CPT International 02/2021
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INTERVIEW<br />
Photos: BDG/Vogt; Foseco<br />
Interview situation in times of the pandemic. Heinz Nelissen and Hannes Erger answer questions from the GIESSEREI editorial team.<br />
„The foundry industry will emerge<br />
stronger from the pandemic!“<br />
With Heinz Nelissen, President of GIFA 2019 and Managing Director at Foseco/Vesuvius,<br />
one ofthe best-known movers and shakers in the foundry industry is retiring. With Hannes<br />
Erger, the group isfilling the succession inthe management from its own ranks. In<br />
the interview, the two experts explain what challenges Foseco will face in the future and<br />
where Germany‘s foundry industry currently stands.<br />
Mr. Nelissen, aclassic question to start<br />
with: What will you do in the future?<br />
Ihave arranged with my wife that we<br />
will go on certain trips together. Of<br />
course, Ihave been afrequent traveller<br />
in the past years -onbusiness, of<br />
course. Family holidays have long taken<br />
aback seat to that. We will change<br />
that, for example to catch up with New<br />
York, where we actually already wanted<br />
to go in 2<strong>02</strong>0. South Africa is also one<br />
of our goals.<br />
In addition, Iwill do more<br />
endurance sports and would like to hike<br />
regularly around Unterbacher See in<br />
Düsseldorf. But still, Iwon‘t leave the<br />
industry completely in my mind. Iwill<br />
certainly continue to follow its magazines<br />
GIESSEREI and CP+T <strong>International</strong>.<br />
And Ialso plan to attend the one or<br />
other foundry event.<br />
Youhave been working in the Foseco<br />
Group since the end of the 1980s. What<br />
has changed during this time?<br />
Nelissen: Youcould write abook about<br />
that. Yesterday and today are worlds<br />
apart. First, German unification brought<br />
with it the large newly accessible<br />
foundry market in the five East German<br />
states. By visiting the big foundries,<br />
making contacts and presenting the<br />
products, this was avery big change<br />
that continues to this day, because a<br />
large part of the German foundry<br />
industry is in the East. Then in the 1990s<br />
there was too much foundry capacity in<br />
Germany, which led toastrong consolidation.<br />
Nevertheless, casting tonnage in<br />
Germany remained stable, but spread<br />
over fewer locations. However, other<br />
large European markets such as the UK<br />
and France lost large amounts of casting<br />
capacity to Eastern Europe and Turkey.<br />
Then there has been heavy investment<br />
in automation -atrend that<br />
continues today. Ifyou look at today‘s<br />
molding lines, they have become much<br />
faster compared to the past. Today, significantly<br />
more castings are produced<br />
per employee hour than in the past. At<br />
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