Ralf Versmold

As manufacturing equipment ages, the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) decreases. Companies who want to succeed in this landscape are identifying equipment investment opportunities to keep production moving and while producing a quality product.

The casting industry is in a transitional period adjusting to new trends and products. Manufacturers require flexibility in their equipment to account for shorter program life cycles while still being able to be competitive. In many instances this requires assets to be spread across multiple programs.

The goal of a foundry is to produce high quality die castings that meet or exceed the customer’s specifications at a competitive cost. In some cases, those specifications call out maximum defect size and/or require that the part must hold pressurized fluid or gasses.

Recent decades have seen a surge in use of aluminum castings in car manufacturing. Aluminum has been a key material in car manufacturing since the beginning. Vacuum impregnation enables using lightweight material in the automotive sector by now.