Additive Manufacturing at CastAlum We are pleased to announce that our Additive Manufacturing Facility is up and running! The printer will be producing 'Tool Steel' inserts for our casting tools. The '3D' printing process allows our design engineers to cool the castings much more efficiently, reducing cycle times and scrap rates. The new technology will play a key role in meeting the world class quality standards for Electric and Hybrid Vehicles of the future.

CastAlum featured on Swarf & Chips We were thrilled to welcome Joe Reynolds and the team from MTD CNC to CastAlum to discuss how collaboration, innovation and technology have helped us secure more business. As well as discussing the outlook of UK manufacturing, Joe and the team took a look at how we've used additive manufacturing to refocus our longstanding business. Happy viewing!

Celebrating 20 Years of Casting in Wales This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the establishing of CastAlum as an internationally recognised diecaster. We were thrilled to have this milestone celebrated in the October 2020 edition of Manufacturing Today. You can read the full article, which looks at our past, present, and future plans, by clicking the link below. Click to Read

CastAlum #BacksBritain at Europe’s premier exhibition for the Metal Casting Industry In the build-up to the Made in the Midlands Exhibition on July 1st, 2020 Made in the Midlands member CastAlum recently returned from Nuremberg, Germany where they exhibited at the premier exhibition for the Metal Casting Industry in Europe, EUROGUSS 2020. A total of 754 exhibitors, from 36 countries from around the globe, including several from Europe, packed the four halls of the convention centre to showcase the latest trends in technology, innovation processes and new products for the entire [...]

Strategic suppliers – shared benefits Use of a Die Casting Release Agent is a key factor in the production of a quality product and minimizes down time due to “Solder” build up during the Die Casting process. If this can be incorporated whilst showing a direct cost saving, driven by the supplier’s ability to change the ratio needed to achieve the required process, this is a “win-win” for CastAlum and its strategic suppliers.

Squeeze Casting – “the best of all worlds” CastAlum is the only foundry in Europe to successfully operate a Squeeze casting resource. CastAlum has 3 Squeeze cells ranging from 1450 to 2000 tonnes which size DCM’s allow a shot weight of up to 20 kilos. Each dedicated cell operates with its own energy efficient Tower melting facility, obviating the opportunity for any metal segregation and minimising oxide build up. Squeeze casting operates at similar cycle times to conventional High-Pressure diecasting. The process allows for production of parts with exceptional mechanical properties [...]

Recycle, Melt, Cast, Repeat In line with the principles of our ISO 14001 Certification, CastAlum have continually looked to improve its Carbon Footprint in all areas of the business. One of the key focus’s is CastAlum’s purchase strategy for raw material. We currently purchase ENAC46000 Ingot from a supplier who uses “Exclusively Automotive Recycled” Aluminium, which effectively “completes the circle” for this alloys usage. There has also been a drive towards energy reduction & working environment improvement within the facility, which has included: Voltage Optimisation Units to reduce electricity consumption New [...]

2019 Initial Update CastAlum are seeing much greater interest from outside of its “traditional” Automotive Market, where the introduction of PHEV/LCV & EV are now the norm, with Aerospace, Light Rail, Tram & Commuter/City transport solutions now looking to adopt a volume production strategy. During 2018 there was, along with the variety of HPDC/Squeeze Cast Automotive components CastAlum manufacture, an even greater push towards Lightweighting and “near net shape” casting that will be escalated within 2019. Having the ability to optimize temperature & raw material quality by minimizing molten material [...]

New Diecasting Equipment The continued investment by Castalum in new diecasting equipment has meant that our diecasting base remains, probably, the youngest in Europe. Castalum has invested in the order of £23 million since the MBO in 2009

Company of the Year Award CastAlum attended the annual dinner of the Cast Metals Federation understanding that they had been nominated as one of the finalists for Company of the Year. Our application featured the path to achieve required output expansion through new equipment, new people and training and succession management for the future at all levels. The application also noted technical developments to improve quality and uptime. The application was sufficiently compelling to justify success and make CastAlum the winner of the very handsome industry leader trophy [...]