clean gas 

N.N-dimethyle thylamine 

-89 % -98 % 

Crude gas Clean gas 

Tetraethyl Orthosilicate 

moved by means of an electrostatic filter 

and catalyst. 

With this system, foundries can remove 

exhaust air pollutants generated 

in the core making process and along 

the cooling conveyors such as amines, 

methyl formate, phenols, formaldehyde 

and BTEX up to nearly 100 %. 

Due to the lowering of various limit 

values, which is expected for TA Luft’s 

amendment, this emissions reduction 

is of particular relevance for the companies. 

Especially for the expansion of 

existing foundries and the construction 

of new ones, the authorities are 

expecting conclusive emission concepts. 

These concepts will be significantly 

easier and cost-efficient com- 

cate 

Innovative and patented 

 

method 

In joint cooperation with the University 

of Copenhagen, the company Infuser 

with its headquarter in Denmark 

has developed an innovative, patented 

method for exhaust air purification, 

which removes a wide range of different 

pollutants up to 100 %. This innovative 

purification technology harnesses 

and accelerates the natural self-cleaning 

properties of the Earth’s atmosphere 

in a compact reactor by a hundred-thousandfold. 

In addition, this 

so-called atmospheric-photochem ical 

acceleration ( ), consumes a lot 

less energy than conventional processes 

as it is based on natural chemical reactions. 

One of Climatic’s practice-oriented 

benefits is its modular design. 

Each module has its specific function 

in the purification process. 

The contaminated air stream is 

forced through the individual modules 

and subjected to water vapour, 

atmospheric reagents in various stages 

and ultraviolet radiation. This way, 

the gaseous pollutants are converted 

into solids in the course of this process. 

Then, these particles can be re- 



-85 % -97 % -96 % -97 % 

Crude gas Clean gas Crude gas Clean gas Crude gas Clean gas Crude gas Clean gas 

Benzene Toluene Ethylbenzene Xylene 

 

Joint application of the Climatic with special binders offers synergies 

piled and implemented when using 

the Climatic system. 

 

 

At the Georg Fischer Automotive plant 

in Mettmann, the system is already 

being tested and used to reduce the 

amines and tetraethyl orthosilicate 

present in the exhaust air. This process 

is supported by experts from the 

University Wuppertal, who monitor 

and evaluate the tests. The Climatic 

has been installed in the foundry together 

with the also patented Cold Box 

System by Hüttenes-Albertus. During 

the tests completed in summer 2015, 

the latter was installed in the core-drying 

furnace in order to purify exhaust 

air. The results obtained so far surpass 

the expectations of all those involved. 

For dimethylethylamine, the system 

achieved a reduction by 89 % within a 

response time of only 2 seconds. Tetraethyl 

orthosilicate was reduced by 

98 % (Figure 2). 

„The protection of the environment 

and sustainability are significant driving 

factors in our entrepreneurial activities. 

We see ourselves as supporters 

of an innovative system helping to 

make foundry technology more environmentally 

compatible.” says Christoph 

Stratmann, Foundry Manager at 

Georg Fischer Automotive. Through 

application of the Climatic system, it 

was possible to achieve the reduction 

of one emission point at the Mettmann 

plant. Currently, tests on the production 

lines are still ongoing, however, 

previous test series revealed that benzene, 

toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene 

(BTEX) had been successfully removed 

from the exhaust air. Benzene 

was reduced by 85 %, ethylbenzene 

could be decreased by 96 % and toluene 

and xylene by 97 % (Figure 3). 

 

 

 

The joint application of the Infuser exhaust 

air purification system together 

with binders from chemical company 

Hüttenes-Albertus provide foundries 

with profitable synergies (Figure 4). In 

the Cold-Box process, it is thus possible 

to eliminate emissions such as BTEX, 

tetraethyl orthosilicate and amines 

serving as catalyst in an energy- and 

cost-efficient manner. „The joint application 

with our 4th-generation silicate 

Cold-Box systems allows an extended 

usage in the foundry sector. Amorphous 

silicon dioxide, which is generated in 

the technical post-combustion process, 

now can be avoided in an uncomplicated 

manner. In future, using tetraethyl 

orthosilicate containing Cold-Box systems 

in thermal combustion processes 

will not result in amorphous silicon dioxide 

deposits and an reduced output“ 

explains Timm Ziehm, product manager 

at Hüttenes-Albertus. A purification 

performance that is unsurpassed so far 

is achieved when employing the Climatic 

system in conjunction with the 

robust Hüttenes-Albertus Beta-Set used 

in the core making process: Methyl 

formate, which is used for curing purposes 

in this binder system, can be removed 

from the exhaust air. Therefore, 

this combination enables utilization 

of these systems even at critical and exposed 

locations. 

Joint employment of high-quality 

binders and innovative exhaust air 

purification is also possible in other 

processes using organic binders, 

which for most foundries is more simple 

and cost-efficient than switching 

to another binder. In addition, the 

modular Climatic system offers efficient 

and cost-optimized solutions, as 

the used modules are tailored to the 

required emission control. The system 

entirely replaces conventional 

filters and purification devices or can 

be installed upstream of existing fil- 


ters in order to improve purification 

performance and reduce regular costs 

for existing filter technology such as 

activated carbon or scrubbers. 

Furthermore, the pollutant load 

is continually measured by the control 

unit, which adjusts the purification 

performance in a needs-oriented 

way. Compared to other processes, 

this feature also contributes to a great 

reduction in energy costs and general 

operational expenditures. The 

amount of energy required for overall 

foundry ventilation is also substantially 

reduced when using the 

Climatic system. This is partly due 

to elimination of conventional static 

filters, through which air has to 

be forced, and hence a reduced pressure 

drop in the exhaust air. Another 

beneficial factor is the shorter channel 

distance, meaning that smaller, 

decentral and mobile systems can be 

exploited economically. Overall, the 

Climatic system offers a wide range 

Infuser Climatic in operational use 

of application in the foundry sector 

without requiring the use of consumables 

or hazardous substances, generates 

only small quantities of waste 

or none at all (i.e. better mass balance) 

and provides economic and efficient 

exhaust air purification, which 

makes a substantial contribution towards 

air pollution control (Figure 5). 

http://infuser.eu/foundries 

YOUR PARTNER 

FOR TURNKEY PROJECTS 

in no-bake moulding shops for: 

• moulding lines 

• continuous mixers 

• mechanical and thermal reclamations 

• chromite separations 

Smooth pneumatic conveying system for: 

 

QUALITY 

MADE IN GERMANY 

FAT Förder- und Anlagentechnik GmbH www.f-a-t.de

The combination of cleaning agent and additive increases the degreasing and cleaning capacity. The cleaned car 

body components feature the cleanness required by the downstream processing steps (Photos: Stockmeier/Magna) 

Author: Doris Schulz, Korntal 

Cleaning of premium car body 

components for the automotive 

industry 

No matter whether a casting will be heat treated, welded or joined by adhesives, a meticulously 

clean surface free from any grease or metal grindings is an absolute must. A leading manufacturer of 

pressure-die-cast aluminium car body components has changed over to a different cleaning medium 

in order to extend the service life of the cleaning baths and enhance the process reliability of the pre- 

 

When it comes to vacuum pressure die 

casting of large series of premium car 

body components made of aluminium, 

Magna BDW Technologies Soest 

GmbH, Germany, is definitely an address 

of first choice. The company 

was founded in 1993 as a subsidiary of 

Alcoa. Acquired in 2010 by Bayerische 

Druckguss-Werke (BDW), it is today 

part of the Magna subsidiary Cosma 

International. Numerous renowned 

automotive producers, including Ferrari, 

Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, 

Lamborghini, Nissan and Porsche, are 

customers of Magna BDW. For Audi, a 

customer of the early days, the company 

is a partner in the development 

and production of the Audi A8 Space 

Frames, which is entirely made of aluminium. 

Extremely exacting surface 

quality standards 

Initially, the company had produced a 

great number of different castings for 

car body applications. As a result of 

the increasing functional integration 

in automotive engineering, the castings 

became ever larger and ever more 

complex. Today, the production range 

comprises between 150 and 200 differ- 


Figure 1: After the degreasing / cleaning 

process, the parts surface contaminated 

by machining media, release 

agent and metal grindings must be free 

from any grease or metallic residues 

Figure 2: The additive, which contains 

emulsifying surfactants, binds the removed 

oils and keeps them in solution. 

This largely contributes to the 

long bath life of 14 weeks 

ent car body components, including 

complete side bars, doors and absorber 

pots, vacuum die-cast from six different 

aluminium alloys. The castings 

are machined, degreased and cleaned, 

pickled and passivated. Many of them 

are also heat treated. 

The quality requirements on the castings 

and their surfaces have been and 

will continue to be extremely exacting 

(Figure 1). They must be cleaned so as 

to ensure that they are weldable and 

suitable for joining by adhesives. Over 

the years, both the diversity and the 

number of castings requiring surface 

treatments have increased. While back 

in the past car body components used 

to be joined after the surface treatment 

by means of rivets and helicoils, today 

joining usually takes place before the 

surface treatment. With production 

volumes becoming increasingly larger, 

this has proved to be less time consuming. 

However, care had to be taken that 

no material at the joining elements was 

removed. As a consequence, better performing 

cleaning media were needed. 

Extensive testing led to 

the right medium 

Magna BDW produces in three shifts 

on six days a week. From 2006, when 

the number of different parts, alloys 

and release agents had risen as well as 

the diversity of machining media, and 

last but not least due to the requirement 

that no material was allowed to be removed 

during degreasing, the cleaning 

process became a bottleneck in the 

production chain. The bath life became 

shorter every time. On the one hand, 

it became increasingly challenging to 

keep the degreasing and cleaning baths 

stable for at least one week. There are 

two degreasing baths with a volume of 

16,000 l each. Setting up a fresh bath 

of such volume is time consuming and 

costly. On the other hand, the cleaned 

parts showed areas of removed material 

as well as deposits of foreign material, 

all of which required time-consuming 

reworking. Therefore, an alternative 

cleaning medium was to be found. Requirements 

on the new medium included 

high degreasing efficiency and 

good compatibility with the material 

without any pickling attack and material 

removal. In order to increase the economic 

efficiency, a bath life of at least 

ten weeks was envisaged and the cleaner 

was to come in liquid form. 

Altogether, the evaluation phase took 

three years. During running operation, 

products from four manufacturers 

were tested, including Stockmeier Chemie 

GmbH & Co. KG (formerly Dansotec 

GmbH), Bielefeld, Germany, who 

in addition to the tests at Magna BDW 

Temperature Control. 

Smart. Reliable. 

Proven quality 

& Swiss precision 

Reliable Swiss quality, in use successfully 

for 50 years. The temperature 

control units from REGLOPLAS are 

convincing because of their precision, 

long service life and compatibility. 

www.regloplas.com

QUALITY ASSURANCE 

Figure 3: Feeding of the pretreament plant takes place automatically by means 

of a conveyor system with transfer cars. 

The cleaning quality is checked 

every 24 h by means of test sheets 

also conducted tests in their own laboratory. 

These not only included the 

verification of the cleaning properties 

relative to all ten release agents applied 

in the foundry, to the machining oils 

and to the cooling fluids, but also the 

adjustment of the cleaning medium to 

these substances. As the tests with the 

cleaning system from Stockmeier were 

highly promising from the very beginning, 

those responsible for this project 

at Magna BDW decided to continue to 

cooperate with Stockmeier. 

Optimally tuned twocomponent 

system 

Based on the results from the cleaning 

tests, Stockmeier defined a two-component 

cleaner system. The actual 

Figure 4: Make-up cleaning agent is 

added in small quantities. This keeps 

the concentration at a constant level 

cleaning agent Dansoclean A 2100 is a 

mildly alkaline, demulsifying formula 

for spraying and flooding applications. 

The cleaner can be used for all 

aluminium alloys used at Magna BDW. 

It is characterized by high degreasing, 

cleaning and dirt holding capacities. A 

typical effect occurring with demulsifying 

cleaning agents is that when the 

parts are removed from the tank of the 

continuous dipping plant they pick up 

the oil floating on the bath surface. In 

order to avoid this effect, an emulsifying 

agent was added. This surfactant 

mixture binds the oil removed from 

the castings and keeps it in solution 

(Figure 2). While achieving a constantly 

stable cleaning performance, the life 

of the bath is markedly increased. The 

new cleaning system is being used in 

the pretreatment plant installed back 

in 1993 and in the new plant commissioned 

only two years ago. 

Average bath life of 14 weeks 

The car body parts contaminated with 

release agents, machining media and 

metal grindings are automatically fed 

into the plants by chain conveyors or 

transfer cars with supporting frames 

(Figure 3). Every transfer unit has a 

barcode which contains information 

about the to be selected programme for 

the specific casting. The programmes, 

for example, cleaning only or cleaning, 

pickling and passivating, are triggered 

by a barcode reader. Depending on the 

selected programme, the parts are either 

removed from the plant after the 

degreasing treatment or moved on to 

the pickling and passivation sections. 

During three shifts, between 120 and 

180 frames, each loaded with 15 to 60 

parts, pass the cleaning section of the 

pretreatment plant. Make-up cleaning 

agent is added at regular intervals 

( Figure 4). Adding small amounts of 

cleaning agent avoids that the concentration 

becomes too high or too low. 

The cleaning performance is checked 

at short intervals. Every 24 h, test 

sheets are sent through the plant and 

used for checking water wettability 

and the removal of material (). 

Every day samples from the cleaning 

and rinsing baths are analyzed in the 

chemical laboratory. The Dansoclean 

cleaning systems has meanwhile been 

used for quite some time, achieving 

an average bath life of 14 weeks. The 

switch-over to a new cleaning system 

has therefore above all paid off in terms 

of higher plant availability, resulting in 

higher productivity and improved economic 

efficiency. Another advantage is 

that the components can be joined before 

the surface treatment. 

www.cosma.com 

www.stockmeier.de 


CLEANING, FETTLING & FINISHING 

Author: Verena Ibounig, Tyrolit - Schleifmittelwerke Swarovski K.G., Schwaz 

Dry machining with diamond 

cutting and grinding tools 

Since 2002 Focur SA diamond cutting and grinding tools have proved successful in the dry machining 

of grey and spheroidal cast iron. Diamond cut-off wheels by Tyrolit, Schwaz, Austria, 

now complete the range for iron foundries 

diameter of the grinding wheels (steel 

core), no adjustment of speed and infeed 

is necessary. 

The Focur SA tools are practically 

wear-free, which increases machining 

quality and virtually no reworking 

costs are incurred. Even the disposal of 

grinding dust, consisting only of the 

workpiece material, becomes considerably 

more cost-effective than with conventional 

tools. At the end of their lifetime, 

the grinding wheels themselves 

can either be replated or disposed of 

relatively cheaply as scrap steel. 

Whereas resin-bonded tools can 

only be stocked for up to three years, 

Focur SA diamond tools can be stored 

indefinitely without compromising 

their efficiency. 

Off-hand cutting using a Focur SA diamond cut-off wheel, 230 mm diameter 

(Photos: Tyrolit) 

The foundry industry has always had 

required grinding and cut-off wheels 

for the removal of risers, feeders and 

burrs. For a long time this demand 

was met by conventional resin-bonded 

tools. Only when the cost-effective 

production of synthetic diamonds became 

a reality could a new generation 

of tools for working on castings be 

brought to market. 

Durable super abrasives – such as the 

Tyrolit Focur SA diamond grinding 

tools for the automatic grinding of grey 

and spheroidal cast iron (developed in 

2002 and since refined) – consisting of 

a steel core on which a monolayer of 

diamond grains is deposited. These diamond 

grains are bonded to the core 

via an electroplated me tal layer. 

This results in numerous advantages 

for grey and spheroidal cast iron grinding 

applications. The significantly increased 

lifetime is particularly beneficial: 

the long tool life reduces tool 

changing times and therefore increases 

productivity. Due to the constant 

Services & innovations 

In addition to a comprehensive stock 

range, the company also offers specialist 

training courses and customer-specific 

solutions as standard. It delivers 

grinding tools throughout the world 

and provides individual service packages: 

experienced application engineers 

optimize the machine parameters 

and therefore the grinding process 

directly at the customer’s premises. 

This of course allows for new insights 

gained since the market launch to be 

passed on. Regular dialogue between 

customers, application engineers and 

the R&D department leads to new suggestions 

and ideas for the further improvement 

of Tyrolit products. 

“We were mainly able to improve 

two key parameters in the grinding 

process: infeed and feed,” explains 

Gebhard Melchior, Head of Marketing 


Metal Fabrication at Tyrolit. “Especially 

when grinding larger volumes such 

as sprues, the infeed values were lowered 

in order to reduce the load on the 

grinding wheel and extend its lifetime. 

When grinding burrs, Focur SA tools 

reduce the cycle time through significantly 

increased feed values.” 

On the tool itself, the core has been 

made lighter with no loss of stability in 

order to protect machine components. 

The Austrian company has developed 

an edge shape with slots for grinding 

large surfaces, which offers more chip 

space and ensures cooler grinding. This 

improves the lifetime and polishing behaviour 

on the workpiece at the same 

time. Ring wheels for the machining of 

engine blocks have also receive an individual 

edge profile to ensure that even 

forces are applied when moving in and 

round the engine block. 

grinding. At the same time however, 

the grain must be sufficiently embedded 

in the bond.” 

“The development process consists 

of two steps. First, the revolutionary 

approach with focus on innovation, 

 

 

Since 2015, Focur SA snagging wheels 

are offered as well for angle grinders. 

In addition to the significantly longer 

lifetime these grinding tools provide 

Constructive cooperation 

“These improvements to the Focur SA 

diamond tools were inspired by analyzes 

of our customers’ grinding processes,” 

reports Adolf Lang, Manager 

Product Development Metal Fabrication 

at Tyrolit on the innovation process 

jointly initiated by customers, application 

engineers and developers. “A 

consistent ideas management strategy 

leads to feasibility and technology 

studies. As a result we create customized 

specifications. Our product development 

projects are executed according 

to a strict schedule and are 

operated as stage-gate processes until 

their market introduction, with both 

internal and external usability tests 

conducted with our customers.” 

In addition to the new design innovations, 

the diamond quality, grit 

size and strength of the grain bonding 

have been optimized. “The grain size 

depends on the required stock removal 

rate and desired surface quality,” explains 

Adolf Lang. “When considering 

the diamond quality, a suitable combination 

of gain strength and grain 

shape must be chosen according to the 

application (grinding or cutting) in order 

to achieve optimum results. With 

regard to the bonding, a weaker bond 

increases the chip space and promotes 

high stock removal rates as well as cool 

Figure 1: Focur SA diamond ring wheel for machining engine blocks 

new requirements and new opportunities 

and secondly the evolutionary 

approach at which it comes to continuous 

development “, Adolf Lang summarizes 

the product development at 

Tyrolit. 

Higher productivity, 

 

Since 2014 Focur diamond tools 

have also been available for cutting. 

A range of diamond cut-off wheels 

(Figure 1) with diameters of 115 to 

600 mm have been developed in collaboration 

with specialists in the foundry 

industry for both manual and automated 

cut-off applications. 

The diamond tools have an average 

lifetime up to 25 times longer than conventional 

resin-bonded cut-off wheels. 

This value can even be exceeded when 

cutting smaller cross-sections. The constant 

external diameter allows work to 

be carried out at an ideal speed and guarantees 

a uniform depth of cut. The additional 

reduction in dust and unpleasant 

odours has been strongly welcomed, especially 

in manual cutting operations. 

noticeably improved working convenience 

for the end user, especially due 

to the low dust levels. Especially in diameters 

115 mm, 178 mm and 230 mm, 

the new range has been proven well in 

field tests. 

Whether grinding or cutting, Tyrolit 

supports the companies of the foundry 

industry. It de livers high quality, durable 

products, but also caters for specific 

customer requirements. This is supplemented 

by the specialized expertise 

of Tyrolit application engineers in analysing 

and optimizing individual 

grinding and cutting processes. 

Focus diamond 

grinding wheel 

in use 

http://bit. 

ly/1WtieoQ 

www.tyrolit.com 


AUTOMATION 

Author: Olaf M. Kramer, Heinrich Wagner Sinto Maschinenfabrik GmbH, Bad Laasphe 

Attracting new customers with 

modern molding technology 

The bronze foundry Filthaut aims to sustainably produce quality castings to convince demanding 

customers in terms of reproducibility, quality and price. Therefore the so-called FDNX-molding 

machine from Heinrich Wagner Sinto, Bad Laasphe, Germany, was involved in the casting process 

Pouring line with the poured cods of the FDNX. To stabilize the mold, wooden jackets are put on (Photos: HWS) 

“Everything from one single source” is 

the credo of the brass & bronze foundry 

Josef F. Filthaut, at Iserlohn, Germany. 

The family-managed company 

has had more than 90 years of experience 

in the process of sand casting 

and lost wax technique and produces 

high-quality castings made of light 

and heavy metals. 

With the highest level of craftsmanship, 

the Filthaut brass foundry manufactures 

art castings in single and small 

batch production such as sculptures, 

grave ornaments, memorial tablets, 

crests, emblems, company signs and a 

lot more. 

Industrial castings are the second 

source of income of the company. 

Typical products of this sector are fittings, 

safety relief valves, pump housings, 

machine parts, friction rings or 

marine propellers. In addition to their 

production programme, the Filthaut 

foundry also provides complete solutions 

thanks to their own pattern making 

and the in-house treatment of the 

castings (Figure 1). 

Expertise gained during many decades, 

real passion for the skills and 

craftsmanship of the metal foundry 

are just some of the many qualifications 

of our employees. Continuous 

investments, and modern manufacturing 

plants, are the factors of success 

of the 2-generation company. For 

example, the sand preparation plant 


and the melting technology have been 

modernized completely within the last 

few years. 

The growing demand for small series 

and the vision to diversify their services 

in the future encouraged Christina 

Filthaut, head of the foundry and 

daughter of the proprietor Michael 

Filthaut, to strengthen the company 

in the field of the sand molding technology. 

The Filthaut family thus aims to 

produce in a sustainable manner 

high-quality castings that convince the 

sophisticated customers with regard to 

reproducibility, quality and price. 

The target of the Heinrich Wagner 

Sinto engineers was to integrate modern 

molding technology as simply as 

possible into the existing foundry process. 

The ideal solution for this requirement 

was the molding machine FDNX. 

This molding machine operates with 

the proven “Aeration” compaction process, 

i.e. the molding sand is supplied 

into the molding cavity by means of an 

air flow. The air escapes through slotted 

vents in the drag and cope. Hydraulic 

pressing then gives the mold cod its 

required stability. The hydraulic pressure 

is generated by a hydroconverter 

that is supported by a pressure amplifier. 

The result is mold cods with horizontal 

mold partition and a high mold 

quality (Figure 2). 

The FDNX machine does not require a 

foundation. There is no spill sand as the 

molding process is completely closed 

and the dust emissions are minimal. The 

design principles allow the machine to 

operate in a manual environment or to 

upgrade it gradually to a fully automatic 

molding plant with an output of up 

to 90 molds per hour (without core setting) 

by means of modular plant technology. 

At present, more than 70 FDNX 

molding machines and molding plants 

are being operated worldwide. The machine 

is available in two versions for 

cod sizes of 450 x 350 x 150/150 mm 

and 500 x 400 x 180/180 mm. 

The molding machine is extremely 

compact requiring a space of just 5 m 2 

and operates with low noise emissions 

(approx. 75 dBA), low energy consumption 

and operating costs. For these reasons, 

the machine has been on show at 

Figure 1: The heart of the brass foundry Josef F. Filthaut at Iserlohn 

the “ecoMetals Trails“ at GIFA 2015 and 

attracted lots of visitors. 

Mrs. Filthaut gives a resume: “The 

step from a purely manual molding 

technology to modern machine molding 

was an important step for us into 

the future. Our aim is to realize the 

wishes and ideas of our customers efficiently 

with individual solutions in 

a flexible, high-quality and reliable 

way from the first pattern making until 

readiness for series production. The 

molding machine FDNX allows us to respond 

now even more flexibly to customers’ 

requests. If we reach our capacity 

limits, we will be able to increase 

production at any time at short notice 

by fully automating the line. The machine 

fully satisfies us with regard to 

the molding technology. It surprised 

us that we could even mold sensitive 

cement (gypsum) patterns in highest 

quality. The FDNX is always working reliably. 

Our employees confirm that the 

workplace conditions have improved 

significantly through the new machine. 

We are confident that we will strengthen 

our market position and attract new 

customers with this investment.“ 

 

 

Figure 2: Foundry director Rainer 

 

 


AUTOMATION 

Authors: Malte Lüking, Technical Director Karl Casper GmbH & Co. KG, Remchingen, and Stefan Throm, Managing 

Director, RGU Expert GmbH, Würzburg 

Casper 4.0 – the supporting pillars 

for a digital future 

Industry 4.0 is a hot topic in the media and in political discussions. While most German foundries 

are still hesitant, there are indeed some pioneers who are actively pursuing the concept of 

Foundry 4.0 as a strategic objective 

Foundry 4.0 pioneer 

in the industry 

The medium-sized foundry produces 

a wide range of hand-molded castings. 

Flexibility, on-time delivery and 

good customer relations are the company’s 

strengths. Under the term “Casper 

4.0”, the company pursues clearly defined 

targets and strategies leading to 

the implementation of what is associated 

with Foundry 4.0 and what is represented 

by three supporting pillars 

(Figure 1): 

» VISU – network between all operating 

assets 

» ERP – planning / controlling of the 

processes with 100 % trackability 

» EXTRANET – the “transparent foundry” 

– customers have access to information 

related to the manufacturing 

of their products 

Industry 4.0 is omnipresent at the foundry Karl Casper Guss but without 

good workmanship and well trained junior staff it would have been impossible 

to implement the new technologies in practice (Photos: Karl Casper Guss) 

The foundry industry is presented with 

challenges of a new nature. “Industry 

4.0” is a hot topic in the media and in 

political discussions. Under the motto 

“Safeguarding the future of Germany 

as an industrial location”, various bodies 

and organizations have set out to define 

new standards for what is called the 

fourth industrial revolution. The central 

element is the concept of the “smart 

factory”, in which humans communicate 

with machines and products of 

any kind. Also at GIFA 2015, “Foundry 

4.0” was an omnipresent topic among 

German foundry operators. For good 

reasons, because international competitors 

are not sitting back and just 

watching. While most German foundries 

are still hesitant, there are indeed 

some pioneers who are actively pursuing 

the concept of “Foundry 4.0” as a 

strategic objective. Karl Casper Guss in 

Remchingen is taking a pioneering role 

VISU - networking of operating assets 

Long before the current Industry 4.0 

hype, had the Karl Casper foundry started 

to link various equipment and operating 

assets within a network. Casper decided 

to use technology from Siemens. 

The first project was started in 2010, 

when network links and a control system 

were implemented for a newly installed 

continuous mixer and the existing sand 

preparation plant. That first project was 

started with mixed feelings, because the 

company was entering entirely new territory 

and success was not guaranteed. 

What is more, in times of sluggish economy, 

that was quite a remarkable investment 

for a medium-sized company. Siegfried 

Schlaak from the company SSSoft 

and specialized in Siemens technology 

was contracted to design and implement 

the network solution. Once the 

project “continuous mixer” and “sand 

preparation plant” was successfully implemented, 

the management at Casper 

recognized the potential of such a net- 


worked structure. Malte Lüking, Managing 

Director Technology at Karl Casper 

Guss, developed a concept of how to integrate 

further plants and facilities into 

the network. Meanwhile, Casper has implemented 

an integrated network of all 

operating facilities, including the building 

infrastructure (e.g. charge make-up 

with RFID connection, and can always 

physically see what is going on. All links 

are visualized and can be monitored and 

controlled via a tablet or smart phone. 

As the operators became increasingly experienced 

with the new network-based 

structure, the company realized the resulting 

benefits, for example in terms 

of energy saving, optimized equipment 

use, as a fault early warning system and 

for quality improvement. There is a constant 

flow of important data coming 

from the machines and facilities. These 

data are directly stored in the MDC (machine 

data collection) database of the 

ERP system. This type of data management 

supports the production managers 

in preventing and analyzing defects. 

Figure 1: Supporting pillars of the Casper 4.0 solution: Casper relies on 

consist ent, integrated systems 

ERP system serving as central planning 

and management system with 

100 % trackability 

When it comes to planning and managing 

orders and products, Casper believes 

that consistent and transparent processes 

are extremely important. Casper has 

been closely working with the German 

company RGU Expert, based in Würzburg, 

specialists in software solutions 

for foundries. More than 30 years ago, 

Karl Casper Guss was one of the pioneering 

foundries participating in a pilot 

project involving the application of 

the integrated foundry-specific ERP system 

“structura FORM”. Ever since, the 

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AUTOMATION 

Figure 2: The system displays information on the current manufacturing status 

and instructions at the start of every new job 

foundry has constantly improved its 

processes and expanded the application 

of the systems. 

Basic data must always be reliable: In 

order to come up to this requirement, a 

broad and consistent data base is needed. 

Accurate planning data for the castings 

and coherent cost calculations have 

top priority for Casper. All descriptions 

of castings and the associated calculations 

are done in the ERP system. Detailed 

planning of resources, such as 

machines, tools, processing steps, raw 

materials and auxiliary materials, relies 

not only on the definition of the 

technological features and specifications 

but, most importantly, also on the 

planning of the production methods. 

The system supports the calculation of 

times and quantities through planning 

formulae, which in turn are the result 

of the acquired production data (PDA). 

Lüking is highly appreciative of the system 

because he knows that a valid data 

base and reliable calculations are indispensible 

tools in today’s competitive environment. 

Transparency in production: Increasingly 

smaller inventories and ever shorter 

delivery times demanded by their customers 

require foundries to ensure pinpoint 

deliveries. Given the wide range 

of products made by Casper, this is a 

genuine challenge and impossible to 

cope with without the consistent use 

of the production planning and scheduling 

software “structura FORM”. At 

Casper, on-time deliveries have top priority 

- and the customers appreciate 

that very much. 

Single-item orders are immediately 

scheduled and series parts are managed 

via item accounts, i.e. the scheduling 

module recognizes any shortages 

and initiates corresponding production 

orders. As part of order planning 

and scheduling, the ERP system plans 

the production cycle and performs a 

feasibility check. Any bottlenecks will 

be immediately indicated. When an 

order is being planned, each casting 

will be assigned a unique item number 

(consisting of a part number and a 

serial number). This code serves as the 

central reference during production 

and for tracking purposes. The item 

number is cast into the product. Meanwhile, 

Casper has installed a seamless 

and consistent feedback system, which 

allows the operators to know at any time 

the exact position of each individual 

product, identified by its specific item 

number. Important tracking positions 

include: collecting the pattern, making 

the cores, filling, coating, assembling, 

casting, ejecting, fettling, QA inspections, 

priming/varnishing, contract 

manufacturing, packaging and readiness 

for shipment. The planned parts are 

indicated on the feedback terminal according 

to the first-in first-out principle 

as work in stock. Depending on the specific 

requirements, all tracking positions 

are equipped with foundry-proof touch 

PCs or normal thin-client PCs with bar 

code scanners. This keeps the walking 

distances for the operators short. Casper 

also uses department-specific job tickets 

which can be printed right at the production 

line. Placed in dedicated magnetic 

bags, the job tickets are assigned 

to the respective flask or castings. This 

organization requires a good deal of discipline 

from the staff. However, this extra 

effort will pay off soon in the form 

of additional transparency, which provides 

a much clearer view of what is going 

on in the foundry. The feedback information 

is checked for plausibility in 

order for the production process to run 

as planned. For example, the ejection 

times and curing times defined for the 

plausibility checks are accurate down 

to the hour. Process supervision even 

includes a function that automatically 

triggers a complaint message indicating 

that curing times have been exceeded or 

QA inspections have been omitted. The 

feedback system comes with an integrated 

information system which sends 

all relevant information about the production 

process to the work places and 

can be retrieved in text form, as images 

or as video sequences. Or it may automatically 

pop up as compulsory information 

when logging in for a job. The 

employees highly appreciate the added 

value provided by the information system 

and autonomously enter additional 

useful data (Figure 2). 

QA data are captured as part of the 

feedback messages or are automatically 

fed into the system as process-related 

data by establishing a network 

link to the testing device. In the background, 

structura FORM compares the 

actual QA data with the nominal values 

from the inspection plan and will 

indicate any deviation as an internal 

complaint, which will be automatically 

signalled to the QA department. This 

procedure ensures that at the end of the 

process chain the QA certificates can be 

printed out together with the delivery 

note without any extra effort simply by 

pushing a button. Casper is proud of the 

newly established logistics centre and 

the modified organization in the dispatch 

area. Picking is made at the terminals 

of the system, which pre-plans the 

castings based on deadlines and routes. 


The system gives notice to the carrier 

about a freight to be picked up via a 

freight portal. The pick-up time schedule 

is accurate down to the hour. Each 

casting ready for shipment will receive 

an adhesive label, which in the form of 

a QR code may contain additional information 

requested by the customer 

concerning his product and order. This 

service simplifies the incoming control 

process for the customer. Such straightforward 

organization of the production 

chain and of the dispatch procedures 

pays off in terms of good customer ratings 

for delivery reliability. Also here, 

Casper leaves nothing to chance but 

constantly checks its own delivery performance 

rating calculated by the ERP 

module “delivery reliability” (Figure 3). 

Integration of process data in the ERP 

system: As mentioned above, the results 

obtained from the network of 

operating assets (VISU) are closely intermeshed 

with the ERP system. All relevant 

plant data are fed into the MDC 

database of structura FORM. This process 

runs automatically in the background. 

Consumption data for sands, 

resin, hardeners etc are transmitted to 

the material management system. Technical 

data such as operating times and 

downtimes of the plants, energy input, 

temperatures, emissions, etc. will be 

used for evaluations. For example, the 

calculations for the charge make-up, 

including the cranes, are controlled by 

VISU. The containers for making up the 

charges are equipped with special RFID 

tags (protection class IP 68). structura 

FORM receives not only data about the 

exact material consumption figures, but 

also spectrometer data, data from the 

thermal analysis and energy consumption 

figures. structura FORM visualizes 

all important information in graphical 

form in a dashboard display, which can 

be configured to meet the requirements 

of the operator’s work place. Casper has 

been constantly advancing the integration 

of the two applications and will 

continue to do so in the future. 

Extranet – the transparent foundry provides 

customers access to information 

related to the manufacturing process 

Karl Casper Guss is a “transparent” 

foundry. It offers its customers access 

Figure 3: The new mobile dispatch management system implemented at Cas- 

 

to selected information concerning the 

manufacturing process via a web portal 

(Extranet). The customer may take 

a look at his orders in process and see 

in which processing state the products 

are. He may enter additional information 

or change deadlines and quantities 

directly via the portal. In order to 

exercise maximum data security, all relevant 

manufacturing data from the productive 

ERP programme are replicated 

in a downstream web database. After 

an initial phase of reluctance, this service 

has been well accepted and actively 

used by the customers. Managing Director 

Malte Lüking knows that some of his 

customers use the Casper Extranet as a 

platform for their own planning. 

Prospects and further projects 

Casper does certainly not rest on their 

accomplishments. Further projects are 

being implemented or planned. 

» Flask management via RFID. A new 

building for the storage and management 

of the flasks via RFID is under 

construction. Besides optimized 

manufacturing processes, the space 

situation in the moulding shops will 

be dramatically improved. 

» Pattern managements via RFID. A 

new high rack will be installed for the 

management of the patterns. Today, 

the management of the placements 

and retrievals is still based on a procedure 

that relies on the manual acknowledgement 

of the activities at 

the PC. In the future, this process will 

be optimized by means of RFID tags 

attached to the patterns and a mobile 

touch PC on the forklift truck. 

» Visualization of the manufacturing 

process representing the plant layout 

The linking of the feedback data 

and the MDC database via an integrated 

and realtime network provides 

high-quality data. The information 

provided by these data is to be used 

for comprehensive evaluation procedures, 

such as searches based on item 

numbers, as well as for an enhanced 

visualization of the manufacturing 

processes in a plant layout setting. 

The system will graphically indicate 

the position of a certain casting at a 

certain point in time (e.g. search for 

a certain item number) or the jobs in 

process in a department. 

Summary 

At the transition to the fourth industrial 

revolution, the Casper foundry takes 

on a pioneering role as it has already 

implemented numerous technologies 

that other foundries have just started to 

think about. Especially for small to medium-sized 

foundries, Casper may serve 

as a positive example of how the challenges 

of a digital future can be successfully 

coped with. 

www.casper-guss.de 

www.rguexpert.de 


COMPANY 

Author: Robert Piterek, German Foundry Association, Düsseldorf 

“Cast iron and e-mobility are a 

perfect match” 

The foundry sector can also make money with the production of components for e-vehicles. GF 

Automotive, a Division of Georg Fischer AG, has received orders amounting to 50 million euros 

 

What are the prospects for foundry 

technology in the age of e-mobility? 

This is one of the key questions 

facing the sector in the 21st century 

given the energy transition, increasingly 

stringent environmental legislation, 

falling CO 2 

limit values, and declining 

reserves of fossil fuels. While 

some casters have put off examining 

this question and ridicule the development 

of e-vehicles in view of the 

modest growth forecasts, the automotive 

industry has hesitantly but 

noticeably started producing the first 

e-vehicles – Golf GTE, Audi e-tron, 

BMW i3, Renault Zoe or Nissan Leaf 

are just some of the models that are 

on offer, largely as plug-in hybrids 

with combustion engines. But cars 

with all-electric drives are also gaining 

ground – and with ranges of over 

150 km are already penetrating domains 

that exceed the potentials of 

modest city cars. 

e-mobility represents 

 

On the supplier side, a few foundries in 

Germany have already got involved in 

this business – which is highly promising 

in the long term. These include 

the foundries of the major carmakers, 

for example BMW’s light metal foundry 

in Landshut, Audi Münchsmünster 

and Volkswagen Kassel, as well as 

foundry companies such as KS HUAYU 

AluTech, Nemak, Magna, Handtmann, 


Light-construction parts for weight-optimized vehicles on their way into the blasting plant (Photos: Warren Richardson)

Martinrea Honsel and, last but not 

least, Georg Fischer. In addition to its 

plant construction interests and business 

with piping systems, the mixed 

group (based in Schaffhausen in Switzerland) 

is an important automotive 

caster and has recently received orders 

amounting to 50 million euros for 

e-mobility components. While this is 

less than 1 % of annual sales, it is still 

an important milestone on the path 

to the company’s e-vehicle future, as 

is also demonstrated by the squad of 

competent dialog partners available 

when CASTING, PLANT & TECHNO- 

LOGY visited the production site in 

Herzogenburg in Austria. Klaus Decking 

(Communication and Marketing 

Manager as well as the Divisional Manager 

of Business Development New 

Markets), Claus Schepp (Sales Manager 

and a member of the senior management 

at the production sites of Herzogenburg 

and Altenmarkt), as well as 

Markus Rosenthal (Managing Director 

in Herzogenburg and now also Manager 

of the Light Metal Business Unit Europe) 

have come. 

Markus Rosenthal is the Manager of the Light Metal Business Unit Europe 

and Managing Director of GF’s Herzogenburg works where structural castiron 

doors are produced for numerous car models. The production of battery 

trays and housings also started up recently 

The lighter vehicles become, 

 

be involved 

“As a result of the investments required, 

the SMEs that typify our sector 

cannot simply start participating 

in this segment,” Rosenthal comments 

on the fact that so far the casters active 

in the e-mobility market environment 

have been large groups. Casting 

and e-mobility, however, are a perfect 

match in the opinion of Communication 

Manager Decking – particularly 

with the light construction and downsizing 

that increasingly characterizes 

automotive casters such as GF Automotive. 

The company has already long 

been producing large-scale structural 

components such as vehicle doors, 

as well as weight- and topology-optimized 

drive housings made of aluminum. 

The extent to which structural 

castings have already gained ground 

in the automotive industry can be 

seen from the range of customers and 

products: “We supply structural components 

for all Maserati 4-door models 

as well as for Audi’s A4 and A6 models 

and BMW’s 5, 6 and 7 series,” says 

Decking. “The more light construction 

is required for a vehicle, the greater the 

chance that casting will be the production 

process chosen,” adds the engineer, 

who was Managing Director for 

GF Automotive in Canada before taking 

up his current position. 

With its light-construction competence, 

his company has positioned itself 

cleverly in the still-small market for 

e-mobility components, and is reaping 

the first rewards with these major contracts: 

GF produces battery trays for the 

Golf GTE and the Audi e-tron, while 

project work is underway for a Bavarian 

carmaker on battery housings with 

function-integrated active cooling for 

heat dissipation, as well as tank housings. 

The BMW i3 is also receiving a 

GF component (a mechanical part in 

the drive train), while Georg Fischer is 

in the race for the e-Smart with an instrument 

panel made of magnesium. 

Then there are structural parts for a 

pure e-vehicle producer. The new orders 

involve the production of six to 

eight different components, totaling 

about 30,000 to 40,000 units per year 

(by comparison – the annual serial 

volumes for iron castings ranges from 

50,000 to a million units. 

 

 

Production takes place at the Austrian 

works in Altenmarkt and Herzogenburg. 

At the latter site, about 800 employees 

produce up to 22,000 t of aluminum 

castings and another 40,000 t 

of iron castings annually. This proportion 

also excellently reflects the general 

material distribution for automotive 

components at Georg Fischer: 

more than 60 % of the components delivered 

are made of cast iron, the rest 

from light metal. 

Even if iron has a weight disadvantage 

compared with aluminum and 

magnesium, the metal is also used in 

e-vehicles, particularly in areas where 

high strength is required: “In the new 

Golf GTE and in the e-Golf, where our 

battery tray is also installed, a part 

made of SiboDur (a material made of 

cast iron with spheroidal graphite and 

developed by GF Automotive) is used 

as the wheel carrier,” Decking provides 

an example and then stresses that: “A 

lot is still possible, even in cast iron.” 


COMPANY 

Aluminum gearboxes in line on a conveyor belt 

The Communication Manager sees opportunities 

in the strength properties 

of the iron, with which the light-construction 

materials cannot compete. 

People at GF Automotive, however, 

are generally pragmatic: at the end of 

the vehicle development path in the 

next couple of decades lies a pure e-vehicle 

which, with a completely new design, 

will undoubtedly largely consist 

of light materials – assuming that the 

problems with range have been solved 

and that car prices fall in the long term. 

But weight-optimized combustion engines 

will still play a significant role 

until then (optimistic forecasts presume 

that half of all cars will be e-vehicles 

by 2050). According to Decking, 

the electric motor or wheel hub motor 

could be made in a single casting 

in future: “Here, everything speaks for 

casting because the e-motor has an extremely 

complex geometry with a lot 

of connection points and a complicated 

inner life,” stresses Decking. Together 

with ETH Zurich, the Georg Fischer 

team has already developed a casting 

with the gears integrated in the wheel 

carrier for the Formula Student international 

construction competition. 

Fork-lift truck carrying a melting ladle 

on its way to a die-casting cell 

An industrial robot quenching an 

aluminum component 

Well positioned in the 

e-mobility segment 

In all these developments, however, 

the main materials used in future will 

be aluminum and magnesium, which 

according to Decking is “the most underrated 

light-construction material”: 

“There is, of course, the example of a 

rear axle cover that used to be made of 

iron that is now produced using aluminum,” 

admits Sales Manager Claus 

Schepp, when asked about a possible 

switch at GF in the wake of the material 

change from iron to aluminum due 

to increased light construction. Overall, 

however, he does not see any major 

trend towards large-scale substitution of 

iron castings in the e-mobility segment: 

“There didn’t used to be battery trays, 

the same applies for structural components 

– here we compete with sheet steel 

or other materials,” he explains. 

Grinding and inspection work on 

aluminum vehicle housings 


»

COMPANY 

 

Markus Rosenthal studied foundry 

technology at Duisburg University 

and has recently become Manager 

of GF Automotive’s Light Metal Business 

Unit Europe 

And does GF Automotive have a 

Plan B in reserve if a game-changer 

were to come along, abruptly changing 

the situation from one day to the 

next – for example, a Chinese government 

decision to subsidize e-vehicles 

in future? The professionals at GF have 

faith in their expertise: “If China really 

made such a decision it would lack the 

production expertise. Then they would 

also have to think about how to substitute 

sheet steel with structural castings, 

for example. That would be good for GF 

– we would still grow!” according to a 

confident Managing Director Markus 

Rosenthal. 

 

 

At first sight, the foundry in Herzogenburg 

is not so very different from other 

light-metal foundries in Germany 

like KSM Castings, the AE Group or Nemak 

Dillingen: whirring robots in the 

die-casting cells remove the finished 

castings and cool them, hissing, in 

quenching basins while fork-lift trucks 

loaded with melting ladles drive along 

the aisles between the melting shop 

and the casting cells. From the heart 

of this bustling atmosphere one suddenly 

hears the muffled thud of a tilting 

sliding table press which is deburring 

a structural die-cast door. But when 

one examines the plants in greater detail 

one becomes aware of their size – 

both the massive permanent molds, 

of which one half weighs 24 t, and the 

trimming presses from Kurtz in Kreuzwertheim 

in the casting cells. The works 

tour starts by passing 3,300-t die-casting 

machines, followed by the premiere 

class: die-casting machines with clamping 

forces of 4,400 t and a mold weight 

of 60 t, with which battery trays and 

structural parts are cast (from die-casting 

plant producer Bühler in Uzwil, 

Switzerland). 

“Our works here in Herzogenburg 

is one of the sites within the group 

with the most heavy machinery. In 

future, we will have nine machines of 

over 4,000 t operating here. This is really 

quite a lot compared to our competitors,” 

describes Rosenthal. These 

machine sizes, however, are necessary 

given the component weights: 

“This type of structural die-cast door 

weighs 2.5 kg, and large clamping surfaces 

are needed because of the dimensions 

of the part. And a 30-kg gearbox 

needs clamping power,” adds the Manager, 

who studied foundry technology 

in Duisburg and wrote his thesis at GF 

Mettmann. Rosenthal has been active 

in management at Herzogenburg for 

six years – first in charge of Permanent 

Mold Casting and Die-Casting, then he 

added management of the Altenmarkt 

foundry, and he is now also Manager of 

the Light Metal Business Unit Europe. 

While foundries like Volkswagen 

Kassel are pleased with their interlinked 

process chains, casting cells and 

raw casting cells for casting and finishing), 

here in Herzogenburg the processes 

are no longer completely linked 

together because it resulted in lower 

productivity. “If one cell stops, both 

stop,” explains Rosenthal. The melt for 

the die-casting process is supplied by 

a 10-t gas-fired shaft melting furnace 

from Strikowestofen in Gummersbach. 

 

production 

On moving to a new hall one immediately 

notices numerous installers and 

half-constructed die-casting machines. 

This will be the center for e-mobility 


A vehicle door made of structural 

cast iron suspended on measurement 

scanners is compared with 

customer requirements. This inspection 

step is also used for documentation 

components. Three 4,400-t die-casting 

machines are currently being installed 

– a double-digit million investment. 

One machine will soon be commissioned. 

The installers are busily discussing 

technical details while switching 

circuits are being laid down and tested. 

Regardless of whether e-vehicle parts 

or some other light-construction components 

will be produced in Herzogenburg 

in future, the problems of a typical 

automotive foundry also play a role 

here. For example, the topic of young 

talent: the Austrian foundry sector is 

quite small with about 7,500 casters, of 

which 2,500 work for Georg Fischer. So 

New installation work in the hall for e-vehicle components: the permanent 

mold for battery trays has already been inserted into the die-casting 

machine 

GF Automotive considers its own training 

very important: 50 trainees – from 

foundry mechanics, through automation 

specialists and mechatronics engineers, 

to designers – learn their trade 

at the major automotive supplier from 

the bottom up. 

GF Automotive also has little leeway 

in its price structuring for vehicle producers 

and, like other automotive suppliers, 

the group must also adapt to the 

carmakers’ desire to reduce stocks by 

exploiting just-in-time deliveries from 

foundries. 

Decking and Rosenthal therefore remain 

pragmatic when considering the 

future strategy: weight reduction and 

the substitution of materials by castings 

will remain on the group’s agenda 

– with e-vehicle components as part 

of the product strategy. 

www.gfau.com 

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COMPANY 

An aerial view of the HegerFerrit foundry in the Palatinate region in Germany. Its own single wind turbine has been covering 

about one-third of the foundry’s annual electricity consumption since May 2013 (Photos: Gesamtmetall/Pit Junker) 

Author: Pit Junker, Cologne 

Heavy castings roll off the 

conveyor belt 

The Heger Group runs one of the world’s most innovative foundries. The concept was revolu- 

- 

 

 

The table is laid. A single steel cylinder 

is all that is on it. This, though, has a 

diameter of almost 5 m and is a good 

7 m tall. A rail-borne elevating platform 

truck hums quietly as it slides between 

the table legs and lifts the entire 

ensemble, weighing about 130 t, a 

few centimeters. It enters a large hall at 

walking speed. A few minutes later, beneath 

a shower of sparks, molten iron 

weighing more than 30 t and at a temperature 

of about 1,500 °C is poured 

into the cylinder (Figure 1). While this 

is going on, about 50 m away on another 

table, the parts for the next mold – 

for a wind turbine rotor hub – are being 

assembled. 

Conveyor belt casting. This is nothing 

special for smaller parts of up to 

100 kg, e.g. engine blocks or gearboxes 

for the automotive industry. But 

what is taking place at Sembach (near 

Kaiserslautern, Germany) is unique regarding 

both the magnitude and the 

processes. Johannes Heger, the Managing 

Partner of HegerGuss GmbH, 

a company with a 110-year tradition 

based in the neighboring town of Enkenbach-Alsenborn, 

is responsible for 

this. In 2009 the entrepreneur created 

a foundry concept, HegerFerrit 

GmbH (on a greenfield site) for 

large hand-molded castings that is 

“unique” worldwide and whose technology 

is “the unchallenged number 

one” in Germany. 

Exploiting the momentum 

of wind power 

“As a family-run company, we had the 

good luck of being able to act at the right 

time without any major delays once the 

decision had been made,” says Heger. 

The right time was when the wind energy 

sector had momentum and one of 

Germany’s largest wind turbine producers 

signed a five-year contract with 

Heger. This secured the investment of 

more than 25 million euros. Since then, 

everything in the new works has literally 

revolved around these heavy cast- 


ings in serial production (Figure 2). Because 

a circular railway with a dia meter 

of 110 m forms the heart of the works. 

This central structure is pierced by four 

elongated halls that break through the 

circle like thorns. The castings are transported 

by rail to the particular workstation 

in the circular hall – as if they 

were on a conveyor belt. Whereby the 

innovative idea is that the workpiece 

comes to the employee. This is exactly 

the opposite to the current way of 

working in foundries. “Only one type 

of activity takes place in each hall,” 

says Heger. Thus processes cannot interfere 

with one another. For the first 

time, the workstations are stationary 

“and can be correctly designed for productivity, 

safety and ergonomy.” This 

concept allows the production of up 

to 2,000 large wind turbine hubs per 

year ( Figure 3). The planning, and the 

managing partner is particularly proud 

of this, was entirely carried out by engineers 

from HegerGuss. “The innovative 

idea at HegerFerrit is that the workpiece 

comes to the employee. Thus the 

particular partial processes cannot interfere 

with one another.” 

Figure 1: Pouring the iron melt into the casting ladle 

Figure 2: Removing casting residues from a hub 

Conveyor belt castings 

up to 30 t 

The exclusive contract with the wind 

turbine producer came to an end last 

year, opening up completely new possibilities 

for the foundry. “They are 

still our largest customer,” says Heger, 

“but since the contract expired we 

have also gained other producers as 

customers – so we now supply three 

of Europe’s leading wind turbine 

constructors.” This was not the original 

plan. But as a result of the rapid 

growth of the wind turbine sector 

Heger is now happy that the commitment 

to a single producer has lapsed. 

The very large components were also 

not part of the original plan. “The unit 

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COMPANY 

Figure 3: The prototype of a new hub is measured 

weight was originally 8 to 10 t, with a 

maximum of 15 t possible,” according 

to Heger. But this was not enough for 

the rapidly expanding wind energy sector 

and for the wind turbines that were 

growing with it – larger hubs are now 

required (). “Our engineers and 

highly qualified specialists succeeded 

in doubling the maximum weight to 30 

t,” says a pleased Johannes Heger. “This 

is possible with two casting ladles and 

two cranes in simultaneous operation.” 

Productivity and jobs double 

The new factory concept has resulted 

in double the productivity. “The possibilities 

created by the now higher 

unit weight have enlarged the potential 

market, improved our competitiveness 

and further increased productivity 

compared to other conventional 

competitors,” stresses Heger. This has 

also had a corresponding effect on 

jobs. We started in Sembach with 50 

new employees in 2009 – we now have 

80. “The workforce will increase to 100 

during the coming months,” predicts 

Heger, “because sales are continuing 

to grow.” With the orders already received 

by the end of 2015 the company 

has achieved sales growth of almost 

70 % during the last two years. 

While Heger is participating in regenerative 

energies and in Germany’s 

energy transition with the casting 

of wind turbine hubs, an enormous 

amount of energy is consumed at the 

Sembach works. Although the energy 

needed for the new foundry concept 

– 200 kWh per tonne of castings produced 

– is lower than at other foundries, 

about 20 million kWh is required 

every year. This is about as much as a 

small town with 20,000 inhabitants 

consumes. “Apart from personnel 

costs, the main Achilles’ heel of German 

foundries in international competition 

is the high price of electricity,” 

says Heger. But the company not 

only consumes a lot of energy, it also 

produces some. About one-third of the 

foundry’s annual electricity requirement 

has been covered by its own wind 

turbine – a highly visible emblem for 

HegerFerrit – since May 2013. The hub 

was, of course, made by HegerFerrit itself. 

In addition to the wind turbine 

hubs, the family-run group (in its 

fourth generation) with its 270 employees 

also produces other high-quality 

iron castings for the world market. 

Some time ago, the largest and heaviest 

engine block in the company’s history 

– more than four meters long and 

weighing 13,000 kg – was cast at the 

main facility, HegerGuss in neighboring 

Enkenbach. The V16 motor constructed 

from it was a prototype with 

a great future and was used for stationary 

energy generation. “A new mold 

process, developed in-house, was used 

to produce the mold which, with an 

extremely complex component geometry, 

permitted considerably improved 

dimensional accuracy of the 

casting,” explains Heger. Long longitudinal 

channels no longer required 

elaborate drilling, but were formed directly 

during the casting process. The 

component was, however, still cast using 

traditional processes – not on travelling 

tables. 

A 30-t hub is fastened to a low-loader for transport 

www.hegerferrit.com 


Casting 

China 

Special 

Photo: BMW

SPECIAL 

Author: Wen Ping, Executive Vice President & Secretary General of China Foundry Association 

Status and outlook of China’s 

foundry industry 

Figure 1: Total castings output of China from 2000 to 2014, in thousand tons 

Steady growth in the “new 

normal” era 

The Chinese foundry industry has 

grown steadily since the turn of the 

century. However, the growth rate 

has significant slowdown since 2011. 

Just as other industries in China, the 

foundry industry has entered the “new 

normal” era. 

Data shows that the total castings 

output reached 46.2 million tons 

in 2014, which reflected an annual 

growth of 3.8 % compared to the 

figures of 2013. Actually the growth 

rate between 2011 and 2014 was rather 

steady, ranging from 2.4 % to 4.8 % 

(Figure 1). 

For casting output breakdown by 

materials, the growth rate of aluminum 

and ductile cast iron has shown 

an annual increased of 12.5 % and 

6.9 % respectively. The ductile iron 

and aluminum alloy had a nearly 

high-speed growth, while gray iron 

showed no significant change. Among 

all castings, the proportion of aluminum 

including magnesium alloy castings 

accounts for 12.7% of the total 

output, and the ductile iron accounts 

for more than a quarter, or 26.8 % 

(Figure 2). 

In 2014, the rapid growth in demand 

for automobile, agricultural machinery, 

rail transportation, communications 

and other industries stimulated 

the need for related castings. It was also 

one of the major reasons for the rapid 

increase of aluminum alloy castings. 

Automobile castings now account for 

more than a quarter of industrial needs 

(up to 27.3 %). It is generally expected 

that the industry will continue to focus 

on production related to the automobile 

industry (Figure 3). 

But at the same time we saw decline 

of demands related to machine tools, 

engineering machinery, mining and 

metallurgical industries. 

Future growth governed by 

regulations 

To strengthen the macro-management 

of the industry, and stabilize the market 

order, the Ministry of Industry and 

Information Technology has issued 

“The Access to Foundry Industry” in 

May, 2013. It covers nine aspects: 

» construction conditions and layout 

»production process 

»production equipment 

» company scale 

»product quality 

» energy consumption 

» environment protection and resource 

comprehensive utilization 

» job health, safety and protection 

» personnel ability 

Implementation of the “The Access to 

Foundry Industry” is to promote the 

structural adjustment and upgrading 

of foundry industry; to promote energy-saving 

and emission reduction; 


educe outdated capacity; to contain 

low level and repeated construction, 

to avoid “blind” expansion, to protect 

the environment, and lead to the sustainable 

development of the industry 

in long term. 

Although “The Access to Foundry 

Industry” is a nation-wide guidance, 

setting up the general guidelines for 

the foundry industry, management 

and governing bodies at local level can 

carry out its own policies according to 

individual local conditions when the 

mainframe guidelines were followed. 

The core and essence of economic 

“new normal” era will be “Transformation” 

and “Upgrade”. In the 13th 

Five-Year Foundry Plan (2016-2020), 

the China foundry industry will go 

through the most critical period for 

industry development, with four major 

changes to be expected: 

1. The industry will transform from 

development by speed to efficiency; 

2. Emphasis will shift from output volume 

to product quality 

3. Development will change from extensive 

to intensive 

4. Last by not least, development will 

be driven by innovation, not tradition. 

In other words, the 13th five-year 

foundry plan will be a critical five year 

period for China’s foundry industry 

to move from the mid and late stages 

of industrialization to post-industrialization. 

It has to comprehensively implement 

the innovation-driven development 

strategies, promote industrial 

transformation, upgrade with information 

technology and prioritize the 

development of modern producer service 

sector. 

According to the forecast of development 

of the equipment manufacturing 

industry of China, the total output of 

castings will grow at a medium, steady 

pace, and is expected to exceed 55 million 

tons by the end of the decade, i.e. 

2020. 

Change to adapt and survive 

Re-building foundry cluster is one of 

the solutions for sustainable development 

in China’s foundry industry. The 

Figure 2: Total castings output, by materials 

Figure 3: Output requirement, by industries 

process will base on remodelling of the 

existing local foundry clusters through 

the process of industrial restructuring 

and upgrading. At the same time, the 

process will take into the accounts of regional 

economy consideration, brand 

building/re-building, product development, 

platform construction, etc. With 

the overall target evaluation system and 

relevant standards being set, the rebuilding 

of new foundry clusters could 

be accomplished as soon as possible. 

It was hope that based on the nearly 

30 existing foundry clusters, the experience 

drawn from overseas foundry 

clusters, the construction of foundry 

clusters with Chinese characteristics 

will be accelerated. 

Geographically speaking, the Eastern 

part of China has been taking a leading 

role in industrialization and modernization 

in the past decades. With 

more stringent environmental protection 

policies being implemented in this 

area and the upsurge of labour cost, an 

increasing number of foundry enterprises, 

together with other equipment 

manufacturing industries, will move 


SPECIAL 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 13th Five-Year Plan also set down the 

framework of lowering cost. Industrial energy 

conservation is the grim – nationwide. 

It is estimated that the high energy-consuming 

industry in industrial circle 

will be more strictly supervised. For adapting 

to requirements of national environmental 

protection regulation and the demand 

of reducing product manufacturing 

cost, casting industry will pay more attention 

on energy management by promoting 

technical and management energy 

saving simultaneously. 

Advanced energy-saving technology and 

equipment have broader space in foundry 

enterprise application. Per ton comprehensive 

energy consumption of casting will be 

further reduced. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to the Middle and the West of the country 

to stay competitive in the market. It will 

change the all-over geographical industry 

layout of the country. 

Meanwhile, it is expected some casting 

orders from overseas will be transferred to 

other countries in which labour cost are 

comparatively lower. 

All these factors will speed up the transformation 

of the traditional industry into 

modern enterprise through innovation. 

In general, the number of foundry companies 

will be reduced as less competitive 

enterprises will fall out from the market. 

Through economies of scale, some larger 

enterprises may enjoy a better margin of 

business, and further enhance the industry 

concentration ratio. It may turn out 

that 20 % of the companies will produce 

80 % of the castings available in the market. 

The implementation of the latest national 

environmental protection act was 

just the starting point. It was expected that 

subsequent supporting regulations will 

follow, and national environmental legal 

enforcement will be further enhanced. 

Casting industry has always been under 

the monitoring pressure from environmentalists 

in the aspects of smoke 

and dust emission, waste gas treatment, 

etc. All enterprises should abide the latest 

environmental protection regulation 

requirements by implementing the latest 

environmental protection equipment 

for production. The sooner they can fulfill 

it, the higher chance they can stay competitive 

in the market, and in turn expect 

growth in profit. 

The 3-D printing and rapid prototyping 

technology will further improve the 

development of new products at much 

lower cost. Rapid prototyping technology 

can produce some castings in small batches. 

Breakthrough will be made with the application 

of the semi-solid forming technology 

in aluminium alloy casting, which 

is expected to be applied on a large scale in 

the industry. 

The domestic foundry equipment manufacturing 

level will be further improved, 

capable to produce world-class key foundry 

equipment such as high-pressure automatic 

molding lines and large die-casting 

machines to meet domestic needs. 

With technological transformation of 

foundry enterprises, efficient, energy-saving 

and highly automatic foundry equipment 

will be used in a much wider perspective. 

To cope with the ever-rising labour cost 

and production in harsh environment, 

some enterprises that produce a large bulk 

of castings will gradually extend the use of 

robots in core making, pouring, and cleaning. 

It is our hope that the foundry equipment 

produced in China will become 

more competitive in the international 

market. 

www.foundry-china.com

SPECIAL 

Author: Siong Song Liu, President of the Hong Kong foundry Association and Founder of the L. K. Group, Hong Kong 

The impact of “Made in China 

2025” on China’s die-casting 

industry 

German foundry groups like Handtmann, 

one of the major German casting 

enterprises, want to participate 

in China’s economic growth: Handtmann 

Light Metal Foundry (Tianjin) 

Co., Ltd., was founded in Tianjin Airport 

Economic Zone at the end of 

2015. With a total investment of 75 

million euros, the company is equipped 

with 12 die-casting machines 

and two smelting furnaces. Annually, 

27,000 t of aluminum ingots will be 

produced, and two million transmission 

and clutch housings will be provided 

for the German carmaker 

Volkswagen (Photo: Handtmann) 

As the global landscape of industrial 

competition experiences significant 

change, China is confronted with huge 

challenges as it makes new efforts to develop 

its economy. Through dozens of 

years’ rapid development, China has 

emerged as a global leader in the manufacturing 

industry, with an independent, 

complete system that spans all 

fields of manufacturing, thereby laying 

a solid foundation for China’s social 

and economic development. However, 

China is still in the early stages of industrialization, 

and lags far behind developed 

countries. In fact, China’s manufacturing 

industry is large in scale but 

not strong, lacks the ability to develop 

innovations independently, and relies 

too heavily on core technologies and 

high-end equipment imported from foreign 

countries. The deep fusion of the 

new generation of information technology 

and the manufacturing industry is 

bringing about profound changes within 

the industry, creating new modes of 

production, industrial forms, business 

models and areas with great potential 

for growth. With every country around 

the world intensifying its effort to encourage 

scientific and technological 

innovation, China’s manufacturing 

industry is expected to have many opportunities 

as it tries to transform itself 

and develop through innovation. 

A review of the development 

of China’s die-casting industry 

In 1947, China’s first die-casting plant 

came into being in a small alley in 

Shanghai. Before 1949, only a few Chinese 

plants had a small number of imported 

cold- or hot-chamber die-casting 

machines, mainly used for producing 

zinc alloy castings. In the 1970s, the 

development of China’s motorcycle 

industry propelled the die-casting industry, 

and a large number of die-casting 

producers emerged, with the most 

rapid development taking place in Jiangsu 

Province, Zhejiang Province and 

Chongqing Municipality. In the 1980s, 

China began to introduce reforms and 

open itself up to the outside world, 

causing industries like automobile, 

hardware, motorcycle and wristwatch 

to experience rapid growth in the process. 

The die-casting businesses began 

to flourish. In the last 20 years, the diverse 

development of the die-casting 

industry has helped China go from a 

large die-casting country to a die-casting 

power. Except for Jiangsu Province, 

Zhejiang Province and Shanghai Municipality, 

Guangdong Province and 

Chongqing Municipality have experienced 

the fastest growth, with their 

numbers of die-casting plants and 

their production capacities continuing 

to grow. As China’s die-casting industry 

advances, so does its die-casting 

equipment industry, at an even faster 

pace. What follows is a review of the 


SPECIAL 

and Honda Motor Co., Ltd. began to 

use Chinese-made die-casting equipment. 

» From 2007 to 2010, Foxconn and BYD 

purchased many large die-casting production 

units from domestic producers. 

» In 2009, 3,500-t die-casting installations 

were included in the national 

list of critical scientific and technological 

tasks. 

KSM Castings Qinhuangdao Co., Ltd., also one of the major German casting 

enterprises, was founded in Qinhuangdao Economic Development Zone in 

mid of 2013. With a total investment of more than 70 million euros, the company 

is equipped with high pressure die-casting production lines for engine 

parts and counter pressure casting production line for chassis parts. Total capacity 

is more than 20,000 t of aluminum annually. More than 2 million parts 

of engine and chassis are supplied for German OEM and also various domestic 

Chinese brand car makers (Photo: KSM Castings) 

13 milestones in the history of China’s 

die-casting equipment industry. The 

milestones are as follows: 

» During the 10th five-year plan period, 

the Ministry of Science and Technology 

included “Research and Development 

around cold- and hot-chamber 

die-casting machines for magnesium 

alloys” in the national list of scientific 

and technological tasks. 

» During the 10th five-year plan period, 

the Ministry of Science and Technology 

included “Research and Development 

around large-scale die-casting 

machines for magnesium alloys 

(3,000 t)” in the national list of scientific 

and technological tasks. 

» In October 2001, during Shanghai International 

Industrial Exposition, the 

model DCC1600 die-casting machine 

for magnesium alloys, a machine developed 

solely by a Chinese business, 

was revealed to the public for the first 

time (as the result of a state-funded 

scientific or technological task) 

» The model DCC2000 die-casting machine 

for magnesium alloys was successfully 

developed. 

» In Shenzhen, a base was set up under 

the auspices of the state for the 

industrialization of die-casting machines 

for magnesium alloys and for 

the production of such machines for 

sale overseas to earn foreign exchange 

» In 2001, a task force was set up in 

Shenzhen to promote the cooperation 

on magnesium alloy industrialization 

and application among three 

cities on both sides of the Taiwan 

Strait. 

» In 2002, a special program was 

launched in Shenzhen to provide 

funds to the effort to industrialize the 

die-casting equipment industry. Starting 

2003, L.K. Group became a principal 

equipment supplier for Aisin Seiki 

of Japan. 

» In 2007, the National Technical Committee 

on Hot Metal Forming Standardization 

settled in Shenzhen. 

» In 2007, GM ordered several dozen of 

3,000 t die-casting production units 

from Chinese manufacturers for the 

first time. 

» From 2005 to 2008, Japanese automakers 

Toyota Motor Corporation 

The current status of China’s 

die-casting industry 

As the trend toward a lighter automobile 

continues, the automotive industry is 

increasing its use of aluminum or magnesium 

die-castings, including complicated 

components like the gearbox, engine 

housing, steering wheel, seats and 

dashboard. As a result, market demand 

for large die-casting machines (with a 

minimum capacity of 1,000 t) has risen 

drastically. At present, the dies produced 

in China for use in household appliance 

and motorcycle industries can 

fully satisfy domestic demand, the ratio 

of local dies in the automotive industry 

keeps on increasing, and magnesium 

alloy dies have begun mass production. 

Same Chinese producers are now selling 

their products overseas, while China 

still needs to import large, precise, sophisticated 

dies. 

The impact of “Made in China 

2025” on the development of 

the die-casting lndustry 

The document “Made in China 2025,” 

released in 2015, points out a direction 

for China’s manufacturing industry including 

the die-casting industry to follow. 

The manufacturing industry needs 

to make the following three transformations: 

the transformation from Made in 

China into Created in China, from the 

Chinese breakneck speed into Chinese 

quality, and from Chinese products into 

Chinese brands. 

1. The transformation from Made in 

China into Created in China 

To promote innovation in the die-casting 

industry and make it develop, it is 

vital for China to develop its own technology 

while introducing foreign advanced 

technology. For example, China 


may improve the performance of its domestic 

die-casting machines, improve 

the quality of its dies and the level of 

its die-casting technology, and improve 

the quality and performance of die-casting-related 

auxiliary equipment products 

and materials. The “model plants” 

will play an important role in guiding 

the transformation from Made in 

China into Created in China. In the aspects 

of policies and R&D funds, the 

government should encourage and support 

the creation of “model plants” and 

“model projects” by domestic die-casting 

businesses, so that they may increase 

the added-value of their products 

and help make the process of transforming 

from Made in China into Created in 

China faster and steadier. 

2. The transformation from the 

Chinese breakneck speed into the 

Chinese quality 

Insisting to make quality as the lifeline 

in the effort to transform China 

into a manufacturing powerhouse, 

the industry must stress the responsibilities 

of all parts of the business concerned 

with quality and intensify the 

effort to make quality and technological 

breakthroughs and cultivate domestic 

brands. lt is also vital to build uniform 

standard and quality supervision 

systems and create a quality-conscious 

culture and a market environment characterized 

by credibility and honesty. In 

a mature market environment, quality 

assurance depends not only on compliance 

with standards but also on the 

company’s willingness to follow all 

rules. In other words, it is important 

to change the quality requirements of 

standards and the consumer’s reasonable 

expectations for quality into the 

company’s willingness to improve quality. 

How can this goal be achieved? The 

only way is to build up a brand system. 

3. The transformation from Chinese 

products into Chinese brands 

This transformation comes naturally 

after the previous two. For years many 

domestic OEM businesses have run 

into trouble and even come close to 

bankruptcy. Why has this happened? 

There are many reasons, but the most 

important reason is that these businesses 

were able to produce products 

but they lacked a brand consciousness 

and could not do marketing weil. lt is 

therefore natural to come to the conclusion 

that it is important for China’s 

foundry and die-casting industries 

to improve design, increase the added-value 

of their products, enhance 

their brand awareness, increase the 

competitiveness of their products, and 

build up their Chinese brands. Tue document 

“Made in China 2025” will turn 

out to be a new driving force behind 

the development of China’s die-casting 

industry and it will offer a host of 

opportunities. 

www.foundry.org.hk 

www.lktechnology.com 

Industrial-Grade 3D Printing 

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Consult with our Experts. Invest in an ExOne system 

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+49 (0) 821 650 63 0 • ExOne.com

SPECIAL 

Author: Harald Seidemann, Managing Director, IPS Expert GmbH, Würzburg 

Guss Expert – the foundry ERP system 

is ready for China 

The Sino-German Green Foundry 

Summit Forum in Qingdao – attended 

by association representatives, numerous 

Chinese foundry representatives, 

and specialists from Germany’s 

foundry sector – took place for the second 

time in September 2015. 

The event provided an opportunity 

to discuss a very interesting topical 

subject: development towards Foundry 

4.0, the information technologies 

that will be necessary for this, and a 

suitable communication platform. 

Industry 4.0, and particularly Foundry 

4.0, involves the setting-up of a 

network to provide all the necessary 

information in real time to every entity 

involved in the value-creation chain 

for the production of castings. It also 

means the possibility and ability to extrapolate 

and automatically adjust the 

further flow of production and values 

on the basis of the information obtained. 

Foundry 4.0 is characterized by a 

wide-ranging and comprehensive human-machine 

and machine-machine 

dialog. Access to the relevant data and 

results takes place both via the internal 

company network as well as via secured 

communication paths, such as 

VPN and the internet. 

In addition to PCs (which can already 

be described as ‘classic’), increasing 

numbers of iPads, tablets and 

smartphones are being used here. The 

foundry manager is thus always kept 

informed about the general situation 

in production; current processes in 

production; the state of individual aggregates 

and, not least, the stage of processing 

of the customers’ orders. 

The exchange of all data with customers, 

suppliers and external workers 

also takes place digitally via electronic 

data exchange and web access. 

Sino-German Green Foundry Summit Forum in Qingdao: At the event the development 

towards Foundry 4.0 was dicussed (Photos and Graphics: IPS Expert) 

The foundry’s customers can check out 

the state of processing of their orders at 

any time via the web, with the help of a 

browser-enabled device, e.g. on an iPad 

or smartphone. 

For the foundries this means that 

their machines and aggregates must 

be equipped with networking capability, 

and a comprehensive internal 

network constructed by means of cables, 

WLAN, switches, etc. If this is 

already a major task when building a 

foundry from scratch, it is a disproportionally 

greater challenge in the 

case of an existing foundry. In addition 

to the enormous tasks facing the 

hardware and the technical solutions, 

the software used – the Enterprise Resource 

Planning system (ERP) – must 

be designed in such a way that networking 

in the sense of Foundry 4.0 

is possible. 

Guss Expert – the special ERP system 

for foundries – achieves this and 

is therefore the solution for foundries 

on the way to Industry 4.0, in particular. 

Following use in Germany and Europe 

the system can now also be employed 

in Chinese foundries. 

In addition to resource planning, 

costings and sales it is, in particular, 

the areas of production planning and 

production/machine data acquisition, 

as well as electronic data interchange 

(EDI) with customers and suppliers 

that are responsible for the real-time 

processing of data in Industry 4.0. 

The timing of the start and end of 

a work sequence as defined during 

throughput scheduling and capacity 

planning is the prerequisite for placing 

the production order on the planning 

grid for weekly or daily planning. Feedback 

from production via production/ 


The different modules of the ERP-/ 

PPS-software Guss Expert 

machine data acquisition is compared 

with the defined schedules – and particular 

events that are important for 

further work steps are triggered. 

Guss Expert and the consulting services 

of IPS Expert GmbH, Wurzburg, 

Germany, or its Chinese partner company 

Qingdao Forward Green Foundry 

provide support for foundries regarding 

permanent process monitoring as 

well as the reorganization of processes 

in the sense of Industry 4.0. 

www.ipsexpert.de 

Competence and Innovation. 

DEVELOPMENT AND MANUFACTURING OF 

PROTOTYPE AND SERIAL PRODUCTION TOOLS 

FOR ALL CASTING PROCESSES 

Meissner AG 

35216 Biedenkopf-Wallau 

Germany 

Phone +49(0)6461 802-0 

info@meissner.eu 

www.meissner.eu 


SPECIAL 

Author: Christine Wibbe, Communications Production Network BMW Group, BMW Munich 

BMW Brilliance Automotive opens 

new engine plant with light metal 

foundry in China 

Engine plant to produce three and four-cylinder petrol engines – light metal foundry sets the 

benchmark for sustainable production 

Opening ceremony of the new BMW Brilliance engine plant with light metal foundry in Shenyang: Oliver Zipse, 

Board Member for Production BMW Group, Olaf Kastner, President BMW Group Region China, Dr. Anton Heiss, President 

BMW Brilliance (from left; Photos: BMW) 

On the 22nd of January 2016 BMWBrilliance 

Automotive (BBA) opened a new 

engine plant with a light metal foundry 

in Shenyang. The new location will produce 

the latest generation of the BMW 

TwinPower Turbo three and four-cylinder 

petrol engines and forms part of 

the BBA production network based in 

Shenyang in Northeastern China. BBA 

is a long-standing joint venture between 

the BMW Group and Brilliance China 

Automotive Holdings Ltd. A total of 

around 2,000 BBA employees will work 

at the engine plant over the long term. 

Oliver Zipse, Board Member for Production 

BMW Group, stated during 

the opening ceremony: “This is another 

milestone in the history of our 

joint venture and further confirms the 

success of our cooperation. The new, 

groundbreaking engine plant, complete 

with a light metal foundry, will 

play an important role within the BMW 

Group’s worldwide production net- 


work. It forms part of our strategy for 

globally balanced growth with production 

capacity in the respective regional 

markets.” 

Yumin Qi, Chairman of Brilliance 

China Automotive Holdings Ltd., expressed 

his gratitude: “During the last 

years BBA has made considerable progress 

and set up an excellent, state-of-theart 

production location in Shenyang. 

With these facilities we are able to deepen 

our presence in the Chinese market 

and to continue our success. We do appreciate 

the great achievements of BBA 

as well as the good cooperation with our 

partner BMW Group.” 

BBA President Dr. Anton Heiss also 

announced the next groundbreaking 

step for the joint venture at the event: 

“BMW Brilliance is recognized as one of 

the most successful premium manufacturers 

in China. Three new models are 

already in the pipeline for local production. 

One of these models, the BMW 2 

Series Active Tourer, will be launched in 

the first quarter of 2016.” 

Both the engine plant and the light 

metal foundry incorporate the latest 

state-of-the-art production standards 

and will supply BMW Brilliance’s 

Dadong and Tiexi automotive plants. 

Factory gate of the new BMW engine plant in Shenyang in Northeastern China 

Capacity, which currently stands at up 

to 300,000 units per year, is tied to production 

volumes at the two automotive 

plants. In 2015, local automotive 

production reached more than 287,000 

units. BBA funded the necessary investment 

from its own resources; no additional 

capital was needed by the two 

joint venture partners. 

The opening ceremony was attended 

by Oliver Zipse, Member of the Board 

of Management of BMW AG, Production; 

Olaf Kastner, President and CEO of 

BMW Group Region China; Yumin Qi, 

Chief Executive Officer of Brilliance China 

Automotive Holdings Ltd.; Xiaoan 

Wu, Chairman of BBA; Dr. Anton Heiss, 

President of BBA; Ilka Horstmeier, Senior 

Vice President of Production: Engines 

and Electric Drive Systems; Ralf Hattler, 

Head of Purchasing and Supplier Network, 

Drive Trains; as well as representatives 

of Brilliance China Automotive 

Holdings Ltd. and the local government.

Pneumatic conveying 

technology 

For dry, free-flowing, 

abrasive and abrasion 

-sensitive material 

Core sand preparation 

technology 

For organic and inorganic 

processes, turn-key systems 

including sand, binder 

and additive dosing 

and core sand distribution 

Reclamation 

technology 

Reclamation systems for 

no-bake sand and core sand, 

CLUSTREG for inorganically 

bonded core sands 

KLEIN Anlagenbau AG 

Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 200 

57572 Niederfischbach 

Fon +49 2734 501 301 

Fax +49 2734 501 327 

info@klein-ag.de 

www.klein-ag.de 

 

BMW TwinPower Turbo petrol engines are 

characterised by an especially high level of 

efficiency and low emissions and represent 

the latest development in the BMW EfficientDynamics 

engine family. Using a high 

percentage of aluminium has significantly 

reduced the weight of drive trains. Heat 

management and acoustic features were also 

improved. At the heart of this engine range 

is the award-winning TwinPower Turbo 

technology, combining variable load control 

with state-of-the-art direct injection. 

A special feature of the new engine generation 

is standardized, location-independent 

production using a so-called modular 

system. All engines of this generation are inline 

engines and every derivative is produced 

on the basis of a core engine and a modular 

kit. This principle increases the proportion 

of identical parts used within each combustion 

type, i.e. petrol or diesel, to up to 60 %. 

Even around 40 % of the parts used in petrol 

and diesel engines are identical. 

The standardized production system for 

modular engines forms synergies with the 

international BMW Group engine production 

locations in Munich (Germany), Steyr 

(Austria) and Hams Hall (UK): Value stream 

optimization and economies of scale benefit 

production processes and make them more 

economical. These locations, which serve 

as competence centres for various engine 

types within the global engine production 

network, are able to share their know-how 

with other engine plants at any time. 

A further advantage of a standardized production 

system is uniform, stable processes 

that enhance quality. At the same time, location-independent 

modular production 

is highly flexible: Its standardized systems 

and processes allow the company to respond 

quickly to changes in market and customer 

demand. 

All production processes at the BMW Brilliance 

engine plant meet the BMW Group’s 

high global standards for quality, safety and 

sustainability. Know-how from the BMW 

Group’s global engine production network 

not only benefitted planning and construction 

of the new plant, but also helped with 

the introduction of sustainable production 

processes and technologies for the latest 

generation of modular engines: Following 

the example of the BMW Group Plant 

Steyr (Austria), machining work uses a water 

recovery system, resulting in completely 

wastewater-free production. This process 

uses innovative combined membrane technologies 

to treat all wastewater from mechanical 

production and feed it back into 

manufacturing. 

- 

 

The foundry sets new standards for sustainable 

production and has a capacity of up to 

15,000 t of aluminium per year. It is modelled 

on its partner plant in Landshut, Germany, 

whose wealth of experience was integrated 

into production processes. 

Innovative manufacturing processes enable 

nearly emission-free production of sand 

cores. For the first time in China, inorganic 

binders are used and lead to a reduction of 

emissions of combustion residues by 98 % 

compared with the organic casting processes 

typically used in the industry. In addition, 

90 % of the sand used for casting can be recycled 

to reduce waste to a minimum. In 2009, 

the BMW Group became the first to use this 

state-of-the-art, eco-friendly technology 

completely in series production of castings 

worldwide. 

The aluminium needed for casting will 

continue to be delivered in solid form and 

then liquified to around 760 °C in the on-site 

smelter. The “returns” from the casting process, 

i.e. metal residues separated from the 

raw cast during cleaning, are melted down 

in the foundry’s own smelting and holding 

furnaces and are reused. 

Innovative wire arc spraying technology 

(LDS) is also being introduced for production 

of cast-aluminium crankcases: The cylinder 

faces of all crankcases are coated with 

a wafer-thin layer of iron particles sprayed 

on in liquid form. This results in a lower 

weight and less friction in the engine leading 

to lower fuel consumption. 

 

 

In addition to combustion engines, the new 

engine plant will also produce high-voltage 

batteries for future Plug-in Hybrid models. 

As with the organization of engine assembly, 

this project will entail close cooperation 

between BBA and the BMW Group to ensure 

knowledge transfer from high-voltage battery 

production in Germany. 

http://iframe.bmw.com.cn/cn/en 


VOXELJET 

3-D-printing specialist 

expands to China 

voxeljet, Friedberg, Germany, has announced 

the signing of the agreement 

to form a joint venture with Suzhou 

Meimai Fast Manufacturing Technology 

Co., Ltd. (“Meimai”) to pursue opportunities 

in the industrial 3-D printing 

market in China. The joint venture 

shall be called voxeljet China Ltd. and 

will be controlled by the headquarter 

in Germany. New Managing Director 

is Tianshi Jin. He brings more than 

fifteen years of 3-D printing and rapid 

casting experience and a thorough understanding 

of the Chinese market to 

the company. Prior to joining the company, 

Tianshi Jin was General Manager 

of Wenzhou Product Innovation Center 

Co. Ltd., a state-owned company. 

In 2013, Tianshi Jin founded Suzhou 

Meimai Fast Manufacturing Technology 

Co., Ltd. which specializes in sand 

printing and rapid casting services. He 

was also a long standing distribution 

partner of voxeljet in China. 

voxeljet China Ltd. will be headquartered 

in the city of Suzhou, near Shanghai, 

and is expected to begin providing 

on-demand part services from a temporary 

facility in the second quarter of 

2016. The joint venture parties are in 

the early planning stages for a larger facility, 

which is expected to be similar in 

size to voxeljet’s existing service facilities 

in Germany and the United States. 

Dr. Ingo Ederer, Chief Executive Officer 

of voxeljet, commented, “We are 

excited to announce our joint venture 

partnership with Meimai in China as 

part of our ongoing growth strategy. 

Our long standing relationship with the 

principals of Meimai makes them the 

ideal local partner for us to establish a 

direct operating presence in the market. 

Their experience with our printers coupled 

with their existing customer base 

and relationships with end users of industrial 

3-D printing applications in 

Tianshi Jin, the new Managing 

Director of voxeljet China, and 

Dr. Ingo Ederer, CEO of voxeljet (r.), 

making the start for the subsidiary in 

China (Photo: voxeljet) 

China is a great benefit. This is a great 

opportunity for us and we look forward 

to growing together in the market.” 

www.voxeljet.de/en 

May 17-20, 2016 

China International Exhibition Center 

(New Venue) • Beijing 

Metal MMeeettaallll ++ 

etal 

Metallurgy MMeee 

ttaalllluurrrrgy 

ggggy 016 

China China 

CCCCCC 2016 

hhiinnaa 2200011666 

ggy 

gy 

gggy gggggggggy 666 

etal 

The 16 th China International Metallurgical Industry Expo 

The 14 th China International Foundry Expo 

The 14 

th China International Industrial Furnaces Exhibition 

The 12 th China International Refractories and Industrial Ceramics Exhibition 

Review 

2014 

 

 

 

CIEC Exhibition Co., Ltd. 

Lydia Sun T: +8610 8460 0341 

F: +8610 8460 0325 

E: sunying@ciec.com.cn 

www.mm-china.com 


SPECIAL 

MUSCHNA GIESSEREI-MASCHINEN 

Automatic molding machine MGM-SM in action (photos: MGM) 

Automatic pouring unit MGM-PU 

Successful start-up of automatic 

molding and pouring 

unit 

Chinese foundry “Jilin Province Boqiang 

Machinery Manufacturing Co., 

Ltd.” successfully started up their 

new automatic molding machine 

MGM-SM 9 and automatic pouring 

unit MGM-PU 100 supplied by the 

German start-up company Muschna 

Giesserei-Maschinen GmbH, Bad 

Laasphe. The machines are made in 

Germany and are complemented by 

equipment from SUZHU Foundry Machinery 

to fully automatic molding 

line. 

The design of the molding machine 

MGM-SM involves an extra strong execution 

of the machine frame to avoid 

any vibration during the fast shuttle 

movement of compaction head. This increases 

the stability and life time of the 

entire machine. The molds with flask 

size 940 x 660 x 280/280 mm are produced 

by airflow and multiram squeeze 

compaction with a productivity of 120 

molds per hour. The molding machine 

is based on German components, such 

as the Siemens S7 controller. 

Molds, produced at the automatic 

molding machine, are fully automatic 

poured by automatic pouring unit 

MGM-PU from a 1 t ladle. During pouring 

a new approach to the pouring process 

is used. The MGM-PU automatic 

pouring unit uses a mathematic calculation 

of the pouring curve on basis 

of gating system data and metal absorption 

capacity of the mold as well 

as pouring weight. By this, the pouring 

process achieves a very high precision 

and the slow down and stop of 

pouring on the end of the pouring process 

is very smooth. The usual lengthy 

set-up when introducing an automatic 

pouring is omitted, so that the 

start-up period is shortened. The visual 

camera control of the metal level in 

the pouring cup is used for confirmation 

of exact pouring execution and as 

safety control during pouring. Inoculation 

into the pouring stream occurs 

by volume dosing on basis of the pouring 

curve. 

MGM Muschna Giesserei-Maschinen, 

Bad Laasphe, is the Joint venture 

partner of Chinese foundry machinery 

supplier Suhzu Foundry Machinery, 

leading since 50 years in green sand 

molding, automatic molding plants, 

flasks, core machines and core handling 

systems, casting grinding and 

other foundry machinery. MGM produces 

several types of foundry machinery 

at an excellent German machine 

building factory. Since GIFA 2015 

MGM Muschna Giesserei-Maschinen 

extends the supply of Suzhu products 

into Europe. 

Newly available is the MGM CNC Cut 

& Grinder, usable not only for CNC 

grinding of castings, but including 

the cutting of ricers on the same machine 

before grinding of the castings. 

The machine is highly productive due 

to the ergonomically designed turntable, 

on which the castings are set. 

www.mgm-foundry.de 


ASK CHEMICALS 

Sustainable solutions for 

Chinese foundries 

Under the motto “The future of casting” 

ASK Chemicals, Hilden, Germany, will 

be showcasing its sustainable solutions 

for long-term foundry success at Metal + 

Metallurgy China from May 17-20, 2016. 

The company will display its portfolio 

with a clear focus on its Inotec technology 

as well as its water-based coatings 

solutions. ASK Chemicals’ feedings system 

solutions will round off the company’s 

presentation at this year’s Metal + 

Metallurgy China trade show. 

Visitors can expect to meet a competent 

team of foundry experts from both 

China and overseas as well as a competent 

presentation of innovative foundry 

solutions in hall E1 at booth K16. 

ASK Chemicals will be highlighting 

especially its Inotec inorganic binder 

technology, which has already proven 

its suitability for series production. The 

patented Inotec technology not only 

allows emissions to be eliminated but 

also has a positive effect on the material 

properties of the casting. In addition, 

the innovative binder system offers process-related 

advantages over conventional 

processes. Particularly notable 

among these are the significant increases 

to productivity in the casting process 

and a drastic reduction in the consumption 

of resources for maintenance and 

servicing work. Inotec technology has 

been honored with the BMW Innovation 

Award for Sustainability in 2014. 

Miratec water-based coatings are 

high-performance coatings especially 

recommended for automotive applications. 

They provide minimum handling 

times, which is key to realizing minimum 

cycle times and increasing productivity. 

The coatings provide an even 

coating layer, especially with complex 

core packages or challenging core geometries. 

Thanks to their engineered formulation 

and tailored characteristics 

(e.g. gas permeability), Miratec water-based 

coatings reduce casting defects 

and provide an excellent surface finish. 

Frequently, fiber sleeves are used in 

steel casting applications. These conventional 

sleeves contain, in addition to 

With its reduced feeding volume and its exothermic formulation, Exactcast 

mini-risers offer interesting savings potential in steel casting applications and 

yield improvements (Photo: ASK Chemicals) 

the fibers, rice husks that may lead to 

casting defects. Moreover, these slurry 

sleeves do not utilize their full volume 

for counteracting shrinkage defects, so 

that the effective yield is only 30 %. The 

remaining 70 % of the volume is used to 

maintain the heat in the 30 % of the 

molten metal needed for feeding. 

This is exactly where the cold-box 

bonded Exactcast KMV mini-risers 

come in, offering a fiber-free solution for 

steel casting. The volume at the riser can 

be reduced without sacrifice to the feeding 

performance. The exothermic compound 

replaces the non-feeding material 

and maintains the metal in its molten 

state. The KMV mini-risers therefore 

present an efficient and reliable alternative 

to conventional slurry sleeves. 

Exactcast optima risers, available as 

water-glass or cold box version, noticeably 

increase efficiency in foundries. 

These mini-risers are fitted with a loose 

metal part in the bottom section (nozzle) 

and a rigid pin designed to achieve 

an exactly defined breaking point and, 

additionally, reduce fettling costs. 

A further benefit is the virtually frictionless 

sleeve and the integrated riser 

cap of the risers, which prevent crumbling 

particles from falling into the 

mold during the compaction process. 

Riser applications with rigid pins usually 

destroy the riser during compaction, 

and crumbling particles from the riser 

can fall into the mold, which needs to 

be purged with air afterwards. This can 

also happen when using spring pins under 

high compaction pressures. Exactcast 

optima risers, by contrast, are fitted 

with a cover of non-friable material preventing 

mold contamination and related 

casting defects and thereby raising 

the cycle times of the molding systems. 

ASK Chemicals will be hosting expert 

sessions on Inotec, water-based technology, 

and mini-riser solutions: 

» “Latest developments in mini-riser 

technology for steel castings” by 

Huang Hai, Business Line Manager 

Feeding Systems 

» The future of casting with water-based 

coating technology” by Ayin Liu, 

Business Line Manager Coatings, Additives 

& Auxiliaries 

» “Inotec – more than just environmentally 

friendly” by Eric You, Business 

Line Manager Binders 

The presentations will take place every 

day at 10:30 am and at 2 pm at the 

ASK Chemicals’ booth in hall E1, booth 

number K16. 

www.ask-chemicals.com 


NEWS 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First cut of the spade for the new YGG foundry in Taichung Harbor, Taiwan. 

The foundry is to set benchmarks with German technology (Photo: Küttner) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KÜTTNER 

Groundbreaking ceremony for 

wind energy foundry in Taiwan 

In November 2015, at Yeong Guan 

Energy Technology Group (YGG), 

Kuanyin Town, Taiwan, an impressive 

groundbreaking ceremony was 

celebrated in Taichung Harbor. 

At the new location YGG has invested 

in a powerful foundry which will 

set international standards with German 

technology. YGG placed an order 

for the planning and delivery of 

foundry equipment with the Kaohsiung 

based Küttner Asia Ltd., from 

which planning and delivery of main 

components will be provided by 

Küttner, Essen, Germany, while steel 

construction and procurement of 

standard components is made directly 

in Taiwan. 

The foundry is designed to produce 

small series of large castings weighing 

up to 60 t per piece in several qualities 

of ductile cast iron. 

The foundry will be operated with 

Magnesium-treated iron from electric 

melting furnaces. The molds will be 

produced on vibrating tables which 

allows best compactation of the 

molding sand. Stationary and mobile 

continuous whirl mixers of 100 t/h 

capacity will be installed. The flasks 

with a weight of up to 450 t and a size 

of 9.2 x 7.5 m will be transported by 

cranes operating in tandem and will 

be emptied on a 90 m 2 large station 

consisting of 4 vibrating shake-out 

grids. The sand regeneration will be 

provided by four conventional mechanical 

processing steps. Due to the 

tropical climate the reclaimed sand 

will be cooled to a suitable processing 

temperature by means of chillers. In a 

downstream plant the raw castings 

will be shot blasted in a centralized 

cabin and subsequently treated in a 

fettling shop, and finally checked by 

non-destructive test. 

The Taiwanese new plant is focused 

on achieving the high quality demands 

for the process, the conservation 

of resources by low power consumption, 

and ensuring compliance 

with the standards of working environment 

protection by efficient capture 

of harmful pouring gases. 

www.kuettner.com 


MAUS 

Acquisition of Fritz 

Hansberg completed 

Maus S. r. l., Campodarsego, Italy, one 

of the major companies worldwide 

in automatic grinding and vertical 

turning, completed the acquisition of 

Fritz Hansberg S. p. A., Modena, Italy, 

long established company leader in 

core making equipment and molding 

lines. This acquisition enables Maus to 

strengthen its position as one of the 

global leaders in providing solutions 

for foundries: “from casting to finished 

part”. 

This complementary combination, 

besides representing a strategic growth 

platform for the two companies involved, 

will bring substantial value to 

customers. With the advanced core 

making and molding line technology 

from Fritz Hansberg , Maus in fact completes 

its portfolio as a full global solution 

provider for foundries. 

Mr. Roberto Sammartin, CEO of Maus, 

declared: “Recent trends show clearly 

An industrial robot is machining a casting (Photo: Maus) 

that the foundry equipment industry 

is concentrating. The combination 

of Maus and Fritz Hansberg supported 

by a global presence in key markets 

such as Europe, USA and China will 

enhance the leadership of Maus and 

will position the group to be a reference 

point for its customers and play 

a leading role in the industry going 

forward. Our goal is to maintain this 

technological leadership and we will 

be willing to invest in the future”. 

www.maus.it 

www.hansberg.com 

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NEWS 

VOXELJET 

Topology optimization leads 

to a prize-winning cast part 

A joint project between the Precision 

Casting Centre foundry, Portsmouth, 

UK, and voxeljet, Friedberg, Germany, 

has received the coveted “Component 

of the Year” flagship award from the 

British Cast Metals Federation (CFM). 

The project involved an optimized 

aluminum Wheel Upright that is five 

times stiffer than before, while maintaining 

the same weight. Prior to carrying 

out the 3-D print run, voxeljet 

and its partners optimized the topology 

and ran both a life cycle analysis 

and a casting simulation. 

The project began with the need to 

significantly increase the rigidity of the 

Wheel Upright without changing the 

weight or materials used. With the help 

of cutting-edge simulation tools and 

using the full range of structural design 

freedom offered by 3-D printing technology, 

the partners produced a Wheel 

Upright that is up to five times more 

rigid than its predecessor. Kevin Smith, 

Sales Director with voxeljet UK, describes 

the benefits as follows: “The 

design freedom of additive manufacturing 

processes, combined with simu lation, 

allows us to come up with a new 

generation of designs that overcome 

the earlier conventional design limitations.” 

It was voxeljet’s 3-D printing 

process that made it possible to implement 

cast part geometries with this level 

of complexity. “Because of this, the 

CMF jurors had a hard time at first believing 

that this complex Wheel Upright 

was an aluminum investment-cast 

part,” Smith adds. This project is an 

impressive demonstration of the potential 

that exists with regard to boosting 

performance and/or reducing weight. 

Another reason why the project received 

the award was that the component 

had been produced particularly 

economically by combining voxeljet’s 

3-D printing process with traditional 

investment casting. In the jury’s view, 

the project proved that this manufacturing 

process can revolutionize the 

production of complex cast parts with 

entirely new designs and offers many 

Adam Robertson (left) of the Precision Casting Centre and Kevin Smith, Sales 

Director of voxeljet UK, with the “Component of the Year“ award presented 

by the Cast Metals Federation (Photos: voxeljet) 

Bild 1: Comparison between the original Wheel Upright (left) and the optimized 

one (right) 

benefits for manufacturers and customers 

alike. 

The Wheel Upright was optimized as 

a joint project between Altair, Troy, USA, 

Click2Cast, Barcelona, Spain, HBM 

nCode, Rotherham, UK, and voxel jet. 

The engineers could take full advantage 

of component design freedom, thanks 

to the 3-D printing technology and the 

simulation-driven design. Various software 

programs were used for the simulations. 

Inspire, which is based on Altair’s 

OptiStruct optimization solver, 

was used for optimizing the topology. 

The component fatigue was simulated 

with nCode Designlife, and the Click- 

2Cast software was used to simulate the 

casting process. 

Coinciding with voxeljet’s success at 

the CMF Awards, the company has 


launched an on-demand service center 

for industrial 3-D printing applications 

in the UK. The substantial capacities of 

three high-speed, large-format printing 

systems, each of which has a build 

volume of 1,000 x 600 x 500 mm, make 

it possible to produce precise investment 

casting molds and models in just 

a few days. James Reeves, Managing 

Director of voxeljet UK, comments: 

“Our 3-D printing systems are the biggest 

and fastest available today for investment 

casting. They enable us to 

respond quickly, implement short processing 

times and still remain cost-efficient.” 

www.voxeljet.de 

NADCA SURVEY 

Productivity increase in 2015 

The North American Die Casting Association 

NADCA, which includes mebers 

from the USA, Canada and Mexico, 

has released the results of the 

2015 “Annual Wage and Fringe Benefit 

Survey”. This survey is specifically 

designed for the die-casting industry 

and represents 54 companies in 

the industry nationwide with detailed 

summaries for direct labor employees. 

In addition, the survey includes: wage 

rates for 13 key direct labor employees, 

analysis of insurance coverage, determining 

compensation standards and 

selecting fringe benefit plans and insurance. 

This data reflects a sampling of the 

information that can be found in the 

2015 Wage and Fringe Benefit survey. 

This year, the typical participating 

company had median annual sales of 

47.9 million US-dollar per year; utilized 

20 die-casting machines, employed 209 

full-time direct labor employees. Eleven 

(21 %) were union shops and 16 % 

of the total production employees reported 

were temporary. Almost 92 % of 

the survey participant’s total employees 

were hourly production employees. 

Three out of every four companies reported 

a general wage adjustment in the 

last 12 months and a percentage (80 %) 

plan to make a general wage adjustment 

in the next 12 months. The median value 

of adjustment in the last 12 months 

was 3 %. The shift in the industry to providing 

401(k) type retirement savings 

plan is evident by the decrease to 35 % of 

the traditional pension plans to 82 % of 

the industry offering 401(k) type plans. 

Wage and fringe benefit programs 

must be competitive in the current 

workforce in order to recruit and retain 

a top-notch staff in today’s highly 

competitive job market. 

NADCA’s 2015 Annual Wage and 

Fringe Benefit Survey is available as an 

instant download or hardcopy publication. 

www.diecasting.org 

Local 

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NEWS 

RECYCLING 

 

tonnes of CO 2 

are saved, equivalent to the emissions of about 40 000 people 

annually (Photo: Billionphotos.com - Fotolia) 

Recycling of aluminium packaging 

at record level 

Together with strong market growth 

the quantity of recycled aluminium 

packaging reached an all-time high in 

2014. According to a current study by 

Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung 

mbH (GVM), Mainz, Germany, 

94,900 t of the 106,600 t of aluminium 

packaging used in Germany 

were recovered as material (2013: 

87,300 t). This represents a recycling 

rate of 89 %. 

“Coupled with greater material efficiency 

and perfect product protection, 

material recovery from aluminium 

packaging makes an important contribution 

to conservation of resources,” 

was how Hans-Jürgen Schmidt, Managing 

Director of Deutsche Aluminium 

Verpackung Recycling GmbH (DAVR) in 

Grevenbroich, commented on GVM’s 

recycling audit. “The contribution to 

climate change prevention is considerable: 

the quantities of packaging now 

being recycled mean annual savings in 

greenhouse gases of more than 480,000 

tonnes of so-called CO 2 

equivalents.” 

“Thanks to its material properties, as 

a packaging material aluminium 

makes a vital contribution to sustainable 

and resource-efficient consumption,” 

added Christian Wellner, Executive 

Director of Gesamtverband der 

Aluminiumindustrie (GDA) in Düsseldorf. 

“The recycling of aluminium 

packaging and the closing of material 

loops plays an important role in the 

efficient utilization of resources and 

environmental protection. Yet another 

record result for the recycling of aluminium 

packaging will improve the 

metal’s sustainability performance 

even further.” 

GVM determines the quantity of 

packaging waste generated and recycled 

in Germany every year also on 

behalf of the Federal Environmental 

Agency in Berlin. It takes into consideration 

the quantities of used packaging 

recycled via the different Dual Systems 

as well as the amounts returned 

by other organisations and collection 

schemes. 

www.aluinfo.de 

CAN-ENG 

Heat treatment system for the 

processing of aluminum automotive 

structural castings 

CAN-ENG Furnaces International 

Limited, Niagara Falls, Canada, has 

been contracted by a large Canadian-based 

Tier 1 automotive supplier 

located in Alabama to design, manufacture 

and commission an automated 

T-7 Heat Treatment System for the 

processing of high integrity aluminum 

automotive structural castings. 

CAN-ENG is a global expert in the design 

of thermal processing solutions 

for high pressure die castings (HPDC) 

and aluminum automotive structural 

components. CAN-ENG’s technology 

was chosen for this new light-weighting 

project because it offers inherent 

part handling features that reduce 

floor space requirements and energy 

consumption. The technology also 

provides predictable mechanical properties 

and maintains the dimensional 

stability of the casting. 

The T-7 cell includes robotic handling, 

a solution and age furnace with 

CAN-ENG’s precision air quench (PAQ) 

technology, and controls integrated 

into a Level II SCADA system. CAN- 

ENG’s PAQ system offers a unique 

combination of recirculating air chambers, 

distribution nozzles, dampers 

and directional ductwork. Analysis of 

CFD modelling by CAN-ENG’s R & D 

Center ensures that the PAQ system 

delivers controlled quench media to 

the casting, leading to repeatable and 

uniform mechanical properties and 

accurate dimensional results. CAN- 

ENG’s T-7 heat treatment system is integrated 

with up and down stream 

processing operations, reducing W.I.P 

inventories. It is scheduled to be commissioned 

in the summer of 2016 with 

a second phase to follow in 2017. 

www.can-eng.com 


IMF 

Heavy duty tele manipulator 

After careful tests the giant manipulator 

K20 by IMF (Impianti Macchine 

Fonderie), Luino, Italy, was installed at 

the VDP foundry, Schio, Italy, in December 

2015. 

According to IMF it is the biggest manipulator 

ever manufactured worldwide, 

conceived to perform quick manipulation, 

totally safe of heavy and 

complicated loads. 

It is equipped with three tele cameras 

and relevant monitor on board to 

control different working areas. 

Main technical data: 

» Max. handling capacity: 20,000 kg 

» Max. extension with horizontal 

clamp: 10,600 mm 

» Max. extension with vertical clamp: 

8,440 mm 

» Full load speed: 24 m/min 

The whole manipulator with a group of visitors during the open day at IMF 

held on Dec. 11, 2015 (Photo: IMF) 

» Max. size with open clamp: 

2,800 mm 

» Boosters diameter: 320 mm 

» Working pressure: 280 Bar 

» Installed power: 250 kW 

» Weight: 180 t 

www.imf.it 

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NEWS 

ASK CHEMICALS 

Exactcast technology even 

 

ASK Chemicals, Hilden, Germany, has 

significantly improved its Exactcast 

riser technology within the last few 

years. Recent developments such as 

Exactcast Optima mini-risers provide 

important benefits to foundries. With 

the integration of riser data into the 

new MAGMA 5 version, foundrymen 

have access to comprehensive validated 

data of the Exactcast riser when designing 

the riser or gating system. 

Both risers and mini-risers are characterized 

by specific thermo-physical 

properties. They are either exothermic 

or isolating and have different feeding 

volumes and specific melting properties. 

Precise knowledge of this information 

is crucial when modelling the appropriate 

system. With the latest 

MAGMA 5 Release 5.3, foundrymen 

Data for Exactcast risers and mini-risers are now available in MAGMA 5 

Rel. 5.3 (Photo: ASK Chemicals) 

have access to this information and can 

apply the new mini-risers even more 

efficiently. The 

use of simulation 

increases 

the efficiency of 

processes, as it 

crucially reveals 

where there is 

optimization 

potential – not 

merely with the 

casting development 

process 

specifically, by 

reducing “trial 

and error”, but 

also with existing 

processes 

generally. 

Exactcast Optima 

risers represent 

a further 

solution successfully 

rolled out 

by ASK Chemicals 

to increase 

efficiency in 

foundries. These 

mini-risers are 

fitted with a 

loose metal part 

in the bottom 

section (nozzle) 

and a rigid pin designed to achieve an 

exactly defined breaking point and, additionally, 

reduce fettling costs. 

A further benefit is the virtually frictionless 

sleeve and the integrated riser 

cap of the mini-risers, which prevent 

crumbling particles from falling into 

the mold during the compaction process. 

Riser applications with rigid pins 

usually destroy the riser during compaction, 

and crumbling particles from 

the riser can fall into the mold, which 

needs to be purged with air afterwards. 

This can also happen when using 

spring pins under high compaction 

pressures. The new risers, by contrast, 

are fitted with a cover of non-friable 

material preventing mold contamination 

and related casting defects and 

thereby raising cycle times of the 

molding systems. 

ASK Chemicals riser solutions are 

characterized by their efficiency and 

high-quality feeding performance. 

They support casting defect prevention 

and, with the MAGMA 5 release, 

can now also be consulted for modelling 

the feeding or gating system. They 

are a powerful and effective combination 

offering interesting potential for 

foundries. 

www.ask-chemicals.com 


ARTIMPIANTI 

Flexible manufacturing 

system for cast iron foundries 

Delivering products with high quality 

standards of different shapes in a short 

period as a prompt response to customer 

requirement is an important factor for 

small and medium-size foundries in order 

to grow and sustain. 

Developed in a partnership between 

Artimpianti Italy S.n.c., Costigliole Saluzzo, 

Italy, and the cast iron foundry 

Fonderie Palmieri S.p.A., Settimello 

Calenzano, Italy, Artdosing is conceived 

to fulfill the tasks of a flexible manufacturing 

system. This device was first introduced 

at GIFA 2015. 

The Artdosing system is a solution for 

the following barrier faced in foundry 

equipment: 

» Rigid pouring with intermediate furnace, 

which are suitable for mass production 

» Pouring manually or by crane with 

higher risk of human injuries. 

Each empty ladle can be refilled with a 

cast iron alloy melt of different chemical 

composition with no extra energy 

for heating i.e., treatment of cast iron 

can be done without pouring the molten 

alloy and allowing the operator to 

get sample in an easy manner before and 

after the metallurgical treatment. 

Artdosing is a sophisticated design, 

wherein the geometry can be adapted 

and configured for custom requirements. 

It has a floating fulcrum point 

on the ladle located close to spout so 

that it optimizes a laminar and concentrated 

pouring stream in the die sand. 

Load Cells are provided for continuous 

monitoring of electronic weight 

display of the material in the ladle. The 

Ladle carrying capacity ranges from 

300 kg through 1800 kg. The operator 

is sitting in a enclosed cabin protected 

from drops/splashes during pouring. 

The advantage of Artdosing-model is 

summarized as follows: 

» Artdosing allows customer to use 

the equipment with minimal or no 

changes to the melting and forming 

upstream process; 

» The system can be used for small 

quantity of alloy according to the 

model that is present in molding; 

» Artdosing is very flexible and can 

move/ reach every area of the plant 

without rigid items such as cranes or 

having additional furnaces which will 

boost energy savings; 

» Casting quality will improve as pouring 

will be a continuous and laminar 

flow; 

» Ladle carrying capacity 300 through 

1800 kg; 

» Weight control is continuous ; 

» Low maintenance and investment 

cost. 

www.artimpianti.it 

ArtDosing – the new 

 

Device 

http://bit.ly/1pbCVLB 

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High Performance Power Source 

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UTPperform is a unique welding system that allows 

you to weld independently of any stationary power 

supply – anytime and everywhere. A machine 

designed for the demands of independent people 

who go for individual welding performance. 

Welding filler metals designed for the special welding 

requirements even under toughest conditions. 

Check out your live independent welding demo at: 

www.utp-maintenance.com/perform 



BROCHURES 

Molding sand management 

4 pages, English, German 

A concise brochure outlining the solutions and systems offered by Datec Dosier- und 

Automationstechnik for the modernization of electronic equipment for mold sand 

conditioning. For example, Datec offers a sand testing system which automatically 

tests sand compactibility and green compression strength. 

www.datec.org 

Hose technology 

4 pages, English, German 

A product brochure detailing the features of the non-conductive cooling water 

hose ProtectorTM offered by Lippmann. The hose has been designed for use in 

induction, electric arc, ladle and ESR furnaces. The brochure describes the hose ma- 

 

www.lippmann-gmbh.com 

 

16 pages, English 

 

Junker. The plant and equipment range includes induction furnaces for melting, 

holding, pouring and vacuum treatment, melting furnaces for aluminium, and thermoprocessing 

plants, e.g. for homogenizing, quenching and tempering, annealing 

and heating. 

www.otto-junker.de 

Bulk material technology 


 

bulk materials technology, control systems as well as mechanical and plant engineering. 

Equipment supplied by Emde includes trough and tubular screw conveyors, 

dosing units, trough chain conveyors, bucket elevators, pneumatic and vacuum 

equipment, etc. 

www.emde.de 


Eye and face protection 


A catalogue of head and face protection products offered by Rudolf Uhlen. The 

wide range of products includes hard hats, hard hat brackets, headgears, face 

 

 

provided. 

www.aschua-uhlen.de 

Vibrator motors 

10 pages, English, French, German 

Friedrich Schwingtechnik manufactures vibrating motors and unbalance exciters 

for vibration tasks. The brochure provides detailed technical information about 

the range of vibrator motors (2- to 10-pole) offered, in text and table form, and as 

technical drawings. 

www.friedrich-schwingtechnik.de 

Impregnation products and services 


A brochure featuring the Loctite high-performance impregnation products offered 

by Henkel. The process, suitable for metal parts such as engine blocks, cylinder 

 

the products with lifetime sealant, which will withstand oils, grease, virtually all 

 

www.loctiteimpregnation.com 

Vacuum die casting 


 

 

features Cosma’s High-Q-Cast high-pressure aluminium casting process for body and 

chassis applications. 

www.cosma.com 


INTERNATIONAL FAIRS AND CONGRESSES 

Fairs and Congresses 

Cast-Expo & Metalcasting Congress 2016 

April, 16-19, 2016, Minneapolis/USA 

http://bit.ly/1QwPDxF 

73rd World Magnesium Conference 

May, 15-17, Rome/Italy 

http://www.intlmag.org 

14th World Conference in Investment Casting 

April, 17-20, 2016, Paris/France 

http://www.eicf.org/events.php 

Metal + Metallurgy China 2016 

May, 17-20, Beijing/China 

http://www.foundry-china.com/Index.aspx 

Hannover Messe 2016 

April, 25-29, Hannover/Germany 

http://www.hannovermesse.de/en 

The 72nd World Foundry Congress 

May, 21-25, Nagoya/Japan 

http://wfc2016.jp/?page_id=95 

Metal & Steel Saudi Arabia 2016 

May, 1-4, Riyadh/Saudi Arabia 

http://www.metalsteelsa.com 

Metallurgy 2016 

June, 6-9, Moscow/Russia 

http://www.metallurgy-tube-russia.com 

15th International Foundrymen Conference 

May, 11-13, Opatija/Croatia 

http://www.simet.hr/~foundry 

World Congress Aluminium Two Thousand - ICEB 

June, 20-24, Verona/Italy 

www.aluminium2000.com 

Advertisers‘ Index 

ABP Induction Systems GmbH 2 

AGTOS Ges. für technische Oberflächensysteme mbH 68 

Hannover-Messe ANKIROS FUARCILIK A. S. 35 

voestalpine Böhler Welding GmbH 57, 59, 61, 63 

Chesapeake Speciality Products, Inc. 11 

CIEC Exhibition Company Ltd. 53 

Gustav Eirich GmbH & Co. KG 23 

ExOne GmbH 47 

FAT Förder- und Anlagentechnik GmbH 19 

FSG Frank Stapelmann Gießereimaschinen GmbH 13 

Giesserei-Verlag GmbH 12 

GTP Schäfer GmbH 13 

GUT Gießerei Umwelt Technik GmbH 51 

Inspectomation GmbH 37 

Jasper Ges. für Energiewirtschaft & Kybernetik mbH 29 

KELLER H.C.W. GmbH 39 

Klein Anlagenbau AG 52 

Helmut Klumpf Technische Chemie KG 57 

Küttner GmbH & Co. KG 44 

Friedrich Ley GmbH 61 

MEISSNER AG 49 

O.M.LER 2000 S.R.L. 62 

Regloplas AG 21 

RUMP STRAHLANLAGEN GmbH & Co.KG 63 

Rudolf Uhlen GmbH 59 

WOKO Magnet- und Anlagenbau GmbH 56 


PREVIEW / IMPRINT 

Preview of the next issue 

Publication date: June 2016 

Albert Handtmann with an aluminum casting produced at the die-casting foundry in Biberach. He has shaped the history of the Handtmann 

Group since the end of the Second World War (Photo: Klaus Bolz) 

Selection of topics: 

K. Hardtke: The Handtmann Group – a family company with a future 

Albert Handtmann Metallgusswerk GmbH & Co. KG in Biberach (Baden-Württemberg) is the heavyweight of the Handtmann 

pany 

whose technical solutions are in demand in a variety of markets worldwide. 

C. Nowaczyk: Core shooting simulation – to the economic and environmental advantage 

of the foundry 

ASK Chemicals, Hilden, intensively focuses on simulating foundry processes. This involves using almost all well-known software 

solutions, such as Magma, Flow-3D, Arena-Flow and Novacast. The article provides an overview of the potential that core shooting 

simulation offers 

A. Kleine : The alloy Trimal-37 in modern car body construction 

A weight-optimized self-supporting frame structure can be realized in the vehicle body with the help of cast nodes made of the 

die-cast aluminum alloy Trimal-37. 

Imprint 

Pub lish er: 

Ger man Foundry As so ci a tion 

Ed i tor in Chief : 

Michael Franken M.A. 

Ed i tor: 

Robert Piterek M.A. 

Ed i to ri al As sist ant: 

Ruth Fran gen berg-Wol ter 

P.O. Box 10 51 44 

D-40042 Düsseldorf 

Tele phone: (+49-2 11) 6871-358 

Tele fax: (+49-2 11) 6871-365 

E-mail: re dak tion@bdguss.de 

Pub lished by: 

Gies se rei-Ver lag GmbH 

P.O. Box 10 25 32 

D-40016 Düsseldorf, Ger ma ny 

Tele phone: (+49-2 11) 6707-140 

Tele fax: (+49-2 11) 6707-597 

E-Mail: cpt@stah lei sen.de 

Man ag ing Di rec tors: 

Jürgen Beckers, Arnt Hannewald 

Publishing Di rec tor: 

Frank Toscha 

Ad ver tis ing Man ag er: 

Katrin Küchler 

Cir cu la tion: 

Ga briele Wald 

Pro duc tion Man ag er: 

Burk hard Star kul la 

Layout: 

Peter Büchele 

Ad ver tis ing rate card No. 27 from 1.1.2016 

Pub li ca tion: Quar ter ly 

An nu al sub scrip tion rate (incl. post age) 

Home: € 110,– incl. 7 % VAT; Mem ber States 

in the EC: Sub scrib ers with VAT-No. and 

Third Coun tries: € 110,–; Sub scrib ers without 

VAT-No.: € 110,– plus 7 % VAT; Sin gle 

copy € 33,–. 

Min i mum sub scrip tion pe ri od 12 months. 

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© 2016 Gies se rei-Ver lag GmbH. Düsseldorf 

Print ed by: 

Kraft Druck GmbH 

Industriestr. 5-9 

76275 Ettlingen, Ger ma ny 

Printed on paper bleached totally chlorine-free 

All rights, in clud ing those of trans la tion into 

for eign lan guag es and stor age in data banks, 

re served. 

Pho to me chan i cal re pro duc tion (pho to copy, 

mi cro copy) of this tech ni cal pub li ca tion or 

parts of it is not al lowed with out spe cial permis 

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tered trademarks does not war rant the 

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free under the trade-mark law and may be 

used by any one. 

Cer tifi ca tion of cir cu la tion by the 

Ger man Aud it Bu reau of Cir cu la tion 

ISSN 0935-7262 


Competence in 

Shot Blast Technology 

We offer a complete service in surface 

preparation technology, not just as machine 

designers and manufacturers. 

Our emphasis is on providing reliable 

service on: 

• Wear and Spare Parts 

• Repair and (remote) maintenance 

• Inspection and process advice 

• Machine upgrades and performance 

enhancement 

• Upgraded used machines 

AGTOS 

Gesellschaft für technische Oberflächensysteme mbH 

Gutenbergstraße 14 · D-48282 Emsdetten 

Tel. +49(0)2572 96026-0 · info@agtos.de 

www.agtos.com 

214-12/15-2c

CPT International 01/2016

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