GF Casting Solutions’ product portfolio
GF Casting Solutions' lightweight solutions help its customers reduce CO2e emissions and develop alternative drive systems.
Strategy and solutions
As a future-oriented company and as a driving force for innovation in the casting and additive-manufacturing world, GF Casting Solutions aims to take the lead in shaping the development of sustainable mobility. The division's lightweight solutions help its customers reduce CO2e emissions and develop alternative drive systems. In close cooperation with its customers and partners, the division guarantees that it provides targeted solutions for the challenges faced in the market – from the initial concept and its precise realization to its validation.
The Sustainability Framework 2025, which is an integral part of the Strategy 2025, serves as GF Casting Solutions’ guiding star. In its own Strategy 2025, the division is committed to growing within the e-mobility and renewable energy sectors, with a strong strategic focus on e-drive components and structural parts.
The sustainability framework aligns the division's innovation process, as well as its material, product and process development, with environmental criteria. Ultimately, the division aims to adopt a holistic approach to sustainability by developing sustainable products in a socially and environmentally conscious way along the entire value chain.
In this regard, GF Casting Solutions continuously strengthens its product development and sales organization to foster even earlier customer engagement in developing innovative products that deliver environmental benefits. To receive approval, each innovation must undergo a sustainability assessment at an early project stage and provide clear added value from a sustainability point of view.
At a production level, the division also supports process innovations to ensure best-in-class performance at its facilities and foundries. For example, using artificial intelligence reduces raw material losses and scrap rates during the ramp-up of new products. To take another example, using additive manufactured prototypes makes it possible for the division to obtain, test and improve geometries in early design stages before starting actual series production.
GF Casting Solutions empowers sustainable mobility by developing advanced lightweight products combined with cutting-edge production processes. Thanks to the excellent lightweight design of its die-cast magnesium cross car beam, the division won first prize in the "Magnesium" category at the 2022 European Die Casting Award ceremony.
These innovations provide distinct advantages to customers, particularly those in the automotive and aerospace sectors, where developing alternative drive systems and lightweight components is critical to reducing GHG emissions. Using fewer and lighter components lowers a vehicle’s weight, which is one of the most effective ways to reduce fuel consumption or extend battery range, resulting in lower emissions during the vehicle’s lifetime.
The division also enables sustainable energy generation by designing and manufacturing state-of-the-art power plant components, including 3D-printed metal equipment – allowing for nearly unlimited design options. In addition, it helps reduce GHG emissions by producing advanced combustion chambers enabling the use of renewable energy sources (eg, hydrogen) in gas power plants.
With circularity as a core focus, each GF Casting Solutions component is made from aluminum, magnesium, iron or superalloys – all of which can be recycled nearly indefinitely. All alloy and production details are stored in a unique QR code laser-marked onto every product.
Key innovations in 2022
GF Casting Solutions has now entered a strategic partnership with the open innovation platform STARTUP AUTOBAHN to drive innovation through rewarding collaborations with start-ups and corporate partners. Powered by Plug and Play Germany, the international platform provides an interface to foster partnerships between emerging tech companies and industry-leading corporations.
Through this partnership and strong relations to world-class universities, the division aims to accelerate its proof of concept development across a range of new products, processes and services. The division uses a multilayered central innovation process to identify promising innovations and start-ups. Collaborations may range in scope from developing joint proofs of concept (POCs) to long-lasting collaborations, with the ultimate goal of commercialization-ready implementation.
During 2022, GF Casting Solutions initiated a pilot with a start-up specializing in developing automated carbon-management solutions for industrial companies. The pilot aimed to measure product carbon footprints using a scalable, highly automated, certified method. Both partners have gained important learnings in this project – notably, on managing a product's carbon footprint – and built up their capacity for digitized sustainability processes.