Moscow, November 15. The development of casting production is an important stage in development of the industrial sector. Cast aluminium products are widely used in almost all industries, including automotive, aviation, shipbuilding, agricultural machinery, energy, construction, and consumer goods. For example, the current demand of the automotive industry for aluminium is 254,000 tpa with the production of 1.8 mln vehicles in 2018. Experts forecast that the vehicle market will reach 2.6 mln units by 2025 that will significantly increase the share of aluminium in the automotive industry. Such figures were announced at the I All-Russian Conference 'Import Substitution and Development of Exportation of Cast Products from Aluminium Alloys' organised by the Aluminium Association together with the Russian Association of Casters.
The conference was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, major domestic automakers, leading scientific, educational and research centres, industrial companies, industry associations, manufacturers of casting equipment, engineering companies, etc.
The conference discussed industry issues of casting production, such as modernisation of equipment and technical retooling of production facilities, the need for training of skilled personnel, and improvement of regulatory documents. Creating advanced aluminium casting centres will allow to come to a common denominator in work, having developed a consolidated market position according to the needs of industries and companies and direct efforts to the development of casting production in the country. In Russia, imports account for more than a half of cast products — about 300,000 tonnes of semifinished products or 20% of domestic demand. At the same time, the production of cast ingots in the country continues to decline.
The conference included thematic round tables where the participants of the event could discuss the most pressing problems. During the discussion it was stated that the problem of casting production is complex and requires a systematic inter-sectoral approach. The most pressing issues include the lack of modern equipment and casting technologies, low operational efficiency, low capacity utilisation, weak competence of sales, lack of a full line of experienced trained personnel.
'It is important to understand that the availability of free capacities with the current technical equipment of production facilities is not a guarantee of the casting production development. It is necessary to develop a consolidated position for the industry by creating a roadmap based on the materials and proposals announced at the conference. It should take into account the development of casting specialties in universities and training of engineering personnel. It is necessary to pay attention to updating and modernisation of casting equipment and technologies at existing production facilities. The measures taken will not only increase the consumption of aluminium in the country, but also will be able to develop the exportation of cast products for the automotive industry and other branches,' — said Valentin Trishchenko, Chairman of the Association.