IK4-Azterlan takes part in the 18th National Foundry Congress of Portugal

The meeting was organised by the Portuguese Foundry Association and it gathered more 150 technicians and professionals from the foundry industry.

Under the theme “the challenges of competitiveness” the 18th edition of the National Foundry Congress of Portugal aimed to address some of the main challenges that the Foundry sector is facing due to the growing demand of the market, the disruptive technologies associated to the 4.0 technologies, the electric vehicle and the development of new materials.

Ph D. Susana Méndez, coordinator of the R&D Metallurgical Processes Area from IK4-Azterlan Metallurgical Research Centre has taken part in one of the round tables of the Conference focused on the challenges linked to the new materials and manufacturing processes. Although there is a high interest on the development of new materials and innovative manufacturing, the difficulty for their homologation by Tier 1 and OEM companies and their industrialisation were pointed as barriers to be addressed in the short term. The roundtable was moderated by Luís Filipe Malheiros (FEUP) and it also had the participation of professionals from well-known organisations such as Zollern, Grohe, Renault Cacia o Bosch.

IK4-Azterlan has a significant activity in Portugal linked to the foundry industry. In addition to the links with the Portuguese Foundry Association, there are relevant collaborative efforts with organizations such as the N. Mahalingam Centre for innovation and technology (CITNM), the University of Oporto and companies such as Sakthi Portugal.

An important number of organizations have taken part in the 18th Foundry Congress, such as ABP – Indution, Sonafi, APF, ASK, AtPeople, Catholic Business School, Capgemini, Ccenergia, Duritcast, FEUP, feline, Fritz Hansberg, Funfrap, Hüttenes Albertus, I. Kaizen, IQNet, Metalflow, Meltec, Bühler, Krown, Idra, Magellan, Rheinfelden-Alloys, Sakthi Portugal, SEI, Synergie or Universidade Católica.