The medium-sized company is preparing for the future with a strategic investment pack-age: The technology leader is making targeted investments in digitalization, automation and a unique energy architecture – for more competitiveness, efficiency and sustainability in a challenging market environment characterized by global economic tensions.
Innovation meets corporate responsibility
Siempelkamp Giesserei defies the economically difficult industry environ-ment with a clear commitment to growth through innovation. As Europe's market leader in the field of hand mold casting, the company is bucking the industry trend and pursuing a compre-hensive investment strategy that covers all stages of the value chain from melting to quality assurance.
The focus is on the further development and expansion of digital and automated processes, combined with a resourcesaving energy supply with the largest industrial battery in North Rhine-Westphalia. Management is consciously taking on the regulatory challenge of decarbonization and consistently optimizing its own production processes to the benefit of customers.
The aim is not only to strengthen competitiveness and open up new market potential, but also to actively secure the future of the site and jobs.
Mission: Holistic transformation of the foundry
A central element of the investment offensive is the newly created Smart Molding Hub. This state-of-the-art production area combines digital control, intelligent logistics and flexible production processes and will enable Siempelkamp Giesserei to produce small components weighing one ton or more economically in the future. At the same time, the overall performance and productivity of the foundry is significantly increased a decisive advantage in an increasingly challenging market environment with fluctuating requirements and high complexity in international competition.
Another technological milestone is the investment in the largest industrial moulding milling ma- chine. In a new process called Automatic Rapid Molding, sand molds are milled fully automatically and with precise contours directly in modules without any prior pattern production. This technology opens up new possibilities for efficient one-off and small batch production, for example of prototypes or complex geometries. At the same time, the process is particularly resourceefficient and thus a real alternative to the emission-intensive lost foam process-eco-logically, economically and technologically superior and safer in every respect.
At the same time, the "Digital Foundry Center" is being created: a platform on which all process data is linked via neural networks from furnace control to quality inspection and post-pro- cessing. For the first time, a holistic digital twin of the entire foundry is created, taking efficiency, process transparency and quality to the next level.
Goal: Sustainable production of CO2-neutral castings
A central element of the investment strategy is the development ofa highly complex in-house energy architecture centered on the largest industrial battery in North Rhine-Westphalia. This innovative battery solution makes it possible for the first time to combine flexibility and energy efficiency with a maximum use of renewable energies. Siempelkamp Giesserei is thus setting new standards in the energy-intensive industry with the clear goal of being able to offer its customers carbon-neutral castings in the short term. The intelligent storage solution not only stabilizes peak loads and relieves the power grid, but also forms the basis for resilient and climate-friendly production.
"We are consciously investing as a proactive response to political imponderables and a lack of solutions," explains Dirk Howe, Managing Director of Siempelkamp Giesserei. "We are tired of being at the mercy of energy policy power games. Instead, we stand for creative drive and entre- preneurship. With smart ideas, digital excellence and German engineering, we are giving a bold, forward-looking answer and creating a sustainable footprint and real added value for our cus- tomers with carbon-neutral castings."
In addition, Siempelkamp Giesserei has invested in a new type of sand recycling plant, which significantly reduces the use of resources in production. The proportion of recycled moulding sand is increased substantially at the same time, the need for valuable fresh sand is drastically reduced. This not only relieves the pressure on natural raw material sources , but also significantly reduces heavy goods traffic: Up to 850 truck journeys can be avoided each year, significantly re- ducing CO2 emissions – a measurable contribution to climate protection and regional quality of life.
