In September 2010, twenty NADCA members visited die casting operation in Spain. The trip concluded with the

delegation attending the International Foundry Forum in Barcelona. During the trip six die casters (4 aluminum

and 2 zinc), three research centers, and two suppliers were visited. This report provides some overall insights and

specific information about die casting in Spain and the facilities visited. This report is a combination of

observations from Andy Behler (Blue Ridge), Hal Gerber (Albany Chicago), and Daniel Twarog (NADCA).

In general, Spain is not at the technology level that we saw in Germany and Austria. However it is equal to the U.S.

The plants were cleaner and more organized than the US. Spain will be a very formidable competitor with more

investment than the US. Finally, the skill level of the average worker was better than US.

Observations About the Economy and Manufacturing in Spain

Spain does not have a car company. Supplies to all other automotive companies around the world.

Spain is not seeing recovery yet; downturn of 35-40% in 2008-9

Niche players in casting production; 1 plant focused on safety gear (seat belt spools), 1 plant on covers,

heads and transmission cases;

They predict that 1.5-2 years from now before recovery is in full swing.

Depreciation on fixed equipment = 5-7 years in Spain.

Capital availability a critical project advantage.

OEMs are realizing that the risk is high and the Foundry manufacturers are not ready to fund risks.

Large scale state sponsored R&D facilities and Design facilities specialized in the foundry segment of the

market in Basque region N. Spain (Bilbao)

Goal to move manufacturing to local area supporting local businesses.

US needs to revitalize this practice to land the advantage of the design/technology leader .

Typical casting plant with machining 130 mil euros less than 1400 tons with machining (brackets, filtration

housings) highly automated.

Metal market adjustments for OEM problematic; having trouble getting paid with metal variation.

Figure 1 NADCA Delegation Outside Fiasa Die Casting in Spain

Energy costs in EU upward trending on both natural gas and electricity.

An average of 2.1% of sales is put towards R&D in the Basque region of Spain.

40% of Spain production is done in North Basque region.

3-4% from pay to Social Security for health and retirement.

Company pays 27% of salary (60% from pay at person and 40% from company)

Diecast operator $1200/mo employee pays, cost to company $1500/mo.

Double for tool maker

1,750 hrs/year

After 1 year 4 wks vacation

65 retirement age

Up to $2000 E/mo. Pension average of last 5 years

Some companies have separate (private pension plan) in addition

Girl handling, inspect and file large transmission case casting ($15- 20 euros /hour)

Diecast setup or skilled $25 euro/hour

There were many similarities observed in the various facilities visited. Below were mentioned the most during our

general discussions amongst the group:

Melting

Stack melters were used in every operation visited. This was also true in the facilities that we visited on

our last trip (Austria, Germany, & Switzerland) a few years earlier.

Fagor ( a very large automotive die caster) brought in hot metal into the breakdown furnace but had

stack melters to melt plant gates, runners and scrap.

Mostly dosing and some conventional ladling (all 4 aluminum plants had dosing with 2 plants having both

types of ladles 70% dosing, 30% ladle). ..higher quality castings with dosing, lower quality castings on

ladle machines. oxides and inclusions greater with ladles

There we no hand ladling. It was all done by automatic ladlers.

Both zinc operations melted ingots directly into the machines furnace. Ingots were specially designed to

hang above melt and slowly feed as metal was consumed by casting.

Aluminum metal filtration was used in some cases, but not widespread.

There was some degassing and a few rotary impellors were seen, but this was not standard practice from

what we could observe.

Die Casting Machines & Ancillary Equipment

All die casting machines had some type of emission collection hood. The air cleanliness was noticeably

better in the die cast areas.

Additionally, minimal spray on the die surfaces was used. In all cases the spray was applied by some type

of robot.

Two types of sprayers and manifolds were prevalent - Gerlieva and Wollin

Spray manifolds very simple grids, complexity in motion in and out and on the dry-off.

There was not much vacuum used on the components we saw. They were using technology from

Germany and Pfieffer.

Almost all the robots were Kuka and ABB.

Trim dies were automated in most cases.

High degree of robotic complexity throughout the facilities.

Robotic overflow break-off before trim.

Jegan Fundicion Inyectada Zinc die casting operation in Itziar, Spain.

In 1972 JEGAN began its activity in the field of parts produced by Pressure Die Casting. The various stages of

casting production are integrated with a range of alternative surface finishing processes to produce finished

casting, components and assemblies. They manufacture product for the Automotive Components, Original

Equipment and Aftermarket industries of both Europe and America, as well as for the Electronics, Domestic

Appliance and Construction Equipment Industries.

One of their new product lines, which they expected to be 30% of their business, was knobs for washer and driers

in Europe. The appliance manufacturer says their customers like the look and feel of metal versus plastic.

The second major part of their business was a part for an automotive seat belt. This was as much as 25%

of their business. A dedicated cell was developed for casting and inspecting this part.

There were about 60 people in the casting facility and another 10 in their plating and painting operation

(about 30km away). In the die casting facility they had all hot chamber casting equipment, with 17 casting

machines, in the range of 5Tns to 250 Tns, They produced a variety of parts from 3 grs to 3 kgrs in weight.

They used vision systems extensively on many of their die casting cells. The 3150 square meter plant was

very clean and integrated shot blast within the die casting cell. They had their own die repair area and

really paid attention to maintaining their dies. There was extensively cleaning after use and then again

prior to being set up in a machine.

Figure 2 Completely Automated Cell with 2 Die Casting Machines

Feeding into Single Trim and Inspection Line

Figure 3 Melting Area

for Gates and Runners

Figure 4 Die Casting Area

in Jegan Plant

CIE Automotive Aluminum automotive die caster in Bizkaia, Spain that produced medium sized parts.

They are 100% automotive and a Tier 1 auto supplier. Customers include: Ford, Fiat, Toyota, VW, GM, Renault,

Bosch, Continental. They have other die casting plants in Spain, Mexico and Romania. They support a separate

R&D/Technology Center to work directly in designs with their customers. Currently, they are trying to convert a

control arm from iron to SSM/Rheocast.

CIE has 1300 employees worldwide and are a 133 Million Euro manufacturer. They have in their five location

aluminum cold chamber machines ranging from 400 2800 tons. GM is their main customer and they produce the

parts for the 6 speed automatic transmission.

This particular facility was 46,000 square meters, very clean and well organized. They had 13 machines with 228

employees. They poured two alloys (A380 and A383). Hoods were on every machine and minimum die lube was

used throughout.

Within the casting cell they ran single cavity tools and sawed off the gates robotically. They also had wheelabrator

machines at each die casting machine. Parts were shot blasted right out of the casting cell with small belt type

unit (Roesler).

The porosity looked good on machined parts. They used Flow simulation on every job. Their daily scrap sheets

were posted by every machine and it showed that porosity rejects ere very low.

AIC Automotive Intelligence

Center in Bizkaia, Spain. The AIC-Automotive

Intelligence Center is funded by the public and

private sectors with the aim of improving

competitiveness within the automotive sector. In

October 2006, regional government and private

sector organizations formed a foundation whose

task is to support and vitalize the Center. About 75%

of the funding comes from the private sector.

However, that had dried up a bit in the last two

years. The founding partners are: Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Amorebieta-Etxano City Council, City of Ermua,

ACICAE-Basque Country Automotive Cluster, ZF Lemfrder TVA, Pierburg, CIE Automotive, Amaya Telleria and

Microdeco. To date, the AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center has 22 members: 1 car builder;5 foreign

multinationals;11 Basque companies;2 research centers;1 engineering firm;1 training center; and 1 cluster

(industry group). These organizations have relocated their R&D, training or industrial development departments

to the Center. Altogether, more than 250 professionals work in the facilities. This is a huge facility with separate

labs for each organization that is conducting research. It is a very large and costly operation that will be very

difficult to fund in lean times.

The AIC-Automotive Intelligence Center aims to meet all the strategic needs of the automotive sector. It does so by

concentrating on five lines of work:

Competitive Intelligence: Analyzing future scenarios within the automotive sector.

Training: Preparing highly qualified automotive professionals in various fields.

Research: Research in priority areas for the industry and companies operating in it.

Industrial development: Develop new industry initiatives.

New business: Promote, support and develop new businesses associated with the automotive industry.

Aurrenak Tooling builders of large automotive die for die casting in Victorialand, Spain. This company is

part of the Mondragon Group. Details of their capabilities can be seen on their company video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khIWM8s6z28

They are the biggest toolmaker in Spain. They supply die and molds for all casting processes. They make tools for

Loramendi no-bake sand machines. They had $20M Euro sales and dropped to $14M Euro in 2009. Their markets

are in Germany, Mexico and China.

They have 18 mechanical designers on staff. They were performing stress analysis for holding blocks. More

mechanical design on die holder blocks than normal in US, extensive finite element analysis, proprietary closed

form solutions. Their dies are from 6 tons to 40 tons. Extensive use of high speed 5 axis CNC mills

(Charmills/Mikron).

They had a 2000T Wotan die casting machine for tryout and also used a 2800 ton Mueller at Mondragon research

center (Edertek).

Quality non-contact optical measurement GOM optical measuring technologies. Cost about $100K euro.

Estimated cost accuracy 0.03mm/m.

Fiasa Aluminum die caster in Alava, Spain. This

company has about 200 employees and is private

family owned. It started in 1962. They have

extensive machining and assembly operations.

Machine ranges between 500 and 1650 Tonnes.

They cast parts between 1 and 14 pounds.

They have four central stack melting furnaces with a melting capacity of 9000kg/hr. They have 22 total

machines (6-500t, 6-750t, 6-900t, 2-1250t, and 2-1650t). The machine type were split between Buhler (Evolution

SC) , Italpresse and STP. They also had 18 CNC machines.

All metal delivered was impellor

degassed. There was a chart in

the melting area that showed

which alloy was in which die

casting machine. Everything

was color coded. The transfer

ladle was color coded to the

type of alloy being transported.

So, only a red marked ladle

should take alloy from the red

marked stack melter to the die

casting machines that were red

marked.

All machines have exhaust hoods and dies covered w/plastic when stored. There was an operator stamp on all

parts. They used vacuum and squeeze pins on tough parts. The plant was very clean.

Azterlan Research and Testing Testing facility in

Bizkaia, Spain. This is very well equipped testing facility for all

types of analysis of materials. They conduct some research for

their clients and have some expertise in aluminum die casting.

They would be a good source to use to independently evaluate

results on new alloys or failure analysis of a casting. They are

funded privately and through government contracts. It seemed

that much of their current work was for the wind power industry.

They had several dedicated pieces of equipment to test the

strength of bolts for anchoring the wind turbines. They also had a

large fixture that could be used for fatigue testing of actual assemblies. They also had a very well equipped

environmental testing laboratory. The client base was more likely the end user of the product and not the die

caster.

TEY Heat Treaters Heat Treater of tool steels in Bizkaia,

Spain. They are a local heat treatment facility with excellent

process control technology. About half of their furnaces are

vacuum. They also have a Plasma Spray unit for coatings.

Fagorederlan Large automotive aluminum die casting in Gipuzkoa, Spain. Part of the Mondragon Group.

The following video shows part of a very complex machining line for the automotive heads they were machining.

They had a less flexible and less expensive line that they were moving away from. They felt that the added

investment in robots made the line more easily changed over if a new design or part was added to the production

schedule. The old line was only for specifically machining one type of design head.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjSzm6GDifc

The following video shows a complete cycle for the automotive part that was being produced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0oVuXFH-ZI

The following video shows a robot placing inserts into to die. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdGE94TxfEg

Fagor Ederlan group (part of Mondragon) and employee owned. Within the automotive group there are two units

( Powertrain/ chassis brake & suspension). They have die casting machines 1000 metric ton 2800 metric ton in

the Gipuzkoa location. 40 machines that produced $541 million euro sales in 2009. They are 100% automotive.

They automotive group of Mondragon employs 3,312 people. They produce over 23,000 tons of high pressure die

castings per year with major customers being Renault and Ford Powertrain.

They have standardized cells that are supplied by two large holders (receiveing liquid aluminum from outside

vendor) and supplemented by two stack melters for run around scrap. Their inhouse scrap is conveyed

underground to the stack furnace. They distribute through a filter box to ladles on fork lifts. They found benefits

in filtration but not degassing.

In the cells, they used robot to break-off overflows. It holds the casting and hit the shot against steel bar. All cells

cast, quench, trim, deburr. Each casting is serialized a the quench station. All their machines were 2000 metric

tons and above. The airflow for the hood over each machine was directed underground in order to leave room

above the machine for cranes.

They had laser gauging and used Telesis impact marker. They reported 120,000 to 250,000 shots per die.

Flow meters, colored tubing used on all die water lines

Very clean and organized die casting operation.

Edertek Technology Center Design, testing and

process improvement research for the Mondragon Automotive

group. $10 million euro invested into this test facility. There

were 35 people working on production materials/processes die

design component design. They had a complete die cast cell-

Mueller machine (2800 T) with both conventional shot end and

Vacural.

Edertek is located in the Garaia innovation park in the town of

Mondragon right in the heart of the Basque Country. Edertek

has two buildings; a 1000 m2 facility for engineering and

research and a second 1500 m2 facility, the advanced

industrialisation module IMA, which carries out

industrialisation trials and develops prototypes in different technologies, as well as validation tests.

They are clearly seeing the future as structural heat treated castings. This facility was state of the art and was used

for development and to establish parameters and processes for production parts.

Dynacast Espana zinc die caster in Barcelona, Spain. Part of the Dynacast group of die casting companies. Dynacast Spain is located in an industrial state near Barcelona. This is their third facility since Dynacast Spain was

opened in 1976. Approximately every 11 years they have had to move to a larger facility to cope with their

continuously increasing capacity needs.

Dynacast is the world's leader in precision die casting of zinc, aluminum and magnesium alloys. They operate in 17

countries through 19 manufacturing locations. Capabilities cover not only die casting, but also machining, finishing,

plating, painting, assembly and specialized packaging.

Dynacast Spain capabilities include both, Dynacast proprietary multi-slide and conventional hot-chamber

die-casting technologies. They have a large presence in the automotive market but also supply other

markets such as consumer electronics, security systems, telecommunications, hardware, promotional,

etc, supplying from safety critical complex components to easy parts in massive volumes. This was the

busiest die caster that we visited. Almost every machine was operating. There were 115 people with

$15M Euro sales in 2009. Diemaking capability consumed most of the people. Plant was very efficient,

counted approximately 9 people running all the die casting machines.

Dynacast Spain has its own tool-room, they control, in-house, the entire process, starting with the tool design,

through tool construction until component approval and serial production. Main production items are:

Die-casting machines:

33 multi-slide proprietary A2 Zinc, ranging from 3,5 to 10 tons.

5 multi-slide proprietary A3 Zinc, ranging from 20 to 28 tons.

4 Frech 20 tons hot-chamber.

1 Frech 5 tons hot-chamber.

2 Frech 80 tons hot-chamber.

6 Frech 125 tons hot-chamber.

Other:

Tool design (using Pro/ENGINEER CAD and MAGMASOFT mold flow analysis) and tool room in

house.

Secondary operations (like machining, tumbling, sandblasting ) in house.

Services provided and coordinated: electroplating and other coatings.

Sandhar Technologies This is an Indian owned aluminum automotive die caster in Barcelona, Spain.

Their parent company has over 22 different business units, mostly in India, that supply the automotive market.

This facility had 26 automated cells and specialized in five specific product lines. Seat belt retractor castings and a

bracket were the two largest volume parts being die cast at this facility. They had Buhler, Italpresse and STP

machines. However, the General Manager said all of their new machine purchases were Buhler machines. There

were not a lot of people working in the die cast area. While about half the machines were operating, only about 6

people were running these automated cells.

They used stack melting and mostly dosing furnaces. The non-dosing furnaces had robot pouring devices.

Trends from EU and Asia

Automation added to offset inability to find manpower.

Shortage of trained maintenance for the high end applications

o Complaints on service support on mfg systems.

Outsourcing becoming in-sourcing (return of projects to US and EU)

Trends on vehicle platforms electric, hybrid, lighter vehicle weight, more efficient

Current carbon based combustion technologies will dominate for the next 10 years

Trending to shorter product life cycles (succession of earlier transmission product life 16 years, then 10

years, then 8 years, maybe a 6 yr cycle ahead) Aluminum casting demand heavily tied to transmissions,

blocks, etc when the technology changes, Al demand will change, larger tonnage machines will have to

shift to different components.

Faster and quicker design-launch plans.

EU and Asia to maximize automation; India to measure automation against use of human labor.

Skilled workers in demand in all markets.

Big high tech world investment in China and India; plants mirror technology in the mature market

manufacturing world.

Big OEMs are positioning mfg capacity in Asia to match unsaturated markets.

Globalization interdependency to continue; goods, services to grow in mature markets while diffusion of

technology and capital inflows (investment outflows) to focus on emerging markets will continue

Focus on the various forms of capital required in the world (human, infrastructure, expertise,

entrepreneurial, and knowledge based advantages and products)

Sustainability as business opportunity (infrastructure, integration, IT, research and deployment, mass

transit systems, energy application)

Population demographics are aging products promoting enhanced well being (quality of life ie..

products like fitness) growing in demand

Socialized economic worlds and younger workforces in mature markets are placing greater value on

Quality of Life.

General trending to the more connected electronically, more mobile, more decentralized, more

personalized, and practices and products that promote faster adaptation to change

o Sustainability, flexibility, reconfigurability, high connectivity

Automotive Trends and the ripple effect

Vectors of Growth to be reoriented to the emerging markets => design to lead in product sphere; low

weight, smaller, more agile

Fuel consumption dominant factor

o Electric or Hybrid, or low fuel consumers

o Downsized

o Light weight

Mixed claim among experts on electric car adoption

o Between 5% - 20% of sales in next 10-20 years

o Reduced Aluminum component weight in conventional systems (block, transmission) with

increased AL component weight in battery, frame, brackets, and regenerative braking systems.

NADCA report to be released shortly o the impact of this trend

Net doubling in Aluminum content by 2025

EU manufacturers being pressured to move facilities with OEM to emerging markets (China, India, Brazil

as the primary markets to be fed)

EU manufacturers are also being pressured to move to NAFTA corridor including US where new facilities

are in planning or under construction for 2014 and on

Replication of manufacturing concepts to match the plans in Europe to be installed with EU-US partners

or EU transplants

Conclusions-EU Speakers

o electric (and hybrid) car move no threat to Al foundries if flexible

o impact minimal in next 10 years

o downsizing trend => market vector; therefore it is the next opportunity and design direction for

castings

o increasing car manufacturing = growth force

o surge in low cost and ultra low cost in emerging markets will further reinforce the margin

squeeze trends

o casting company presence in emerging markets important

In conclusion, the picture at

the left represents the state of the

die casting industry in the United

States after the last recession. I saw

this exhibit in the Guggenhiem in

Bilboa, Spain. Once a day, someone

comes out to fire a chuck of wax

from the air cannon at the wall. I am

almost positive my interpretation of

this is different from the artists.