In a strategic quest to support first-tier original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Zealous Pressure Casting has constructed an independent 1 200 m2 automotive die-casting foundry to serve the automotive industry.

Construction of the new foundry began in September last year and is expected to be fully-functional by next month, says MD Steven Reid.

“The new foundry cost approximately R2,9-million and we have already in-stalled machines to the value of R6-million,” adds Reid.

It is currently equipped with six die-casting machines including two 350 t, one 500 t, two 630 t and one 700 t machine.

“The plant has a crane lift ceiling of 8 m and reinforced concrete floors, which will allow us to install machines of up to 1 600 t by early 2005,” says Reid.

The new automotive foundry forms part of the company’s five-year plan, which concentrates on the company’s finance, market and asset structures.

In the company’s drive to specialise in automotive castings, it has registered a new firm, called Zealous Automotive, which will assume ownership of the new foundry by December next year.

The new company will specialise in automotive high-pressure die castings, ranging from 350 t to 1 600 t machines.

It will continue serving the company’s current client base, which includes BMW, Volkswagen and Toyota.

This allows Zealous the opportunity to focus on higher-volume automotive orders, says Reid.

On average, automotive projects take about 18 months to complete right from the initial phases of concept through to the production run.

“We see a rapidly-growing demand from the OEMs, which are currently involved in export and local manufacture programmes, as they are on a drive to localise aluminium castings where possible,” says Reid.

In fact, Zealous has recently won a R5,5-million contract from Volkswagen to manufacture engine mounting brackets for the LT2 range.

This forms part of the automotive manufacturer’s aim to develop a rand-based supply chain through the government’s Motor Industry Development Programme.

Reid tells Engineering News that South Africa is becoming a preferred manufacturer for aluminium castings due to the availability of metal, which is a result of the new scrap policy and cheaper energy.

Zealous is currently working on a number of new projects, which will see the new company casting more than 80 t of aluminium a month by the middle of next year. “To complement the foundry, it is our intention to add value in the form of machining of castings and, therefore, being able to supply fully-machined castings to automotive clients,” Reid reports. The company currently has two new automatic-pallet-changer computer-numeric-control centres on order from Taiwan and Europe, which are scheduled for installation at the end of May. They will be used to support the new BMW E90 vehicles. Zealous Automotive is also working towards an independent listing of ISOTS16949 and ISO 14000 by the middle and end of 2005. This will complement Zealous Pressure Castings’ quality ratings, says Reid.

“We have also developed working relationships with institutions and toolrooms which allow the company to manufacture their tools locally,” he adds. The company also has the capacity to produce prototype conception to final tool and part manu-facture. Zealous is currently supporting an aggressive growth strategy, which includes looking for new equity partners from ,international companies involved in castings, and black economic empowerment com-panies, with an interest in entering the automotive industry. Going forward, the company hopes to increase its profit by 15% on a yearly basis.

The 320-employee company also caters for the gas, telecommunications, electrical and white-goods sectors.

Last year the foundry consumed 1 200 t of aluminium and turned over R65-million.

However, Reid is expecting the new automotive bay to contribute another R35-million towards the company’s turnover.

The establishment of the new company is anticipated to create another 50 employment oppor-tunities.