SHW Casting Technologies in Wasseralfingen casts the 500th large Engine Block in a Series

SHW Casting Technologies in Wasseralfingen is celebrating a special casting success. Last week, the company cast the 500th large engine block in a series. The casting concerned was an 18-cylinder engine block for use in power stations to generate electricity, working with a power of 17 megawatts. The order for number 500 came from a major customer in northern Europe, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of large engines and power stations.

A quantity of 100 tonnes of molten iron were poured for the large engine block. The finished engine block is about 12 metres long, 3 metres wide and 2.5 metres high, with a delivery weight of about 82 tonnes. After the time which it needs to cool down and several machining steps, the block can be delivered to the customer in approximately four weeks. The complete large engine including its block, crankshaft, cylinder heads etc. will ultimately weigh about 240 tonnes.

For many years, SHW Castings Technologies in Wasseralfingen has specialised in large engine blocks for power stations, cruise ships and freighters. With its production of large cast parts, SHW CT counts amongst the market leaders in the sector, as there are only a few companies across Europe who are able to cast parts of this size.

Engine blocks are made to customer drawings at the plant in Wasseralfingen using high quality materials. As a long-established company, SHW CT stands for the excellent quality of its castings. The high quality standard is very important as the engine blocks will be permanently exposed to extraordinary thermal and mechanical stresses.

PLUTA expert Marcus Katholing, Chief Restructuring Officer at SHW CT, and his team have been restructuring the company as part of debtor-in-possession proceedings since July 2017. The PLUTA expert said, “Our company is on the right track. This year’s backlog of orders exceeds the previous year’s and current demand from our customers continues at a high level. To complete our customers’ orders on schedule, we are looking for new recruits to reinforce our team in a number of departments.”

The process of looking for an investor has started last year. However, given the company’s good current position, there is no time pressure to find a quick solution.