Holečkova Conference and GIGA casting

I received an invitation from Mrs. Ing. Barbora Bryksí Stunová, Ph.D., from the expert committee of pressure casting, and it was a great honour for me. After all, I am not a foundryman, so I was worried about how it would be received. In the end, however, I also met a lot of my friends from the Bodycote era, so everything turned out well, also because I fit into the generally friendly atmosphere of this professional group of people.

https://www.holeckovakonference.cz/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Program-10HK.pdf

On my part, there was more than great expectations, there was great nervousness. After all, I started hardening large dies for GIGA presses myself, two years ago, just because my inner voice told me, yes, this is going to be a big problem.

And is it?

How is it? The block about GIGA Casting was started by Mr. Vlastimil Kolda from ESI Group. https://www.esi-group.com/. When one talks about choosing one’s goals, this person was directly involved in the development of GIGA Casting in Volvo Košice. I think he described his role in the VOLVO team, developing technology for Košice, very well. I always smile when I meet someone who is miles ahead of me in a given field.

But the key thing came directly from Volvo Cars Košice. The project was presented here by Mr. Denis Horkulič. Unlike the previous post, it no longer deals with HPDC, but with the factory. Even though there will also be a few people in it, the whole concept is designed so that the factory works in an automatic mode. It was clear from the lecture that the number of sleepless nights for this person is approaching infinity. When we saw how many details of the process workflow had to be resolved, it was really bombastic. And since there are pieces of aluminium at the beginning of the factory, everyone can probably imagine how complex the process is, so that at the end a car falls out.

And since the first castings are due in the fall, it will soon be clear how prepared they are for this type of production. Its parameters are truly a challenge. Compared to current production, the casting cycle is shortened to 90 and 110 seconds. That is why only two GIGA IDRA presses with 9,000 tons of clamping force are planned.

And what about the die casting dies? There was a lot of confusion about that. It was stated that they matter a lot, but when, who and how these tools will be made was not said. And therefore, it was not said who will heat treat them. I presented a certain instruction here, but who knows. Everything could be completely different.
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Ultimately, this slide speaks for itself. 50% of success is in the tool, 30% in the casting process and the remaining 20% in training and educating people for this type of production.

What can I add? Big congratulations to everyone at Volvo Cars Košice. That’s the right way.

The only stain on the entire conference was my return trip. Because the Czech Republic is impassable everywhere, I drove through Poland and the A4. There I was caught by the news that Hyundai had cancelled its project at the GIGA factory in Karviná. Of all the bad news about the state of Czech

Jiří Stanislav

March 21, 2025