Background

GF Casting Solutions is a leading manufacturer of aluminum and iron cast components for the automotive industry, with annual sales of approximately €1.1 billion in this business segment. The Herzogenburg plant operates an aluminum smelter with ingots. It is considering purchasing the metal in liquid form, ready for casting, in the future. This would avoid the metal solidifying at the supplier's premises (=ingot production) and the metal having to be remelted at the foundry. Metal losses due to burn-off and energy consumption could be reduced. Two scenarios are to be examined: The liquid metal is

• produced in an adjacent, new remelting plant.
• supplied externally (market).

Questions to be answered are:

• What should the new remelting plant look like? Technology? Layout? Logistics? Expandability?
• What are the cost advantages of an adjacent remelting plant: aluminum scrap instead of ingots? Two fewer phase transitions? Economies of scale? Lower personnel costs? More efficient technology?
• Which scenario allows the cost advantages to be exploited to the full? Are the effects sustainable?
• How should the remelting plant be logistically connected to the foundry or foundries?
• What services should be provided by the supplier?
• How should the interfaces be designed?
• How big are the opportunities and risks?

PI was commissioned to assess the entire supply chain in terms of cost-effectiveness and qualitative aspects (safety, flexibility, etc.). The supply of two additional production sites is also to be examined.

Result

• Remelting plant concept (layout, logistics, investments and costs at the site, supply to two additional plants)
• Recommendation, taking into account the key influencing factors (economies of scale, price developments, flexibility, process reliability)

PI services

Factory planning, process planning, logistics planning

Concept design
analogous to VDI 5200, phases 1 to 3

• Scenario 1) "Remelting plant on site" designed (melting technology, logistics, layout, personnel concept)
• Scenario 2) "Liquid metal transport from external supplier" designed (heat retention technology, metal handling in the factory, return transport, logistics, layout, personnel concept)
• Logistics for connecting the plant and the two other production sites established
• Services and interfaces of the future operator of the remelting plant defined
• Process cost model created
• Sensitivity analysis conducted with regard to production volume, factor costs (comparison with neighboring Slovakia), and price trends for aluminum scrap
• Economic efficiency (costs, investments, working capital, cash flow) of the project presented

Topics

Structure: Supply chain management, outsourcing/cooperation 

Technology: Value stream, material flow, layout, conveyor technology 

Processes: Pull principle, Kanban, logistics management

Trades

Smelting plant, remelting plant, conveyor technology, AGV