At the Geneva Motor Show, the German manufacturers wanted to score points with "numerous world premieres", the VDA association announced. Yet the mood is subdued: Risks such as a hard Brexit, an economic downturn and trade disputes are hanging over the industry, while car production in Germany is set to fall.

It's the biggest order in the company's history: In the coming years, ZF Friedrichshafen will supply eight-speed automatic transmissions to BMW. The contract has a volume in the tens of billions. The supplier also presented its business figures recently.

Zinc die casting has consistently developed over the past decades and proven its potential. For thin-walled, lightweight, small and filigree objects as well as for large parts, the demands on speed, efficiency, stability, haptics and appearance are increasing - and the material and energy consumption is constantly decreasing.

Volkswagen is converting its plant in Zwickau/Mosel: It is to be the Group’s first plant to exclusively manufacture electric vehicles in large numbers - a strong signal for e-mobility. In an interview, Thomas Ulbrich, Member of the Board of Management for E-Mobility at Volkswagen and Managing Director of Volkswagen Saxony, talks about the underlying motives.

There are often limits in the automotive aftermarket. There are boundaries between old and modern technology. But hardly any other modern technology is as predestined for use in the restoration of historical cultural assets as 3D printing.

In cooperation with the Faserinstitut Bremen, Fraunhofer IFAM has developed a new joining technology for the combination of aluminum casting and CFRP that is suitable for series production.

Melting loose chips means accepting a range of disadvantages. Preventing this is relatively simple, thanks to high-end briquetting technology.

The industry supplier pressmetall Gunzenhausen GmbH in cooperation with the University of Ansbach introduced a new IT solution for a digital production image. Its customized dashboards significantly improve production planning and control. The solution lays the foundation for further digitization measures.

A new 3-point PID controller can now be used as a special controller for use in temperature control applications.

As a portal for light metal casting, we report almost exclusively on light metals as aluminum, magnesium or zinc. But when so-called ADI constructions have the potential to be lighter than aluminum components, we make an exception.

In the interview, Jonathan Abbis, Managing Director of Bühler Die Casting, clearly demonstrates the relevance of Industry 4.0 in foundries. A so-called cell management system is supposed to increase the transparency of the die casting process and thus successfully digitize foundries.

Established companies rarely seek new growth through new services. It is precisely here that traditional companies and start-ups can successfully learn from each other, as examples from the metal industry show convincingly.