At a time when HANNOVER MESSE is being dominated by digitalization, representatives of traditional heavy industry nonetheless still have their place. What's more, "heavy" should always be put into context. DIHAG Holding is the largest independent foundry group in Western Europe and is being represented in Hannover by MEUSELWITZ GUSS and Schmiedeberger Gießerei. These two companies alone produce complex castings ranging in weight from 0.3 to 80,000 kilograms. It's also clear that the DIHAG foundries are very much a part of the dawning era of Industry 4.0, thanks to their commitment to working as strategic partners to help companies improve both productivity in manufacturing and the durability of complex cast iron parts.

As a specialist in large and heavy castings, MEUSELWITZ GUSS focuses on conserving resources and boosting cost efficiency. This iron foundry, based in central Germany, doesn't just advise its customers on optimum casting design but is also at the forefront when it comes to selecting materials. The latest product developments include solid-solution-strengthened structural materials containing spheroidal graphite that can be easily processed and used to produce heavy-duty components with a lightweight design, as are needed in wind turbines, for example. Schmiedeberger Gießerei is currently focusing on expanding in-house production. Since last year, this foundry - based in Germany’s Saxony region - has been operating its own production facilities, machining castings that weigh from 0.3 to 400 kilograms. Schmiedeberger Gießerei machines high-quality rough castings into ready-to-install components, for instance, in a time-efficient process and to customer specifications, thus saving customers logistics and transportation costs at the very least.

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