Adding horse power

What is it?
One of a pair of aluminium holding furnaces specially designed for the alloy foundry at BMW’s Landshüt plant in Germany where they produce complex cylinder heads and crankcases for automobile engines. 

How does it work?
The furnaces are mounted on a rotary table. While one is in use, the other is in its cleaning cycle to make sure that the aluminium produced is of the required quality. During each production cycle, the furnace is fed with 1,600kg of liquid metal, whose temperature is controlled throughout by a sophisticated monitoring system that ensures a variation of no more than + or - 5˚C at 720˚C.

The high quality of the castings produced by the furnaces allows BMW’s engineers to design powerful and reliable engine components while saving on weight. The new system has demonstrated excellent casting quality and has reduced maintenance costs compared with other casting processes.

Who uses it?
With the installation of this new technology at BMW’s Landshüt plant, we have created a clear lead in this market and are now seeing demand from other major customers. 

Top of page