Problems started even before the pandemic
20. May 2021
von Iestyn Hartbrich
The group of hand-molded foundries in Germany has become small. Those who are still there specialized early on.
Photo: Siempelkamp
The iron casting of the Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte in Mülheim a. d. Ruhr, the Smart Foundry in Hasloch, Baettr Stade: They all ceased operations in the past 15 months. Accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the death of foundries in German hand-molded casting has reached its preliminary climax in 2020. According to the industry association BDG, between 10% and 15% of the capacity has collapsed in the last five years.
The hand mold foundries, who make the molds for individual pieces and small series by hand, make up approximately 15% of the German foundry industry. Your problems started long before the pandemic. “Good money was last earned before 2009,” says Dirk Howe, Managing Director of the Krefeld Siempelkamp foundry.
Hand-molded foundries: often too small for globalization
Most hand molding foundries are medium-sized. When their customers – wind turbine builders and press manufacturers for example – followed the OEMs to Mexico or China, the foundries were too small for globalization. “Our customers had become global players, but we were still family businesses from the Palatinate or the Black Forest,” says Johannes Heger, managing partner of HegerGuss.
Now, in spring 2021, all signs point to recovery. Hans Dhonau, owner of the iron foundry of the same name in the Black Forest, reports that the order books are full. He refuses jobs that he should have accepted a year ago. Dhonau expects that the remaining foundries will be full from autumn. “The spook is over. Those who have made their way up to now will soon feel better, ”says the foundry boss.
You can read the focus on “hand-molded casting” in the current e-paper from VDI nachrichten with the following topics:
Casting shrinkage
Industry: Churning customers, shorter product cycles, competition from China: Hand molding foundries are looking for answers to many problems. Portrait of an industry between subsidy cases and hidden champions.
There are fewer
Economy: In the past six years, up to 150,000 t of capacity have been lost in hand-molded casting. A look at the incomplete foundry map.
Hand on it
Materials: How is cast iron malleable? And how is a 300 t part made? A brief material science.
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