CPT International 4/2019

MELTING SHOP
Photos and graphics: Kemptener Eisengiesserei and ABP Induction
engineering industry.
Induction furnace
control by virtual machines
As an important step towards Industry 4.0, the iron foundry Adam Hönig AG, based in
Kempten, Germany, has introduced a data management system which makes the foundry’s
wide and varied production processes more transparent – by means of an App on a
smart phone. Through the consistent acquisition and evaluation of the process data, the
foundry saves significantly on energy and material use.
Introducing the data management system
placed extremely exacting
demands on the control system of the
two induction furnace tandems operated
by the foundry. Here the melting
processor Prodapt Enterprise supplied
by the German induction furnace manufacturer
ABP and operating in combination
with virtual systems and an inhouse
server left nothing to be desired.
Erwin Dötsch, Dietmar Mitschulat, ABP Dortmund, and Pierre Hacquin, Adam Hönig AG, Kempten
Kemptener Iron Foundry
A family-managed company for more
than 60 years, Kemptener Eisengießerei
Adam Hönig AG (KE) (Figure 1), produces
iron castings and provides advice
in casting design mainly for mechanical
engineering companies. Adam Hönig is
a contract foundry with its own mouldmaking
lines. Grey and ductile iron castings
with item weights ranging from
Treatment of a melt at the iron foundry Adam Hönig.
A contract foundry with pattern making facilities and
provider of casting design consultation, Adam Hönig
manufactures iron castings mainly for the mechanical
just a few kilograms up to and including
8.5 t are produced as single pieces
or in small and medium series in a
hand-moulding shop or in automatic
moulding lines (Figure 2). The sheer
number of 6,000 to 7,000 different patterns
gives an idea of the great variety
of products. Figure 3 shows two impressive
examples of medium-weight castings.
At the foundry, 170 employees
8