Automation on an XXL scale

08. July 2026
To ensure the competitiveness of the European foundry sector, the A4M consortium is automating key processes, even for steel castings weighing up to 180 tonnes.

Two foundry workers in heat-protective clothing work amid flying sparks on a glowing, large-scale steel casting.

A recent highlight from the A4M consortium is automated defect documentation. Together with the voestalpine Foundry Group and the IFT, our partner Rechenraum has developed an initial prototype for analysing defects.
Manual documentation of cavities involves considerable effort, particularly with XXL components. This is precisely where the new solution comes in: Following a mobile 3D scan, specially developed algorithms analyse the point cloud data and automatically calculate the number, size and volume of the defects.
This reduces turnaround times and enables the material requirements for subsequent repairs to be determined more precisely.
The next step involves pinpointing the exact location on the actual component, followed by seamless data transfer for an automated WAAM repair.