Another Major Investment At Allweiler AG

For Allweiler, the foundry is a major element of its value-added chain and essential for fulfilling promises of high quality and short delivery times even as the number of orders climbs.

The investment trend at Allweiler AG continues unabated. Just two years ago, in 2005, the company modernized its in-house foundry with a new sand mixer. And now, in July 2007, the second major investment has been made - a new HWS high-performance molding machine. By taking this step, Allweiler is stating unequivocally that the in-house foundry is an essential part of its operation and that it fully intends to remain independent of external suppliers. Dr. Michael Matros, Chairman of Allweiler AG: "The foundry is a big part of our value-added chain. The market is booming right now, so being able to control the availability of cast parts for our pumps as orders flood in is a major competitive advantage that we enjoy. The company that can deliver faster wins market share." With the new molding machine, Allweiler has all the tools it needs to produce molds according to the latest processes. As a result, quality moves to yet a higher level. At the same time, cast molds become easier to handle and the machine works with less noise, both of which contribute to higher productivity. "The primary driver behind this investment is our determination to better serve our customers and live up to our promise to deliver high quality on time," according to Chairman Matros. Allweiler AG is one of the few pump manufacturers with its own foundry. The new HWS machine has a box size of 1060 x 800 x 760 mm and is able to process up to 40 molding boxes per hour. The foundry has between 3600 and 3800 casting patterns in active usage and changes patterns up to 40 times per day. According to Michael Peifer, Foundry Manager, only about 300 foundries in the entire world are at a similar level of technology. Allweiler AG's foundry produces everything from unfinished castings to completely finished parts to components ready for installation. The Radolfzell foundry uses a variety of ferrous materials (EN-GJL-1020 to EN-GJL-1050 and EN-GJS-1030 to EN-GJS-1070) in addition to G-CuAl10Ni (aluminum bronze), a material associated with very high technical challenges for the foundry. Every year the foundry produces about 4300 metric tons of good casts for nearly 10,000 orders. The company is certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001 and is approved by DNV, Germanischer Lloyd, and German Rail's Q1 standard.