Mobility is a key factor for enabling economic exchange, employment and prosperity in our society. At the same time, however, the global transport system is partly responsible for environmental pollution, even if some forms of transportation have become significantly cleaner and quieter. How can we make sure people and goods can keep moving without damaging the environment in the long term? This question is at the heart of sustainable mobility. The automotive industry in particular is working on new solutions.

15 November 2022 was a historic day. Since then, according to the United Nations, more than 8 billion people live on our planet. And the more of us there are, the more we move around, be it by car, by train or by airplane.

The need for lower-emission and more environmentally friendly vehicles is posing significant challenges for manufacturers. One such challenge is the weight of car bodies. In the past, companies typically assembled individual parts to build the car bodies, but the body of the future will consist of fewer and larger structural components – referred to as Big Castings. GF Casting Solutions is working with its customers to develop components that are light, combine as many functions as possible and can be manufactured in just one shot on existing high-pressure-die-casting machines, increasing efficiency all around. An additional investment in new equipment is not necessary and therefore resource saving.

Together with the German premium manufacturer BMW, GF Casting Solutions is developing a crash-relevant Big Casting for a vehicle that will be launched in the near future. The two partners have been working closely together for years to ensure that GF Casting Solutions can produce particularly light and strong parts for new BMW vehicles. The collaboration includes part design and simulation, tool development and production, and tests and validation of the cast parts. For GF and BMW, the reusability of the material in the process chain is important: the recyclability of the aluminum for circulating material, gating systems and scrap is 100%. In the past, for similar vehicle types, multiple single components had to be cast and assembled to produce one part. Now, GF Casting Solutions produces just one Big Casting. Big Castings require fewer individual tools and fewer joints. They lower susceptibility to defects and reduce waste, which in turn saves resources and energy. "When vehicle manufacturers assemble a complete front or rear car in the form of a Big Casting, they save a lot of time," says Frank Gensty, Chief Technology Officer at GF Casting Solutions. "A manufacturer can produce a new typical mid-size vehicle in 10 hours instead of 25." Thanks to strategic development partnerships like the one between GF and BMW, Big Castings can equal big results.

GF sees strong development partnerships as the foundation for the successful development and production of Big Castings – especially with regard to the reduction of weight and assembly steps, material and time savings, as well as quality improvement and logistics. GF Casting Solutions operates lightweight die-casting sites in Suzhou and Shenyang (both in China), Altenmarkt and Herzogenburg (both in Austria), as well as Pitești and Scornicești (both in Romania) and has a collaboration with Bocar Group in North America in order to be able to supply parts as locally as possible and without long transport routes.

Before a new car is launched on the market, a complex development process takes place in which each single part is examined individually. GF supports its customers throughout the entire process, from the early development stages through to serial production. This infographic shows the individual steps in the casting design process and illustrates how closely GF collaborates with customers to ensure their specific requirements are met.