special - Alu-web.de

Fotos: Messe Düsseldorf / Rene Tillmann
ALUMINIUMGUSS
about current developments, including
information technology for foundries.
And rightly so: nowadays the intelligent
use of IT is becoming critically
important for foundries. For example,
to rationalise production sequences
further and reduce development
times, continually more sophisticated
methods for the simulation of process
sequences are used. Industrial robots
can penetrate deeper into foundry
sequences not previously automated.
Computers have meanwhile also
come to contribute decisively towards
forecasting the mechanical properties
of castings and towards the thermal
control of casting processes.
Flexibility and customer orientation
are recognised as further factors
for success in foundry operation, and
more and more companies are developing
from simple casting suppliers
into versatile full-service-system
partners. What is now on offer is not
kilos but customer utility. The largely
medium-sized characteristics of the
foundry landscape contributes decisively
towards the achievement of this
concept. All-embracing solutions that
have the entire plant life-cycle in view
are gaining importance.
At GIFA plant manufacturers and
supplier companies will be demonstrating
which new or improved
techniques and concepts are now the
prerequisites for sustained growth.
For example, modern mould and
core production methods contribute
considerably towards the reduction
of emissions. High-productivity and
environmentally harmless binder systems
will also be an important subject
in Dusseldorf.
Particularly in the field of process
reliability, many exhibitors at the fair
will be pointing to advances, since
plant manufacturers have consistently
directed their R & D capacities towards
market needs. Examples worth
mentioning here are concepts that
enable smaller nominal wall thicknesses.
In such ways foundries meet
the increasingly strict requirements of
Das Geschäft der Hersteller von
Gießereimaschinen brummt
Anlässlich der weltweit größten
Fachmesse für Gießereimaschinentechnik
GIFA zeigt sich die Branchenkonjunktur
in einer kräftigen
Verfassung. Das weltwirtschaftliche
Stimmungshoch wirkt sich
positiv auf die Absatzchancen der
Hersteller von Gießereimaschinen
aus. Gerade die Gießereien spü-
Kurbelgehäuse auf einem Förderband im Honsel-Werk in Meschede
Crankcases on a conveyor belt at Honsel’s plant in Meschede
ren stärker als in vielen anderen
Sektoren die Auswirkungen der
Globalisierung: Aufstrebende
Volkswirtschaften wie die „BRIC“-
Länder Brasilien, Russland, China
und Indien prägen maßgeblich das
Wachstum und füllen die Auftragsbücher
der Hersteller von Gießereimaschinen
und -anlagen. �
the market, use resources more sparingly,
and establish foundry technology
firmly in the production process.
The system solutions exhibited at
GIFA benefit not only the major customers
in the automotive economy,
mechanical and plant engineering.
As a consistent innovation booster
modern foundry technology is also
important in branches of the economy
which might at first sight perhaps not
seem so obvious: in the building industry,
communications technology,
environmental technology and electrical
engineering.
What is certain is that GIFA 2007
will be very much an international
event. Around half of the applications
come from foreign participants,
among whom interest above all from
Chinese and Eastern European companies
has increased greatly. Exhibitors
from the USA are also more numerous
and, compared with GIFA
2003, have booked a total area almost
50% larger.
�
Business booming for
foundry machinery
manufacturers
As GIFA, the world’s largest trade
fair for foundry machine technology
approaches, trade in the branch is
doing very well. The upbeat mood
of the world’s economy is having a
positive effect on the sales opportunities
of foundry machine manufacturers.
Foundries in particular are
feeling the effects of globalisation
more strongly than many other sectors:
developing economies such as
the “BRIC” countries, Brazil, Russia,
India and China, are contributing
decisively to growth and filling the
order books of foundry machinery
and plant manufacturers.
This is confirmed by data from the
Trade Association for Foundry Machinery
within the Association for
German Mechanical and Plant Engineering
(VDMA): already in 2005
world exports increased by 11%,
corresponding to machine deliveries
worth some 1.9 billion euros. Japan
30 ALUMINIUM · 6/2007
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