SAKTHI gives green light to a new EUR 80 million green field investment

Published

Our long partnership with DISA is built on more than the superior quality and productivity of the moulding technology. It runs deeper – into the customer care provided, permitting and promoting a 24/ 7 contact and knowledge exchange between our teams that adds additional value and advantages to the overall operations as well as to the maintenance of the equipment.

Mr. Jorge Fesch, CEO, SAKTHI Portugal

Company Profile

Located in Águeda – just 80 km, approx. from Porto – SAKTHI Portugal SP21 is a brand new company and iron foundry business expansion of SAKTHI Portugal, a foundry producing safety-critical components in nodular iron. The product portfolio includes brake housings, differential cases, suspension control arms and a host of other components – all of which are supplied to the automobile majors like Mercedes, Volvo, PSA, AMG and Ford, catering to 2.5 million light vehicles annually.

Challenges, Solution and Results

With a total SP21 capacity of 80,000 tonnes added to that of SAKTHI Portugal, the foundry is set to provide an astonishing total of 170,000 tonnes in the near future. DISA acts as complete foundry provider and strategic advisor on the ambitious turnkey project.

Challenge - A lot of all-time firsts

“We don’t spend our time today chasing the problems of yesterday”, SAKTHI CEO Jorge Fesch points out. “In that spirit, SP21 includes a number of important all-time firsts: It’s the first time that the construction of a new plant is done simultaneously with the equipment installation.

And it’s the first time that DISA provides a turnkey project that includes everything – from the vertical D3 moulding line to the sand plant, the DISACOOL, the shakeout and the shot blasting.

Other companies might see these all-time firsts as major challenges. We don’t. Because our long and trustful relationship with DISA is built not only on the quality and productivity of the machines, but also on the customer care provided”, he clarifies.

Forget green-field. This is a blue-sky foundry

“The DISA mould making and conveyor system is the most advanced facility that produces dimensionally accurate castings very consistently.” Mr. Jorge Fesch, CEO, SAKTHI Portugal

 

Solution - Complete foundry

“The SAKTHI-DISA relationship dates back 30+ years, as DISA has been our trusted advisor and supplier of vertical moulding equipment since 1982. SAKTHI Portugal SP21 has made our partnership even stronger, as the close interaction between our teams has been reinforced, due to open lines of communications and direct access, whenever needed”, Jorge Fesch says.

“By partnering with DISA, we get access not only to the best and leading specialists worldwide – we also install state-of-the-art equipment. The first moulding line to be installed at SP21 is the DISAMATIC D3, which we’ve chosen because it forms part of the signature vertical moulding series from DISA, known for its superior uptime and reliability as well as for its exceptional accuracy”.

“The turnkey project headed by DISA also includes a new concept for finishing, connecting the moulding line directly to the customer bin. We’ll no longer need to perform fettling operations, but will link the shot blaster to the final control area, resulting in one continuous process”, Jorge Fesch concludes, while mentioning that the shot blast technology and equipment are provided by DISA’s sister company Wheelabrator.

Result - Forget green-field. This is a blue-sky foundry

SAKTHI Portugal SP21 is an ambitious complete foundry project under the umbrella of a strategic plan named Butterfly, designed in late 2014 with a group of expert advisors, including representatives from DISA.

The green field chosen to implement the project has a total area of 300,000 m2 under the blue, Portuguese sky. It is named the Knowledge Complex, as it also hosts a Centre for Innovation and Technology N. Mahalingam (www.citnm.pt), preparing future generations in a school/ company environment of excellence, targeting education and innovation in the field of metallurgy.

“Forget green-field. This is a blue-sky foundry”, say the Norican representatives in follow-up of a recent visit paid to new plant.

All Norican representatives who have been fortunate enough to see the facilities are impressed with the new plant architecture, with the construction done simultaneously with the equipment installations, as well as with the overall visions and plans of the Portuguese foundry.

So whether you choose to interpret ‘blue-sky’ as something not limited by conventional notions of what is practical or feasible, but instead is something highly visionary – or you simply choose the more straight-forward explanation ‘blue-skied’, namely that something is cloudless and completely clear – the synonym very obviously spells SAKTHI.

SAKTHI Portugal SP21 - New plant kick-off in January 2017

SAKTHI Portugal SP21 is scheduled to start production of its 1st moulding line on January 31, 2017, and to employ 135 people at launch. The next phase of the overall investment of EUR 80 million is said to create around 1,500 direct and 10,000 indirect jobs.