The title of Laura Winterling's keynote speech at the beginning of the congress and exhibition ran like a thread through the great event.
Inspired by the successes and visions of the future of early and current space travel, she called out to the foundrymen in the Münsterland hall: "Let's go for new forms"!
The first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, was also a foundryman, as was Prof. Peter R. Sahm, after whom the BDG Innovation Award is named, a space expert and foundry scholar
The mood of optimism among the almost 500 participants from foundries, research and teaching, suppliers and service providers was palpable, as was the joy of seeing each other again after two years of pandemic.
We have arrived in a new era was the tenor, interesting lectures, panel discussions and personal exchange gave the event a great framework.
The German foundry industry is ambitiously moving forward with regard to the great challenges, as Clemens Küpper, President of the BDG, confidently states. The experts from the entire foundry industry environment agreed that the Ukraine crisis with all its effects will accelerate the transformation and the changes in the energy mix.
It only helps to face the challenges and to find sustainable solutions with strong positions and powerful associations in the European context, which help to avoid distortions in the industry.
Environmental policy is industrial policy
In the future, it will continue to be the case that nothing works without cast iron and diecastings, and in addition the companies demand cheap industrial electricity.
This is all the truer as orders are now coming back to Germany that were manufactured in China or other locations just two years ago.
BDG Study Casting 2035 - New Perspectives for the Foundry Industry
In the study now available, which according to Stefan Mettler reads like a thriller, the promotion of wind power expansion in Germany alone could ensure that 160000 - 220000 t more spheroidal graphite cast iron could be cast per year. The current study can be requested from the BDG.
Foundrymen should participate in process competition - closer to the designers
Many of the current topic presentations dealt with sustainability, energy issues and accelerating the speed of innovation.
The casting process should be closer to the designers in its attention and perception and already participate in the process competition, as they are already competing with other processes such as forging, bonding and welding, as well as with new materials from plastics.
There are so many challenges for the foundries in the next few years, which must also be tackled together with politics. It seems that politics has understood a lot in the last few months, the foundrymen and their association are tackling the topics in any case mainly with optimism and courage.
The Innovation Award, named after the great foundry scholar Peter R. Sahm, was awarded to the Feinguss Blank company and its employees in 2022.
Many thanks and glückauf to the organizers, sponsors and 38 exhibitors who made the German Foundry Day a complete success.
