The Officine e Fonderie De Riccardis began in the late 1930s when two brothers, Orazio and Fortunato De Riccardis, founded a large workshop in the urban area of Galatina. Over the next few decades, they would create multiple innovative products, including bakery and floor-polishing machines. These devices became widespread throughout Germany due to their versatility and innovative designs.
In the 1970s, De Riccardis shifted from tradesmen’s workshops to large-scale factories, and they built a small foundry to serve as their workshop. This started their foundry operations, in which they specialized in the hydraulics sector. In the 1980s, they made their final shift away from bronze, aluminum, and brass in favor of cast iron.
Today, Officine e Fonderie De Riccardis is a third-generation, privately owned plant with a daily production capacity of 140 tons. Their castings are used in various industries, ranging from agriculture to energy production and all mechanical sectors. Because they are amongst the top ten producers in Italy, De Riccardis takes strides to ensure the quality and sustainable production of their materials.
The Problem Sustainability
De Riccardis firmly believes that they have a duty to produce castings sustainably to ensure the health of their workers and reduce their carbon footprint. Their current equipment consists of highly oxidizing rotary kilns that do not allow scrap iron use.
The molten iron from these furnaces is transferred to holding furnaces. Due to the inefficiency of their current setup, these holding furnaces must also be fed during days of production downtime, leading to more energy consumption. As a result, they are working on constructing a new plant to revolutionize their melting process to make it more efficient and sustainable.
The Approach
De Riccardis will fuel a significant amount of their plant using an extensive solar panel system within the company perimeter. Part of this transition to greener energy and reducing their carbon footprint meant replacing their old foundry equipment. Three medium-frequency electric furnaces will replace the current rotary and holding furnaces.
De Riccardis heard about General Kinematics/Cyrus Equipment while looking for a company with strong technical knowledge, outstanding after-sales assistance, reliability, and a solid history and leadership in the sector to which it belongs. Alessia De Riccardis stated, “We believe that GK/Cyrus has all the above characteristics. Furthermore, from the first meeting, GK proved to be a competent and enthusiastic partner of the Fonderie De Riccardis project, deciding to fully embrace its vision and objectives.”
The Solution
The new electric furnaces need to be fed using specialized equipment. Knowing that GK/Cyrus equipment was reliable and environmentally sustainable, De Riccardis purchased the Cyrus Mobile Charging Machine to load their new electric furnaces. The Mobile Charging Machine was ideal for De Riccardis due to its key features, such as its small footprint, compatibility with solar power, and customizability.
The Result
De Riccardis found the Cyrus Mobile Charger perfect for their foundry layout. The plant will have 10-ton bridge cranes with magnets to feed the chargers efficiently. The charger's electronic design is designed to work seamlessly with the plant's new solar-powered system, enabling them to come closer to their objective of sustainable production.
Regarding the purchasing process, Alessia De Riccardis stated, “[Cyrus’] technical and commercial assistance has proved to be highly professional and proactive, listening carefully to our needs and proposing tailor-made solutions for our specific requests.”
Want to reduce downtime and costs while increasing your sustainability and profits? Connect with a Cyrus representative today, and we’ll help you custom-build the perfect equipment for your foundry.
“Given the positive experience we have had with GK/Cyrus up to now, we believe that all the conditions are in place for a future profitable and lasting partnership. We will certainly continue to evaluate the opportunities for collaboration also on other types of plants, with the aim of further improving our production process and establishing ourselves more and more in the cast iron foundry sector.” -Alessia De Riccardis
The Cyrus Mobile Charger will be featured at General Kinematics and Cyrus’ shared booth at GIFA 2023. Register today to see our foundry equipment in person and talk to foundry industry experts from North America and Europe.
Technical Features:
Charge Material: Recycling scrap, shredded casting, machine chips
Size: 11m3
Charge Capacity: 40-70 t/h charging capacity
Bulk Weight: 0.8 - 2.0 t/m3
Drive Speed: approx. 18 cm/sec
