Large-scale project for Eirich: Cutting-edge foundry technology for Atik Metal in Turkey

Atik Metal, a leading company in the Turkish foundry industry, has been collaborating successfully with Eirich for the last 40 or more years. Eirich was able to demonstrate its expertise again in a project to construct one of the largest and most modern foundries in Turkey at Aliaga, near Izmir. With the commissioning of an ultra-modern sand preparation facility including vacuum mixing technology and an innovative control system for the plant, the project was completed to the absolute satisfaction of the customer.

Challenge in sand preparation
Atik Metal’s aim was to build an ultra-modern foundry that not only delivers the very highest product quality, but also sets standards when it comes to flexibility and energy efficiency. With a processing capacity of 616 m³ of molding material an hour, the new plant had to be able to meet the very different requirements of two molding lines with a consistently high quality of sand. One of the particularly challenging tasks was to ensure a flexible supply of sand alongside a high level of availability.

Eirich’s solution: EVACTHERM® technology and smart process control
For this major project Eirich relied on its proven EVACTHERM® technology, which had already achieved impressive results in the past. At its heart are four large RV32Vac vacuum mixers which are equipped with innovative torque drives for the rotors and ensure optimum energy efficiency alongside lower noise emissions. The ultra-modern system control with intelligent molding material testing using the Qualimaster AT1 Profiplus, together with the ‘SandExpert’ software, enables the necessary amount of new sand and additives to be calculated predictively based on the daily production requirements. This control system ensures that the molding material is of a consistently high quality.

In detail, the Qualimaster supplies measurements of the compactability and shear strength of each batch in just 40 seconds. The ‘Sandreport’ software records and analyzes the entire molding material preparation process, taking all the relevant batch data from the molding material system – the AC1 moisture correction system and the AT1 inline test unit.

The digital tool delivers a comprehensive production analysis, ensuring the quality of the molding material through traceability. The sand is controlled intelligently by the ‘SandExpert’ software, while the requirement for new sand and additives is calculated predictively by looking at the daily mold orders. When a mold is changed, the software automatically calculates the ideal composition of the molding material. This is done using the values from the database of molds, so that the return sand quality remains identical regardless of the castings produced. The right molding material is always available to the molding system for the relevant production. The return sand is refreshed with just as much bentonite, new sand, and additives as it will lose during the subsequent casting process. Atik is thus getting a very effective raw materials management system offering maximum flexibility in production planning alongside stable processes and reproducible results. As well as compactability and shear strength measurements, the QualiMaster AT1 also offers the option of further key process data such as gas permeability, springback, and deformability.

From planning to successful commissioning
The project started in 2019 with the planning phase. The order was placed in July 2021, and the system was commissioned successfully in fall 2023. Thanks to the close collaboration between Eirich and Atik Metal, particularly through the management team around Mehmet Atik, the project was delivered not only on schedule, but also without any complications. Eirich experts provided close support right along the project, from planning through delivery to commissioning, regularly coordinating with all the other suppliers involved in the project to ensure the smooth implementation of the new technology.

Measurable successes: Perfect casting surfaces and few rejects
The results speak for themselves: Atik Metal is now reaping the benefits of the most modern sand preparation plant in the world. The consistently high quality of the molding material led to the elimination of surface flaws on the castings. Mehmet Atik is delighted: “It’s a first-class system, and we are achieving perfect casting surfaces. Thanks to vacuum technology, the problems that we used to have with surface flaws for 50 years are now a thing of the past. The first customers to have visited us have also been impressed. The reliability of sand management is the be-all and end-all for us, because without that the whole foundry comes to a halt. The new control systems and the entire technology mean we are now well set up for the future.”

The flexibility of the system, which enables any mixer to supply any molding machine with molding material, will also have a significant impact and help improve the efficiency of production.

Trusting partnership the key for the major project
The success of this project is the outcome of the many years of trusting partnership between Atik Metal and Eirich over a number of generations. The combination of cutting-edge technology, customized solutions, and close collaboration throughout the duration of the project has led to the customer’s expectations being not only met, but actually exceeded. Atik Metal's new foundry is setting standards in the industry and can be considered a prime example of Eirich's innovative strength and technical expertise.

“Thanks to our technology, foundries can reduce their overall reject rate, cut energy costs by 10 percent, and reduce the required dust extraction air by 40 percent. The significant reduction of up to 50 percent in reworking is particularly worth mentioning, as that is largely attributable to the consistently high quality of the molding material. These optimization possibilities have an enormous influence on the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the foundry as a whole – a success that shows just how far-reaching modern sand preparation technologies can be,” says Georg Sans, Eirich project manager.

The large-scale project in Turkey offers an impressive demonstration of how sustainable success can be achieved through the use of cutting-edge technology and intelligent planning. Atik Metal is now in the optimum position to meet the growing requirements of the future market.