EUROGUSS 2018
Three exciting and eventful trade fair days in Nuremberg have come to an end. When EUROGUSS wrapped up on 18 January 2018, its visitor numbers set a new record. Despite snow, rain, strong winds and the traffic chaos that came with it throughout large parts of Germany and Europe, 15,000 trade visitors still made their way to Nuremberg for the die-casting trade fair.
Once again, Krämer+Grebe was able to win visitors over with its visionary thinking and high level of quality. Not only were existing business relationships with customers and partners maintained and strengthened, but new national and international contacts were also established. EUROGUSS serves as a particularly excellent platform for personally getting to know one another. All told, the 2018 trade fair was another great success!
A key subject that Krämer+Grebe considers to be a high priority – and was therefore presented at the trade fair – is conformal cooling in tools, which is made possible by additive manufacturing. The simulations show that, for example, about 30% less time can be required for solidification. An informative showcase with sample parts and simulation results was very well received.
A complex cavity of the BMW I01 support structure also showed that Krämer+Grebe is well equipped for very heavy die-casting moulds with high requirements.
Krämer+Grebe and Halberg Guss helping General Motors to shine on the Detroit Motorshow 2018
Market leader General Motors relies on the experience and know-how of the German toolmaker Krämer+Grebe as well as the foundry company Halberg Guss for the engine block production of the Sierra Duramax 2500HD.
Last month was once again time to shine for the stars of the car industry at the NAIAS 2018 in Detroit. While one would assume that by now the overall trend at a fair, as important as this one, represents the movement towards electric cars, the hype about full-size-trucks continues momentously. So, no surprise that the main producers Ford, Chevrolet and GMC showcased their innovative truck highlights and newcomers – with no electric super-truck yet to come. Instead they surprised with diesel engines like the GMC V8 Duramax being one of the engine highlights for truck lovers and convincing with 450 HP, 6.6 L and a towing capacity up to 10 t in form of the Sierra Duramax 2500HD.
Whereas this engine is of great interest by being the growling heart of the full-size pickup, only little people know more about it than just the performing hard facts. Still there is always a beginning to every story, and the production story of the V8 Duramax begins in Biedenkopf-Wallau, Germany, in the engineering department of Krämer+Grebe.
The high-tech toolmaker is renowned in the industry for their longtime know-how and the resulting high quality. “Besides already the fact that we’re talking about a powerful V8 engine, the main issues in the production of the casting tool for the V8 Duramax were: lightweight design, sand reduction, suitability for mass production & automation, process reliability and last but not least maintainability.” says Katrin Grebe, CEO at Krämer+Grebe. So for the V8 Duramax they made it their task and challenge to develop a core package concept for the most economic casting
process, while keeping the focus on designing it more cost efficient by reducing the amount of sand used in the process of core shooting. Especially as the costs of recycling contaminated sand are enormous and the high waste of a natural resource simply not sustainable. The goal was to reduce a significant amount of sand through realization of the shellthickness for the cores of approx. 15-25mm., which eventually led to the result of an incredible reduction of 40% around 70kg sand, compared to an American toolshop, for every single casted engine.
Mainly due to downscaling the use of sand and therefore the cost in production, Krämer+Grebe made it economically interesting for Halberg Guss and GM to manufacture the engines in Germany. This is where the story of the V8 Duramax continues: in fact at Halberg Guss, one of Krämer+Grebe long trusted partners and the market & technology leader when it comes to the production of engine blocks. According to Juergen Schwan Sales Director at the Saarland casting company: “it was the perfect mix of costs, quality and timing” that made both companies the perfect fit for the V8 Duramax project. With a developing time of 4-5 months only, Krämer+Grebe could easily outstand its competition, not to say by its quality and competence during prototyping and production. Same accounts for Halberg Guss and what they produce in precise coordination is the heart of the engine – a full cast part weighing 145kg – and produced with a capacity and logistics of some 100.000 pieces per year.
Until the finishing of the full-size pickup the story keeps going from the engine assembly at Duramax to the car assembly of GMC in Detroit, USA – where the engine blocks get their horse powers and the American dream of a car its face. And before the trend of electronic cars doesn’t rule the American market, the German casting companies will remain first choice in qualitative casting tools & engine block production.
PROCAD Impulse Tour 2017/2018 is making a stopover at KRÄMER+GREBE
Topic: The digital future of production data
On 21.11.2017, the PROCAD truck made a stopover on its Impulse Tour 2017/2018 at the grounds of KRÄMER+GREBE and provided the employees there with a new impetus for working with PRO.FILE.
In a first block of topics, users were provided with tips and tricks that will make working with PRO.FILE on a daily basis easier. The topics of “finding documents quickly” and “working with favourites and subscriptions” were on the agenda, among other things. Also highlighted was the advantage in the fact that documents are not simply scanned in and stored in digital format on a file system, but are also linked with one another; in other words, the defining feature of Industry 4.0.
In a second block of topics, the department heads were given new ideas on how to better utilise PRO.FILE with respect to digitisation. It was also demonstrated how a controlled, logged and secure exchange of technical documentation can be implemented with customers and suppliers using PROOM. Here too, the potential in Industry 4.0 was made clear, by creating consistency from the CAD system, via PRO.FILE, to NAVSION.
The last block of topics addressed the question, “Where are you now, and where do you want to go?” This question was discussed with regard to the company’s strategic development towards digitisation and Industry 4.0 in the company of senior management and other strategic decision-makers. It thereby became clear that this development is certainly attainable with the use of PRO.FILE.
The goal of this day, to give users a new impetus for working with PRO.FILE, was achieved 100%.