CPT International 04/2016

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A vehicle in the Mercedes BR222 series (S-Class) illustrated with rear suspension strut dome in position (Photo: Daimler AG) Author: Klaus Vollrath, Aarwangen, Switzerland Aluminum structural castings: greater capacity for Europe’s premium cars Hybrid car body structures made of steel and aluminum have become established at Europe’s premium producers. Considerable weight savings, and thus reduced fuel consumption, can be achieved with such constructions. DGS Druckguss Systeme AG, based in St. Gallen in Switzerland, proves its competence as a development partner for the worldwide large-scale production of such castings by delivering large-format structural components for the hybrid body of Mercedes’ new C-Class. The next step is to build up production and logistical structures that meet the needs of Europe’s premium producers throughout the market – not only regarding development competence and component quality, but also production capacities and cost structures “The successful collaboration with Mercedes in developing aluminum structural castings for the hybrid body of Mercedes’ new C-Class was an important breakthrough for us,” says a pleased Axel Schmidt, Manager of Technology and Sales at DGS Druckguss Systeme AG. The company was thus able to prove that they met all the prerequisites for supplying premium producers not only for niche vehicles, but also for models that are mass-produced worldwide. This also involved mastering the appropriate technology so well that a smooth worldwide supply of the necessary parts could be assured. DGS can supply three of the four works in which Mercedes produces the C-Class: the parts for Germany and South Africa come from the DGS works in Switzerland, supply of the Mercedes works in China takes place via the DGS foundry in Nansha (China), which was appropriately qualified by personnel from St. Gallen. And the local casters responsible for production in America received technological support from DGS specialists. 42 Casting Plant & Technology 4/<strong>2016</strong>
For the specialists from Switzerland, the successful technology transfer was both a challenge and an accolade for a different, higher, level of qualification. Strategies and training procedures had to be worked out at the various sites, which previously had no experience with such structural castings. The setting up and implementation of serial production abroad was possibly the greatest challenge in this project – due to variations in the level of technological mastery, language barriers and differences in mentality. “We at DGS are particularly proud that we were the first European casters to take on this enormous challenge and positively master it,” Axel Schmidt said after the successful start of production. A step into the extensive European premium market “Even then it was clear to us that in future we would have to face rapidly growing demand for such parts for other models and carmakers, too,” adds Schmidt. This was easy to see from the large number of inquiries and development projects DGS was involved in. Apart from Mercedes, the company was also in discussions with other premium producers such as Audi, Porsche and BMW. It was obvious that the emerging demand already present just in Europe would be impossible to cover with the capacities available in St. Gallen, while the lack of available space ruled out any major expansion. Completely rebuilding the company on a sufficiently large piece of land was also out of the question for another reason: the very strong Swiss franc at the time had become a serious and, in some cases, even insurmountable handicap – above all for vehicles in the medium to lower price segments. It was therefore necessary to find ways to carry out some of the corresponding production abroad, where there was a more favorable costs situation. A condition and requirement for this, however, would be transferring the familiar high quality of the Swiss to whatever country was selected. In this situation, DGS decided to become the first European die-casting foundry to set up production of large-format structural castings in the Czech Republic. The works in Liberec (the Czech Republic) “This made it possible for us to participate with our efficient modern aluminum die-casting foundry,” reveals Luboš Pfohl, Managing Director of DGS Druckguss Systeme s.r.o. in Liberec in the Czech Republic. Since the 1990s, numerous companies involved in plastic processing, machine construction and the automotive supply industry, in particular, have settled in this highly dynamic industrial region south of the border triangle made up of Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. The die-casting foundry was built as a proverbial ‘garage startup’ in 1990 during the economic liberalization, and was quickly able to gain a good reputation, particularly in the country’s growing automotive industry. Economic crises and the DGS made the leap into large-scale production with the development partnership for castings such as this suspension strut dome for the Mercedes C-Class desire to grow, also westwards, provided an impetus for collaboration with a western partner. Consequently, the takeover by what is now DGS took place at about the turn of the millennium. Since then, the rapidly growing works in Liberec has developed into one of the most important suppliers for European carmakers, delivering high-quality ready-to-install castings exactly to specification and within deadlines – meeting the requirements of this very demanding market. Systematic preparation for the production of structural castings had already begun in 2014 with intensive support from the parent company in St. Gallen. For this purpose, The production of structural castings for the S-Class and GLC models from Mercedes now takes place on three modern Carat die-casting cells at the Liberec works Casting Plant & Technology 4/<strong>2016</strong> 43
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