CPT International 02/2021

the same time, we see agrowth in
non-ferrous foundries and ashift
towards processes that can be automated.
The challenges of globalization created
new market access, but also new
competitors, for foundries as well as
foundry suppliers. Foundries today are
much cleaner, interms of emissions and
overall appearance, and some can be
considered high-tech operations.
Where does the German foundry industry
stand today?
Compared to the rest of Europe, Germany
has been and remains the number
one country for cast tonnage, albeit
now with completely different segments,
alloys and processes. But Germany
is still in avery good position, also
because of its philosophy of investing
and modernizing processes. That is not
necessarily the case in other countries.
Now, the use of energy is being optimized
in this country, for example in furnaces.
Because the non-ferrous sector is
growing very strongly, wealso see large
investments in the die-casting sector.
The willingness to spend money on
modernization is astrength that Germany
has and that also ensures that we
remain aleader.
Heinz Nelissen has been successfully involved with Foseco for 31 years. He has already resigned
from his position as Managing Director at Vesuvius GmbH. He will remain Foseco Area
Director Northern Europe until the end of June. In 2019, he was president of GIFA.
Mr. Nelissen, in 2019 you were appointed
President of GIFA, which was very
successful that year. What do you think
will become of the GIFA trade fair format
under the impression of 2020 and
increasing digitalization?
Trade fairs are currently struggling to
show how important they are for the
trade. GIFA 2019 was different, as it was
very successful and took place at just
the right moment. We already saw a
downturn in car manufacturing at the
end of2019, then the Corona crisis
came just afew months later. Since
then, digitalization has been advancing
in leaps and bounds, even our interview
would probably have been conducted
in person rather than via Microsoft
Teams if it hadn‘t been for Corona. In
the meantime, we at Foseco also conduct
alot of customer meetings online.
This digitalization push will continue
and lead to further process automation
in the foundries and to more advanced
robot technology. This will certainly be
afocus at the next GIFA in2023. The
next GIFA will probably also be able to
take place as aface-to-face event again.
This is necessary to stimulate the dialogue
ofthe international foundry world.
By 2023 the foundry market will have
stabilized again and 2023 could therefore,
from today‘s point of view, be
exactly the right date for the next successful
GIFA.
Mr. Nelissen, you resigned from the
management of Foseco’ sparent company
Vesuvius at the beginning of the
year. You will relinquish your post as
Area Director Northern Europe in the
summer. Hannes Erger will become a
member of the management of Vesuvius
in Borken. What would you like to
pass on to him?
Hannes Erger is already very experienced
inhis previous job, he knows the
customer structure and the core contact
persons. He is already very well positioned.
Otherwise: Focus on customers
and employees. This is the only way we
can learn about challenges in the market
atanearly stage, develop targeted
solutions and then establish them with
the customers through our employees.
This is the only way to create value for
the customer and to make the business
sustainable. There will be many challenges,
but ifyou ever must weigh up between
an internal meeting and acustomer
meeting, choose: Customer first!
That has always been my priority.
Mr. Erger, you have been working at
Foseco for 21 years, currently as Business
Unit Manager Iron and Steel
Foundries. With what feelings are you
taking over from Mr. Nelissen?
Erger: Ihave been working with Mr.
Nelissen for more than 20 years and I
am full of enthusiasm to take over
from him, but at the same time Iknow
that this will be agreat challenge for
me, as Heinz Nelissen has made aname
for himself in the foundry world as a
very competent and respected partner
for customers, employees and foundry
experts over decades. However, Iam
happy to take on this challenge and
am confident that Iwill be able to continue
the cooperative relationship with
the foundrymen that Mr. Nelissen has
shaped.
What would you like to achieve for
your company as Mr. Nelissen’ ssuccessor
at Foseco?
Erger: Foseco stands for Foundry Service
Company. The basic idea is to be at the
service of the customer and together
with the customer we will continue to
apply our proven Foseco business
model. In the cooperation between the
management personnel in the foundries
and our sales engineers, topics such
as changes in processes or minimizing
the use of resources are important
aspects. With innovative Foseco product
applications, we want to continue to
achieve productivity increases and quality
improvements. We also have many
new product ideas ‘in the pipeline’,
developed in our development centre in
the Dutch city of Enschede according to
the requirements of our global foundry
customers. Wewill present these to our
customers inatimely manner. Foseco
wants to contribute to making foundry
products ‘Made in Germany’ even more
efficient and attractive. In this way we
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