Aluminium moves beyond automotive into humanoid robotics, autonomous vehicles, and similar technologies

Part 2 of the interview with John Stokes, General Manager of IDRA Group, moves from identifying industry challenges to exploring practical solutions. While in Part 1, Mr Stokes pointed to two major concerns of the European aluminium die casting industry, such as scrap leakage and weak data analysis, in this part, he focuses on the role of data crunching and data mining as a critical enabler for the sector’s next phase of growth. Mr Stokes stresses the need to make die casting data more accessible and usable, including for third-party service providers. This, he explains, would allow major software companies to feed valuable insights back into the die casting industry and enable seamless data exchange in and out of die casting machines. Highlighting the demand for aluminium die cast components, he states the use of aluminium has moved beyond just the automotive industry into humanoid robotics, autonomous vehicles, and similar technologies.

To read more of such interesting perspectives from Mr Stokes about the aluminium die casting industry, read the full interview below.

AL Circle: Automation and digitalisation are widely credited with improving productivity and efficiency in die casting operations. To what extent has automation improved production efficiency of IDRA’s technologies? And if you could just share a concrete case study from an installation using your machinery?

John Stokes:  Okay, we’re going back to the beginning of the interview here - data management, data crunching, data moving. So, one of the really important aspects that we have done is to concentrate on industry-standard data management, enabling us through MES and different systems to export data and manage it within the tier one or OEM infrastructure to manage our data.

Now, as the die casting industry, I believe that we have some difficulty - we’re all relatively small compared to the automotive industry in terms of money and the software infrastructure they have. And I think that what we can do is we can make the data available and then utilise third-party services. I’m being very generic here as for example, we’ve been working with some German-Indian groups as well for AI data analysis. The really big thing is, though, we’re doing all of this data analysis and until today through the automation, we don’t have a really good way of feeding it back into the production process, meaning making automatic adjustments of the machine or modifying the cooling process of the die. All of this is still done manually. So, my answer to your question is that we have not done enough as an industry. We’re really good now at gathering data, and this started back in the 70s and the 80s when I was still working in the foundry in Birmingham, England.

We started by gathering injection data. Then we started to fit encoders to measure the velocity and the pressure, and we started to analyse, and that was our key data. So, our KPI was injection data and that subsequently expanded to the whole machine.

Now, we’re monitoring energy and thermal control, and using thermal cameras to identify the stability of the thermal process. So, I would say the biggest contribution is data gathering and putting that data into an SQL-style database that we can then query and use third-party systems.

What we have to do as a small industry is to make that data available so that major software houses can feed us back information and have the ability to cross the data string in and out of the die casting machine. This is where the major groups like Siemens, Parker, Rockwell, Allen-Bradley, and Mitsubishi can help us with the transmission of data efficiently and in real time. And this is where it becomes difficult because the real time for a process of die casting on a big machine is 100-120 milliseconds. On a small machine, we're talking about a process that lasts less than 60 milliseconds.  So, yeah, lots of data, but the current thinking is if you've got lots of data and you don't know what to do with it, give it to AI. But then what? What is AI going to do with it? It's going to give us a summary or give us a good, or in die casting terms, a suspect part, but what are we going to do with it? And that's the real question right now. How do we make this transformative step, allowing us to take this data that's being analysed and feed it back into the process? Until now, we have relied on very skilful people to do this operation. And trust me, in the world today, there are not enough skilled people in the die casting industry.

It's not a very popular industry. It's dirty, it's hot, and it's difficult, but it's super exciting at the same time. So, let's hope that we can attract young people and if I may say so, that's one of the major things for 2026 through till 2030, let's educate, let's bring the young blood into the industry, because without them, we're going to die. And certainly here in Western Europe, we're struggling so much that we have a real ageing population of engineers, and we need the young engineers to come in. I don’t want to see big brands die because of the lack of an enthusiastic workforce.

AL Circle: Demand for aluminium die cast components continues to rise across multiple end-use sectors. How do you assess the growth outlook for aluminium die-casting machinery, and which regions are likely to be the main drivers of market expansion over the next five years?

John Stokes:  Clearly, the use of aluminium in the automotive industry is dominant, but there are also other new industrial growth areas. There’s a lot happening around humanoid robotics, autonomous vehicles, and similar technologies. I think that, in addition to what we do, this is part of the growth area in the use of aluminium.

It’s also true to say that the use of aluminium in public transport, like trains, aircraft, and the aerospace industry as a whole, is significant. It is still a growth area, even though the volumes are relatively low.

Geographically speaking, there are some interesting trends. We continue to advocate for and support India in becoming more of a global player in terms of high-tech production. Also, we’re working more and more in Southeast Asia, and I think probably the most interesting area of growth right now is North Africa - what’s going to happen there? Will it do what everybody says it’s going to do, or will it not? That remains to be seen. If we look at current trends in existing markets, then clearly the US and China remain fairly dominant.

But in terms of growth areas, Southeast Asia, North Africa, and, of course, there has been a lot of discussions around Saudi Arabia as well. Will they choose to go industrial as oil starts to taper off? Will they transition into industrial states? We’ll have to see. But clearly, the current situation does not help at all.

AL Circle: As customers increasingly demand complex, high-precision aluminium castings for specialised applications, how is IDRA responding from a product development perspective? And are you expanding your machinery portfolio or upgrading existing ones to address these design and performance requirements?

John Stokes:  So, absolutely, there is a big demand for high-integrity, high-performance die casting. I think one of the most important things from our point of view is that you can’t expect to know everything and be an expert on every aspect. So for us, partnership is fundamental. And our partners within the Foundry Star Alliance, where we bring nine companies together to work on exactly what you’re saying—projects for developing tooling, developing products—is super important.

So, that’s one side of it. On the other side, we have to continue to strive, innovate, push, and do bold things—things that people might be sceptical and laugh at, like giga casting—that are going to make a change. So, yes, we’re looking at new products, expanding our portfolio, and seeing what we can do for the future to have new and exciting products coming through. And being part of the global group between IDRA Group, where we have our own global subsidiaries, and LK Group, we have the resources, the commitment, and the engineering to make some of our dreams come true. So, we are working on new and interesting products.

AL Circle: Energy consumption remains one of the major cost factors in die casting due to the high temperatures required for melting and thermal processes. How is IDRA addressing this challenge through machine design and process optimisation? And what tangible energy efficiency gains can die casting plants expect from your technologies?

John Stokes: Okay, first of all, if we look at the die casting machine, there are obvious efficiencies that we’re working on, and IDRA is one of the leading companies in designing energy-efficient die casting machines, both on the smaller and the higher end of the scale. We have hydraulic machines driven by electric motors, and as such, we need to optimise energy usage. Clearly, our hope is to be able to do more with less.

So, what does that mean? That means efficient hydraulic design, utilising the motors in the best way possible, being able to provide the fluid power needed to move the machine backwards and forwards while optimising the losses of energy. So, we’re able to take a motor and use it to drive the machine, but when we’re not using it, we need to shut that electric motor down or at least minimise its energy consumption. And so, that’s one side. That’s the machine, etc. And IDRA is also very focused on our new injection system that’s so popular right now in the world of structural castings, at least. We’re able to manage directly on the machine and reduce the energy usage of a machine by over 50 per cent. And this is important, big numbers, right? Especially when we’ve got such big motors and big machines.

On the other side, we’re working very closely with our partners, looking at furnaces, looking at managing the air inside the foundry, working very closely with the OEMs and with our partner companies to actually make heat recovery. There are a couple of companies within the Foundry Star Alliance that are focused on melting and managing the air within the foundry and heat recovery.

And this also forms an important part of what we’re doing, right? We can then use the energy from the furnace, which would normally be wasted energy—it goes up and out through the roof—and we’re able to use that to do heat recovery programmes and then utilise that heat for different things. It could be used as a heating process for the foundry. It could be used in colder countries, of course. It can be used as a way of heating water within the foundry for a secondary process, maybe for the paint shop, or maybe we can even use it towards energy for the local population. And that’s really what we like to work on. I really like to think that we’re able to give something back. So we’re burning gas, we’re using electricity to make these castings, but then we need to do more in terms of heat recovery, utilising that wasted energy and feeding it back into the community—whether it’s the community within the factory or the community outside, supplying hot water for local houses and factories. There are many different possibilities.

But all of this—the electric motors, the use of the machine, heat recovery, working on the total installation of the machine—is helping to be respectful to what we’re doing and hopefully improve energy efficiency. Of course, energy efficiency right now is a huge thing for all of us, right? So, we account for waste resources.

AL Circle: How do you see the aluminium die-casting market in Europe evolving through 2026 and beyond, and what strategic priorities will guide IDRA’s efforts to capture growth and strengthen its position in the European market?

John Stokes: Well, first of all, I think we have to say that all of the forecasts from industry leaders and politicians suggest that we should enter into the next phase of growth. And I think that Euroguss, when we were together earlier this year, helped to really focus on that—that we’re all enthusiastic, we all want to move forward.

Clearly, it seems these days that we take two steps forward and one step back, right? We’re enthusiastic, we’re moving forward, but then we have geopolitical unrest, and so it’s like—should we really do it right now, or maybe it is better we wait? But at the end of the day, I think that 2026, 2027, and 2028 are going to fundamentally change the way that we do business and focus our attention on how we are able to remain competitive in Europe on a global scale.

And maybe if you hear me speak, you hear me often talking about the MG badge. So for me, as a very old Englishman, an MG is a little English sports car—that’s no longer the case, right? And I think that there are a lot of European brands that could go the same way. So pay attention, keep working. I believe that there is definitely a recovery growth. And the reason why I believe so is that we’re already at the bottom after years of hardship, and it’s time to start climbing up. And I know this is difficult within Europe. I know there are a lot of respondents with whom we really have to work together, and we have to move forward.

Europe remains an important global asset, and I think that we have to maintain that and we have to continue to invest. And the governments must understand that we can’t all be investment bankers. If I have one message to the European governments and the actual European entity itself, then don’t forget that we still have a lot to contribute to the world of manufacturing. We have a lot of innovation. We have some of the best engineers in the world here in Europe. And so, let’s continue to move forward, and I believe that 2026, 2027 and beyond will be a period of growth, a period of reinvestment, and above all, a period of generational gain. Okay, there are a lot of old people like me in the industry, and what we need is to bring in the next generation who are enthusiastic. I would like to believe that the next generation will also be as dedicated to the industry. Let’s see. Partly, that’s our job to lead.