Martin Lagler: "We drive the die casting industry forward with innovative solutions"

Bühler AG, a traditional family business from Switzerland, has a strong focus on the die casting industry. Martin Lagler, Director Global Product Management and Marketing at Bühler Die Casting, has been with the company for 12 years and provides an insight into the strategy and his assessment of industry-relevant topics.

training and consulting at Bühler — With training and consulting for process optimisation, the die casting process can be made more efficient and cost-effective.

Mr. Lagler, could you please introduce us to the cornerstones of Bühler?

Martin Lagler: Bühler is a Swiss family business that was founded in 1860 and now employs around 12,700 people worldwide. With locations in 140 countries, we can understand the needs of our customers locally. This broad global positioning allows us to be always with our customers quickly and to speak the local language.

Every day, billions of people get in touch with Bühler technologies to fulfill their basic needs for food and mobility. We produce solutions for a wide range of sectors such as milling, animal feed and glass coating. In the Die Casting business unit, we offer various solutions for aluminium and magnesium die casting, both for the automotive industry and numerous other sectors.

What exactly does the company provide?

Our main objective is to offer cell solutions for die casting - customized to the needs of our customers and the parts they want to produce. With locking forces ranging from 2,600 to 92,000 kilonewtons, we can cover all requirements. We also support our customers in producing as efficiently as possible and offer various training courses and consulting services.

If a die casting machine is getting on in years, we can give it a new lease of life in our remanufacturing centers and thus contribute to the circularity of materials. With these solutions and services, we aim to be the long-term all-round partner for our customers.

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And what motivates you personally, Mr. Lagler?

The fundamental motivating factor is the entire die-casting team. Our dedicated employees do their best every day to drive our business forward, bring new innovations to the market and offer optimal solutions for our customers. Of course, it is also extremely exciting to work in this dynamic market - we are experiencing the changes in mobility at first hand and can discover new fields of business.

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You mentioned it just now: We are experiencing a change in mobility, but a lot is also happening in the industry at the moment. How do you assess the current situation?

The die-casting market for large structural components - so-called mega castings - is currently experiencing a boom. This is despite the fact that just two years ago the signs seemed very poor and the trend towards e-mobility was causing discontent in the die casting industry. Today, we know how we can utilize the opportunities presented by this change and drive the industry forward with our innovations.

On the other hand, foundries with very small margins are fighting for survival. The uncertain economic situation and rising energy prices are the major challenges in the die casting industry - but also in many other industries.

The high energy requirements of die casting foundries exacerbate this problem. We try to provide our customers with the best possible support with energy workshops and process optimization training, showing them where they can save energy and highlighting potential for optimization.

What opportunities do you see for the industry?

Due to the shift towards electromobility, we are currently seeing many car manufacturers rethink their production processes. With the trend towards mega casting, the advantages and disadvantages of different materials are also being considered - steel vs. aluminum. We have compared several studies and also conducted our own research to get to the bottom of this.

In our view, aluminum has a clear advantage over steel. In addition to the obvious weight advantage, sustainably produced aluminum is more efficient and sustainable than steel in terms of extraction and processing. Particularly during processing, aluminum die casting can achieve a significant reduction in CO2e compared to steel stamping. This is due to the many work steps that are eliminated in die casting.

And how does Bühler practice sustainability within the company?

Bühler's vision is to create innovations for a better world while harmonizing the needs of business, people and nature - sustainability is a key issue here.

As a relevant solution partner for the food and mobility industry, we at Bühler have developed a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our operations by 60 per cent by 2030 (Greenhouse Gas Protocol, Scopes 1 & 2, base year 2019).

We have committed to providing solutions that reduce energy, waste and water in our customers' value chains by 50 per cent by 2025.

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What does this look like in practice, Mr. Lagler?

The utilization of a die-casting solution over its service life plays a decisive role when it comes to sustainability. With on-site services and training for the best possible performance, as well as upgrades and revisions, we maximize the service life of our customers' solutions. Long-term use contributes to a lower footprint.

Bühler building in Uzwil — <div>Bühler has been established as a family business in Uzwil, Switzerland, for over 160 years and operates sites in more than 140 countries worldwide.<br></div>

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In addition, peripheral equipment that is operated without fossil energy, such as an electric melting furnace, can help to minimize the carbon footprint. We also support our customers with our Environmental Impact Services to measure their footprint and jointly develop solutions to reduce it.

In addition to the issues already mentioned, there is an industry-wide shortage of skilled labour. How do you convince the next generation of yourself and the die casting industry?

We are delighted when we can invite universities to our site in Uzwil. There we show students not only what we can offer as a solution provider for the industry, but also as an employer.

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Application Center

At our headquarters in Uzwil, Switzerland, as well as at our sites in Wuxi, China, and Holland Michigan, USA, we offer various training courses in our Application Centers. We see great demand here and it is important to our customers that their employees are well trained.

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What significance do meeting places like EUROGUSS have for the die casting industry?

Coming together and the international dialogue at EUROGUSS helps the entire industry to promote new innovations, bring products to market and talk about solutions for the future together. We are looking forward to being part of the trade fair again this time, seeing many familiar faces and utilizing the international network.

And now a look into the future, Mr. Lagler: What is Bühler's focus?

We will continue to see ourselves as a personal partner on site with our customers in the future. Even with changing markets and increasing digitalization, it is important for us to be local. The different cultural conditions and individual production requirements make it essential to respond to our customers' needs on site and discuss their concerns in person.

With the guiding principle “Innovations for a better world", we at Bühler are constantly working on new innovations and developing solutions for the future. Every year, Bühler invests up to 5 per cent of its turnover in research and development to bring new technologies, machines and services to market for our customers that stand out for their high performance, efficiency and sustainability.

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