As good as new

The locking forces of the machines that are being given a fresh start close to the shores of the picturesque Lake Garda range from 2,600 kilonewton (kN) up to 42,000 kN. Regardless of their size, the impact on sustainability is eye-opening. Compared to building a new die-casting machine, remanufacturing requires around 70 percent less energy and over 71 percent less water.

At the same time, hundreds of tonnes of material are reused instead of being produced. The example of the Evolution 420 die-casting machine impressively demonstrates this. During the overhaul of a machine of this size, 233 tonnes of material are reused – the equivalent of the weight of about 45 elephants. 
 

The equipment can run for another 15 to 20 years after remanufacturing, depending on usage and maintenance – up to 25 years if the customer takes excellent care of the machines. “Thirty percent of the machines we remanufacture are secondhand Bühler machines that are on the market. We scout for them to renew and sell them. The other 70 percent are from customers who approach us directly,” says Francesca Sauda, CFO & Head of Commercial and Human Resources at Bühler Brescia.

The remanufacturing business is as cyclical as the die-casting business, and currently it’s in a very busy cycle. “Our order book is filled well and we’re happy to contribute to our customers’ success. Our customers from the automotive sector, for example, are under pressure to deliver car parts 24/7. We see it as our duty to do everything we can to plan and execute the entire process as smoothly and as efficiently as possible.”

Jan Meier’s eyes light up as he talks about the first Carat his team is currently remanufacturing. “The Carat 250 came from Germany and, yes, it’s huge. Organizing the transport over the Alps was an incredible undertaking as it weighs 63 tonnes. Once we had it at our workshops, it seemed to dwarf everything we’ve ever done before. But the team pulled it off like they always do by learning on the go, thinking outside the box, and always prioritizing quality over quantity,” he says.

The Carat series has been highly successful since its launch in 2007 and can now be used to manufacture parts for electric vehicles (EVs) – a change many producers are undergoing. Remanufacturing adds up to 20 years to a Carat’s lifecycle and enables producers to cover the increasing demand for EV parts. The team in Bedizzole is ready to give a new lease on life to the Carat machines.
 

“What makes our customers ship their precious machines to us is their trust in our ability to extend the lifetime of their machines by up to two decades. For one, that’s financially attractive as their initial investment is quite high. Secondly, they are under scrutiny to reduce their CO2e footprint, and we can make a tangible difference there,” says Francesca Sauda. “It’s a win-win situation that shows the power of buying high quality in the first place and then remanufacturing it rather than replacing it.”

Over 7,000 kilometers west of Bedizzole, Ben DeJong, Customer Service Manager Die Casting at Bühler North America, looks for a spare part on the shop floor of Bühler’s die-casting remanufacturing site in Holland, Michigan in the US. This is where a substantial portion of large American car manufacturers send their weary machines for the magic touch DeJong and his team provide. “We remanufacture between seven and 10 machines per year. Like our colleagues in Italy and in China, we feel the cyclical increase in the number of machines coming in for overhauling. Our advantage is that we have capacity to manufacture up to 60 die-casting machines here per year,” he says. “This gives us access to know-how about the design of the machines and to more than 7,000 machine parts from the mid-1960s to today. This is vital in times of supply chain disruptions and increasing demand for quicker turnarounds.”