World Standard
“We are
the benchmark...
...and are very positive about the years 2021 and 2022 as well as the further future!” The production of large castings is one of the core competencies of Siempelkamp Giesserei. In this area, the Krefeld team sets standards worldwide – in the area of quality as well as in terms of economic efficiency.
The success factors:
Competitiveness and productivity
“We are the benchmark”, that is the statement of the two managing directors Dirk Howe and Georg Geier with regard to the core business of Siempelkamp Giesserei. It is made up, among other things, of producing customized individual parts weighing several tons for customers represented worldwide. These include, for example, gigantic crankcases for ship engines that power modern cruise ships with liquid gas instead of heavy fuel. Mills with a diameter of 14 meters, in which 300,000 tons of copper-bearing rock are crushed every day, also contain castings “made in Krefeld”.
According to the Bundesverband der Deutschen Gießerei-Industrie e. V. (Federal Association of the German Foundry Industry), around 91 % of foundries in Germany employ up to 500 people – the industry is classically oriented toward small and medium-sized enterprises.
With a maximally lean administration and very well compensated employees, Siempelkamp Giesserei works productively; following a restructuring in 2016, the company expanded its team in recent months with an encouraging 30 new hires. Currently, approximately 340 employees and 13 apprentices are employed at Siempelkampstraße in Krefeld.
“Made in Germany“
Following the fierce predatory competition of the past years and the resulting consolidation of foundry operations, Siempelkamp Giesserei is currently experiencing an extreme demand: “International customers from Europe as well as the US are turning even more strongly to Siempelkamp's German production in Krefeld in order to avoid dependence on Chinese suppliers”, says Dirk Howe, Managing Director of Siempelkamp Giesserei.
Here Siempelkamp Giesserei benefits from its expertise developed over decades and its uniquely developed commercial competitiveness of the last five years, which is in demand in numerous promising industries – for example, in the field of engines, building materials, nuclear energy, precious metals, batteries, rare earths. Siempelkamp Giesserei products have also established themselves as system-relevant in the fields of medicine and information technology.
“Our future lies in this expertise and the further expansion of our competitiveness – even in a competitive market we continue to be the market leader in the area of large castings due to our competence and value for money”, says Dr. Georg Geier, also Managing Director of Siempelkamp Giesserei. After several world records in hand-mold casting, the current record is 320 tons of liquid iron for one casting. Thus, the title of the current apprentice campaign is “Fancy being trained in the world champion team?” with which the Siempelkamp Giesserei team is recruiting the next generation.
Sustainability in focus
The Siempelkamp Giesserei melts its iron in an optimized smelting operation which works according to a smartly devised system and produces around 60,000 tons of molten iron per year. Energy-saving and resource-saving is a fundamental principle here. Six induction furnaces of the most modern design are used for the production of the high-quality cast iron with spheroidal graphite.
Steel scrap, recycled material and pig iron serve as feed material, which is individually composed with alloying additions according to customer specification and casting. The recycling rate of the material used is approx. 85 % – and the other 15 % of the materials mostly make up co-products which are generated during the production of other industrial goods. Thus, the sustainable closing of material cycles also remains an important factor for the work of Siempelkamp Giesserei!