According to Foundry Solutions & Design, the Alpharetta, GA, equipment builder has earned a contract to supply Nemak with a complete sand-processing and -handling system for its Windsor, ON, aluminum casting operation.
This system is part of a reported $90-million expansion project at Windsor in preparation for production pf 3.6-liter V-6 aluminum cylinder block, a program assigned to Nemak by General Motors in January. Nemak will produce 450,000 of the blocks annually, beginning later this year. At the time of the announcement, Nemak Canada vice president Robert Smillie stated: "The new block program will strengthen Nemak's global competitiveness and will go a long way toward offering new opportunities to this community's labor force."
GM will install its new engines in vehicles to be sold worldwide.
Nemak produces cast aluminum engine block and cylinder heads for automotive customers at plants in Windsor and Monterrey, Mexico. It also operates at sites in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Slovakia. The company is majority owned by Mexico's Grupo Alfa, with a smaller stake held by Ford Motor Co.
Foundry Solutions & Design indicates its “multi-million dollar” sand system will process hot sand from a thermal sand reclamation furnace, cool it, store it, classify it, and transport it back to the core machines for reuse. Nemak engineers have developed specialized cores packages for the the GM blocks.