A new chip melting furnace was commissioned at Volkswagen Group Components. The light metal foundry project in Kassel, Germany, is intended to benefit the environment by closing an important recycling loop on site while saving energy and CO₂.

What will the foundry industry of the future look like? Can production be increased by means of intelligent value creation? And how flexible can process management really be guided by Smart Data? All of these questions were answered at this year's symposium "Digitalization in the Foundry Industry" at the beginning of October, organized by Prof. Schlüter of Ansbach University.

The second quarter turned out to be a bad one for the automotive industry: The overall profit of the 16 largest automobile groups fell by 18 %. Only four of these 16 OEMs were able to increase their sales compared to the previous year.

China is the largest e-car market in the world in terms of unit numbers. However, it’s a much smaller country that leads in terms of market share. Germany is in the mid-table of the major markets but is catching up.

While other car shows are struggling with cancellations, the aisles of the Auto Shanghai are bursting at the seams. German manufacturers in particular do not want to leave the field to the growing Chinese car manufacturers.

Volkswagen is converting its plant in Zwickau/Mosel: It will be the group’s first plant to exclusively manufacture electric vehicles in large numbers. Other OEMs produce models with combustion engine and electric drive on one line. What strategies are behind it?

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.

Over 40% of the Czech labour force is employed in the industrial sector. The largest sector is the automotive industry. Most of the produced components are exported abroad - an important turnover factor for the Czech Republic.

The veil has been lifted: In mid-September, Volkswagen presented the chassis of its new "ID" electric model family for the first time in Dresden — and provided deep insights into its platform strategy for electric cars.

Until now, additive manufacturing has been expensive and too slow for series production of car components. Volkswagen, HP and GKN Powder Metallurgy want to change this within the next two to three years.