The global aluminium industry in 2023 has witnessed a massive transformation in terms of technology than ever before. With sustainability goals in mind, the industry has welcomed advanced digital solutions, automation, and the latest machines/equipment; indeed, the result was inevitable. Quality production increased, efficiency improved, carbon emissions lessened, and accidents and injuries turned down across the industry worldwide. But do you wonder who made this possible? This is the article where we will unveil the names of the companies that have successfully transmuted the otherwise energy-intensive aluminium industry into smart factories with their unique technologies, equipment, and digital solutions.

SECO/WARWICK

SECO/WARWICK is an exclusive solution provider for heat treatment and metallurgy. The Polan-headquartered company offers advanced technologies to reduce cycle times, conserve energy, and improve cooling rates. The technologies take care of brazing, annealing, aging, homogenizing, preheating, and melting, catering to the automotive, engineering, energy, aerospace, marine, chemical, defense, and electronics industries. Each of these technologies are designed for every unique production environment.

SECO/WARWICK’s system offerings for the industry include:

Vortex® – patented nozzle heating technology.

SeCoil® – expert system for the design, simulation, optimization and control of the heating processes of aluminum coils.

VertiQuench® – drop bottom furnaces equipped with quench tank for the aerospace and automotive industries. Quench tank could be filled-up by water or polymer quenching media.

In mid-2023, a news came that SECO/WARWICK would continue to supply third and eighth lines of EV/CAB solutions to its two long-term partners from Poland and the Czech Republic. EV/CAB lines are used for electric vehicle battery coolers’ protective atmosphere brazing. Leading manufacturers of aluminium heat exchangers mainly use these furnaces for the mass production of large-size car battery coolers. 

RIA Cast House Engineering

RIA Cast House Engineering provides tailor-made rail-bound cast-house-proven charging and skimming equipment for aluminum cast houses worldwide. The design and development of equipment take reliability, durability, maintenance, and occupational safety into account. In recent times, the company developed AI Smart camera-based charging, skimming, and in-furnace dross processing equipment, in conjunction with Fioscope GmbH.

RiA’s Intelligent Camera monitor the progress of the scrap pile as it melts. The camera determines the earliest possible moment in which the charging machine can deliver the next charge. Through this, autonomous operation is possible without any kind of human intervention. No time is also lost during the charging phase of the melt cycle, ensuring maximum productivity of a casthouse.

Hencon

Hencon designs and manufactures special vehicles with leading-edge technology, delivering excellent performance when operations in the aluminium industry have become ever more complex. Hencon has developed automated guided, electric pot room vehicles which require no driver. To reduce carbon emissions across the aluminium industry, the need to replace diesel-powered vehicle with electrically-powered vehicles was inevitable.

In January 2023, Hencon successfully conducted a trial run of the vehicle at Hydro Aluminium Sunndal in Norway. The aim was to test whether the components used could withstand the strong magnetic fields in the potrooms of aluminium smelters.

In addition to reducing fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions, these vehicles will improve working conditions in the industry which reducing noise and vibrations.

ABB

ABB is a leading supplier of electromagnetic stirring and braking technologies (EMS) to aluminium and steel industries, which have proved their capability to improve metallurgical performance in electric arc, ladle and aluminium furnaces, and thick, thin slab and billet and bloom casting processes. For contributing to safer and sustainable metals manufacturing, ABB’s metallurgical experts collaborate with aluminium producers, industry partners, and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to develop products that increase process efficiency and improve end-product quality.

ABB’s metallurgical performance offerings include:

• Aluminium Furnace
• Arc Furnace
• Ladle Furnace
• Slab Casting
• Billet & bloom casting
• Tundish
• Specialised lifecycle services for metallurgy products

Recently, SUS Corporation, a prominent supplier of aluminium frames and die-cast components for the automotive and other manufacturing sectors, could overcome workforce shortages and restore production with the help of ABB YuMi cobots (collaborative robots).   The manual and repetitive nature of the production process, along with labour shortages, made it difficult for the company to employ sufficient workers to achieve the required production volumes. By deploying a series of YuMi dual-armed cobots, the company was able to reduce assembly time, increase productivity by 20%, and introduce much-needed flexibility. The cobots' seven axes of movement per arm were able to replicate the complex twisting actions needed during the assembly process.

EPIQ Machinery

EPIQ Machinery is known in the industry for supplying adapted equipment and improving material handling and process flow through the carbon plant, potroom and casthouse. With the integration of modern techniques, EPIQ Machinery’s technology facilitates aluminium plants to easily track equipment status, maintenance, and standardise operations.

Their technologies are categorised under three brand lines – EPIQ AD, EPIQ MECFOR, and EPIQ BROCHOT. EPIQ AD offers world-leading anode handling and cleaning systems, EPIQ MECFOR supplies mobile equipment that carries heavy loads of molten molten and ensures multipurpose operations for optimal fleet management, and EPIQ BROCHOT delivers a complete rodding shop of all moden prebaked anode technology.