SCANIA builds NEW CASTING in Södertälje, Sweden | foundry-planet.com
Capacity 65,000 tonnes of good castings, increased energy efficiency, reduced waste stream, CO2-neutral
Skåne is a world-leading manufacturer of trucks for distribution, long-distance and heavy transport, buses and coaches. The Swedish supplier of transport solutions focuses strongly on innovation, environmental impact and customer satisfaction. This also includes the development and improvement of a new generation of truck engines.
A foundry with real and exceptional durability
For Scania, in order to support its goals with a view to the development (s) of both product and production processes of key castings for the various generations of truck engines, the realization of new foundry works became an obvious step to take. Strategic product development, including focus, supply and demand, global market development and even space are constant topics for consideration and action within Scania and the group of which it is a member. But for the new foundry, another parallel recurring discussion was held that increasingly focused on to build a foundry with a real and exceptionally high durability. That e.g. focusing on the use of 100 percent renewable energy and zero CO2 emissions was one of the sustainability goals for the new foundry. The sustainability concept for the new foundry was completely in line with Skåne’s “strategy for the future”.
Investment decision and basic concept design 2017 – GEMCO as a partner
In 2017, the investment decision was made for the realization of a New Foundry in Scania’s premises in Södertälje, Sweden. For Skåne, this also meant that Södertälje remained the epicenter of development and production. For the realization of the foundry, Scania worked with Gemco as its foundry technology and project management partner. However, the collaboration between Scania and Gemco started long before this project, as it was about ten years ago that Scania hired Gemco for the development of a new casting. The decision to build a new foundry was made after an extensive period of close cooperation between Scania and Gemco, where various alternatives were considered and carefully analyzed, including modernization and expansion of the existing foundry.
Also in 2017, the basic concept for the New Foundry was made, where Scania and Gemco compile the main layout, dimensioning of the main equipment, budget for the process, a project plan and collaboration structure and schedule. In order to always have as close a collaboration as possible with Scania, Gemco’s engineers would live in Södertälje.
98,000 m² area – 35,000 m² foundry – 65,000 tonnes of good casting per year
The newly built casting plant was realized in new factory premises (about 98,000 m)2 in total) of which the foundry plant occupies 35,000 m2 for a production of 65,000 tonnes / year. of good castings. It is three times as large as the existing foundry. This production will be achieved with the same number of people working in the existing foundry, which is about 200 people.
To achieve both efficient and sustainable production (with SDG in mind), only the most up-to-date technologies and even completely new technical solutions were used. Solutions were designed and created in multilateral cooperation between Scania’s project organization – which includes Scania’s production, engineers and maintenance and safety representatives -, Gemco’s engineers and the equipment manufacturing companies, as well as the construction technology company. Before deciding on a solution principle, thorough evaluations were made from all perspectives, such as efficiency, maintainability, operator safety and environmental impact. During the early stages, Gemco calculated key figures for energy needs and needs for water, compressed air and other media. A task not to underestimate, to list and map the requirements for processes for equipment consumption that have not yet been determined, while Sweco did the construction of the building.
Teamwork and constant inspiration for ambitious goals
“Our high ambitions and technical solutions inspired and challenged us and our suppliers to raise the level of work on energy efficiency, which will certainly benefit the foundry industry in the future.Says Mikael Lindén, project manager for the new foundry.
Despite a tripling of production capacity, improved material handling and newly introduced sand recycling significantly reduce the need for transport per casting unit. Energy use will decrease while improved casting processes and heat recovery enable energy gains.
“We are convinced that the new foundry for Skåne is closer to the goal of sustainable production.” according to Anders Svensson, energy and development engineer at Scania
For the implementation of the project, Gemco provided project management support, integration design and engineering, specialized area project managers for charging, smelting and casting, sand preparation and recycling, environmental and heat recovery and molding; shake out and cast-cool compartments.
“I want to emphasize that together with Scania we acted as a team for the design and commissioning of the entire foundry, and combined knowledge and expertise from different angles”, according to Gemco project manager Cees Noortman.
In total, a combined team of 50 people needed to be led and good teamwork and great team effort is required for the successful realization of such a project.
Gemco also delivered site management during the construction phase on site. A major challenge was that some detailed technology was still in progress during construction. And also the tough timetable, which is common in the industrial sector. Throughout the project, there has been a very close collaboration with Skanska (building contractor) and Sweco (building design).
The first casting in the new foundry was completed in December 2020 and production is currently increasing.
Gemco will further support Scania in the escalation phase. Together with Scania, Gemco will closely monitor production processes, for example to measure equipment performance. Gemco will be involved in the project at least until the new foundry is in normal production.
“We are really pleased with this reference project and the very good collaboration with the Scania team. To have contributed to this large foundry project with three times higher capacity than the old one. Implementing special solutions together, achieving 50% more energy efficiency, significantly reducing waste streams and reducing the factory’s carbon footprint was a challenge and I believe that together we have succeeded in the goals set before we started the project.
All in all, it has been a very stimulating and interesting project “, finally believes Cees Noortman, project manager at Gemco.