Kurtz Low-Pressure Casting Machines part of the

Kreuzwertheim/Bergara, March 2, 2020

Fagor Ederlan's new low pressure die cast aluminium plant in Bergara, northern Spain, was officially opened on November 18, 2019. A modern Kurtz casting line with five AL 18-16 FSC low pressure casting machines each including automation for the production of knuckles is part of the 55 million euro investment.

The Fagor Ederlan Group is the world market leader for the production of chassis and structural parts, drive systems and e-mobility components for the automotive industry. Every day, 4,500 employees work at 18 locations in Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Slovakia and China to supply high-quality components to customers all over the world. These include numerous well-known automobile manufacturers, so that every second car in the world contains a Fagor Ederlan component. These benefit not least from the proximity of the Fagor Ederlan production sites to their own plant. Fagor Ederlan's commitment to technological progress and its sustainability in all its activities and related processes are two of its cornerstones. The new plant in Bergara is one of four low pressure die cast aluminium plants and the most modern in the Fagor Ederlan Group. 220 employees benefit from the EUR 55 million investment that the cooperative Fagor Ederlan applied. Impressive 1.7 million chassis parts will be produced annually in the new plant. The part weight of the current knuckles has been reduced by up to 50 percent compared to the previous chassis part. All four Fagor Ederlan low pressure aluminium casting plants will produce a total of 6.2 million castings annually.

Fagor Ederlan relies on partners for its state-of-the-art plant who, for their part, attach great importance to the highest quality and have a strong commitment to innovation. For the production of chassis parts in low pressure diecast aluminium, Kurtz GmbH was able to assert itself against the competition as the supplier with the best overall solution. Important criteria for Fagor Ederlan included process quality to meet the high quality requirements of OEMs, extremely short cycle times and innovative ideas and concepts for a complete casting and production line for coreless knuckles. In the new plant in Bergara a casting line with five Kurtz casting machines type AL 18-16 FSC will be used. "In addition to the automation and the casting machines, Kurtz has implemented the complete furnace logistics with furnace shuttle and the complete metal pre-treatment. The jointly developed Kurtz complete solution enabled Fagor Ederlan to increase its OEE production factor and thus achieve a huge improvement," says Lothar Hartmann, General Manager Business Unit Foundry Machines.