CPT International 02/2021

Digitalization actually only becomes interesting from Step
3onwards, when production processes obtain visualization
capability via data analyzes –and, to be fair, every fifth SME
is already at this level. Digitalization adds aholistic process
understanding at Step 4. Companies can then capture a
wealth of data at Step 5, when faults can be predicted and
prevented before they occur. Step 6involves self-optimizing
systems that could ultimately enable autonomous production
in foundries.
‘Unmanned’ autonomous processes appear attractive for
reasons of cost but also creates unease: “The aim is to make
better decisions quicker, and not establish autonomous production
in the foundry,” stresses Prof. Dierk Hartmann from
Kempten University of Applied Sciences in southern Germany,
apioneer in research on digitalization in foundries. It
is his clear opinion that ultimately aperson should always
decide “whether to adjust ascrew or not”. An opinion that
he voiced in an interview onthe state of digitalization-related
research and development which appeared in May 2021.
All the same, initial applications of this type have been in
operation in the industry for some time now, for example in
the form of autonomous transport systems at the Smart
Foundry in Hasloch; or avirtual assistant in the latest die-casting
plants from Oskar Frech –which makes autonomous corrections
of tolerance deviations during production or a
warehouse whose ERP system enables ‘chaotic’ organization.
These, however, are only individual aspects. There is not (yet)
an algorithm that can autonomously carry out production as
awhole. What do exist are noteworthy developments in the
sector, and they show that the foundry industry is on the
path towards digitalization and is already profiting from it.
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The digital administration
Thus, for example, automated administration is an early digitalization
step with major effects. Christen Guss in Bergdietikon
(in the Baden district of Aargau canton in Switzerland)
already took this step several years ago: invoices are scanned,
compared with customer data, and automatically booked.
Accounting costs quickly halved, while balance sheets and
income statements are now updated in real-time, massively
improving the overview of business activities –regularly
consulted by Elon Musk fan, Florian Christen, for advice. “We
want to act, not react,” says the businessman. Christen therefore
rates digitalization highly (CP+T reported on this in Issue
4/2017, from p. 30). Automated administration is active all
the way down to procurement.
The use of probes at Karl Casper Guss in Remchingen
makes the consumption of resin and sand so transparent that
the ordering of auxiliary and operating materials is now largely
automated. Customers also profit from minute-by-minute
transparency regarding their orders. Customers sending
regular delivery forecasts can obtain their castings just one
day after making the actual order. Online presentations, e.g.
by Florian Christen, are also being worked on –one day he
wants to automatically offer potential customers an expected
price when they upload their CAD data. Acloud-based
raw materials platform developed by Profs. Hartmann and
Gottschling (with Lohmann Guss, among others) already
works somewhat similarly: the most reasonably priced offer
is displayed on the basis of aso-called simplex algorithm.
Profs. Gottschling and Hartmann have significantly shaped
research into digitalization in the foundry industry. Prof.
Gottschling teaches mathematics for engineers at the University
of Duisburg-Essen.
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