Halberg Guss, one of the world's leading automotive foundry groups, has ordered an upgrade of its existing compacted graphite iron (CGI) process control system and an additional new System 3000 from the Swedish process control specialist SinterCast. The commissioning is scheduled for summer 2013. This coincides with the installation of increased liquid metal holding capacity at the Leipzig foundry. The two…

Germany’s Continental has rejected an 11.2 billion euro ($17.8 billion) takeover bid by automotive parts maker Schaeffler, The Financial Times reported. Further, Continental called the smaller company’s method of stakebuilding unlawful. “The offer is highly opportunistic, does not come close to the true value of Continental, does not create trust and lacks a convincing strategic rationale,” Continental said…

In September 2010 exports of passenger cars from German OEMs have risen once again. In comparison to the same month last year they were up by more than 5 per cent, which means that since the beginning of this year over 3.1 million cars have been supplied to foreign customers. Incoming orders from abroad have expanded by 6 per cent, so their growth is somewhat slower than at the beginning of the year.…

Faurecia has signed today an agreement to acquire the assets of Angell-Demmel Europe GmbH – the global market leader for real-metal automotive interior trim parts. Once the deal is completed, Angell-Demmel will join the Faurecia Interior Systems business group, to further strengthen its technology leadership in complete automotive interior solutions. Based in Lindau ( Germany ) and operating two…

Article also available in Georg Fischer AG & Co in Singen, a corporate subsidiary of Georg Fischer AG, Schaffhausen (Switzerland), is to sell all the shares in Georg Fischer Verkehrstechnik GmbH, Singen (Germany) to the SAF-HOLLAND S.A. (Luxemburg). The divestment is part of the efforts of GF Automotive to focus on its core business of automotive casting . Georg Fischer Verkehrstechnik manufactures and…

According to Goldman Sachs, the steel sector could rally in early 2011 as rising prices lure investors who have sat on the sidelines for too long. According to the report by Goldman analysts Mr Sal Tharani, Mr Sandeep SM and Mr Athena Maikish, but any rebound will likely be held in check by lingering weakness in the US construction industry, leaving steel sales well below historical levels through at least…

FRANKFURT - MAN AG's Diesel division said that it received an order worth more than EUR750 million from Electricite de France PEI SAS for the construction of three diesel power stations in its overseas Departements Reunion, Guadeloupe and Martinique, as well as one in French Guyana and two power plants on Corsica. "I am absolutely delighted that we have succeeded in winning this order. Due to its…

Mercedes is to shake up the premium small car segment next year when it launches an all-new B-class. The new car is based on ground-breaking new technology, according to senior Mercedes sources. Many in the industry had expected the line-up of new small Mercedes to be a family of conventional, Golf-class road cars. However, the head of development for the A and B-class and Smart families, Jorg Prigl, says…

Diehl Metall Messing, Röthenbach an der Pegnitz of Germany has placed an order with SMS Meer for the supply, erection and commissioning of a new vertical continuous three strand caster for the production of brass billets. With this investment, Diehl Metall Messing plans to replace the existing two strand caster and hence safeguard the long term competitiveness of the company. The new continuous caster will…

Bloomberg reported that Alcoa Inc supports the creation of an exchange traded fund backed by the lightweight metal and would be interested in supplying aluminum for such a product. Mr Klaus Kleinfeld CEO of Alcoa said that we would be very open to it, very supportive of it. We would be open to supply metal. Aluminum ETF would allow investors to hold the metal without the capital requirements and warehousing…