THE UKRAINIAN ASSOCIATION OF FOUNDERS
The Ukrainian Association of Founders has been a full-fledged member of the International Committee of Technical Association of Founders since 1993. In 1999 the Association became a member with the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Activities of the Ukrainian Association of Founders are known throughout the world. The Association has signed cooperation agreements with more than 15 similar associations and unions of Belarus, Russia, Vietnam, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Iran, Poland, etc. Some 47 companies from 13 regions of Ukraine are members with the Association.
Ukraine has well-developed universal casting facilities capable of making complex castings of any weights and made of all the types of alloys employed in mechanical engineering. This is precisely the reason why the current harsh condition of foundries and casthouses provokes nothing but bewilderment and frustration. Back in 1990, Ukraine manufactured 5.4 million tonnes of casting, which placed Ukraine the fifth in the world in terms of casting output after Russia, the USA, Japan, and China. At the same time, Ukraine ranked the first in the whole world making 102 kg of castings per capita in 1990.
The overall economic crisis in Ukraine and in the CIS has savaged the output of castings. In 1998 the volume of produced castings dropped as low as 5.8 times compared to the 1990 figure and as low as 2.1 times against the 1994 level. Altogether, the year of 1998 saw output of 927,300 tonnes of castings, including 677,800 tonnes of iron castings (73% of the total casting output in the country), 223,900 tonnes of steel castings (24%), and 25,600 tonnes of nonferrous castings (3%). It is worth mentioning that production of cast ingots for the needs of mechanical engineering barely hit the level of 500,000 tonnes, i.e. 12 times as low as back in 1990!
Specialized foundries have turned out to be the most susceptible to the crisis in the Ukraine’s economy. In 1998 Kupyansk Foundry reduced casting output by 72 times against the 1990 production, Energomashspetsstal as low as 29 times, Avtotsvetlit of Melitopol 23.4 times down, Tsentrolit of Odessa 18 times down, Tsentrolit of Sumi 12 times down, and Kremenchug Steelworks 4.8 times down, while Tsentrolit of Kirovograd completely went out of business. Back in 1990 all these foundries jointly manufactured almost 630,000 tonnes of castings, whereas the 1998 output resulted in only 40,000 tonnes (which roughly equals the 1990 manufacturing output by Lugansk Foundry-Mechanical Plant that renders services to construction companies).
It is an important sign that output of castings per capita in Ukraine (which is in fact the base indicator of how well mechanical engineering is supplied) has plummeted to the disastrously low level of 9.6 kg, which is 4-5 times as low as in countries with developed machine building (39.5 kg per capita). Using the level of casting output per capita, forecasts insist that Ukraine will hardly have demand for more than 2.1 million tonnes of castings per year in the future. Furthermore, even if the economic recovery of Ukraine evolves under the most positive scenario, this level of castings’ consumption will hardly be achieved sooner than in 2010. At the same time, Ukraine presently has productive capacities for 4.0 million tonnes of cast ingots per year, which is twice as much as the future forecast consumption in the country! Therefore, capacities for some 2.0 million tonnes of castings per year will remain unclaimed even in the future, whereas at the moment the non-utilized capacities amount to 3.0 million tonnes per year. Therefore, if Ukrainian foundries target their efforts at domestic consumers only, they will make a big mistake, which may cost the survival of the whole foundry industry. Should this target be accepted, at least 50% of the functioning companies will be closed, thus dismissing some 55,000 workers from employment.
The breakdown of casting production by types of alloys in Ukraine considerably differs from that in the developed countries.
Notably, the casting pattern is as follows:
In Ukraine in the developed countries
castings made of gray iron 70.3% 40-55%
high-strength iron
1.3% 25-38%
steel 24.1% 5-10%
aluminum alloys
2.5% 10-16%
Foremost, this difference rests on the outdated understanding of the pattern of casting consumption in Ukrainian automotive industry, tractor-building, and power machine-building. These sectors only occasionally use prospective cast materials, such as white iron and high-strength aluminum alloys. As a result, Ukrainian-made machinery and components are 20-25% heavier than the similar foreign products.
For instance, in the last 20 years weight of cast components made in world has reduced by 30-40%. The reduction in weight was mainly achieved via increase in production of investment cast ingots and due to replacement of iron-carbon alloys with aluminum ones.
Owing to this, it is expedient to gradually alter the pattern of casting output in Ukraine to the following ratios:
- 67-85% of iron castings (including 24% of high-strength iron);
- 5-8% of steel castings;
- 14-19% of nonferrous castings.
These will allow manufacturing competitive products and will substantially encourage exports of castings, as well as reduce metal consumption in machine building of Ukraine.
Therefore, owing to growth in production and consumption of castings, Ukraine will be able gradually increasing output of castings to the saturation level of 3.9 million tonnes per year, including 1.9 million tonnes of exportable castings.
Ukrainian foundries should commence export supplies of castings and, as they earn money, invest in technical and technological re-equipment of manufacturing processes to balance up the pattern of casting output. All these steps will enable Ukraine gaining a worthy spot among exporters of castings on the global market.
Most foundries possess deteriorated equipment and use obsolete technologies. Therefore, modernization of the manufacturing process is the only way to make competitive products, gain a foothold on the export market for castings and, consequently, manufacture high-quality machinery in Ukraine.
At the moment, Ukraine has the irrational breakdown of casting output by methods of mold-making.
A definitely small portion is contributed by investment castings, in particular by castings produced using advanced manufacturing methods of making sand molds and other special methods. On the contrary, poor-accuracy castings make up a large portion of the total. Castings made using advanced technologies, such as compacting of mold with pressure or blast; making of molds and cores from materials setting in contact with jigs, from self-setting and pace-setting blends, account for only some 42% of the total casting output. Yet, even this number is exaggerated because the equipment is way too worn out. Only 15% of the total cast shapes made of different alloys are manufactured using special methods.
Technical performance of the tangible fixed assets of Ukrainian foundries does not comply with modern requirements. Quite a few casthouses were built prior to World War II, while some 20% of foundries are located in potentially dangerous buildings constructed before the 1917 revolution.
Analysis shows that Tsentrolit-type foundries (built back in the 1970s and the 1980s) and some casthouses of large plants (as a rule, of those associated with the military-industrial complex) have mainly been equipped with imported machinery. Most casthouses own obsolete equipment, whereas almost 70% of equipment has been in service for more than 20 years. The developed countries renew casters once in seven years. This term is a must for automatic molding lines because otherwise it is impossible to achieve the required dimensional precision of castings.
At the same time, technical and technological re-equipment should rest on domestic developments, which have already been designed and are currently unclaimed due to the economic crisis in Ukraine and the CIS though they frequently excel foreign technologies. In this case, Ukrainian founders, as well as local scientific research institutes, design bureaus, specialized chairs, and manufacturers of casting equipment, will all benefit. Should only the foreign technologies and equipment be purchased, Ukraine will waste foreign currency, acquire what it already owns, and, what’s more important, our products will once again be noncompetitive. Besides, in order to survive, Ukrainian designers of novel processes will once again sell their developments abroad at dumping prices, thus nourishing our rivals on the global market for cast products.
Deep independent project appraisal will be required when singling out the novelties for reconstruction of Ukrainian foundries. Without any doubt, in some cases this analysis may prove the efficiency of doing imports of the required casting materials and equipment to Ukraine.
Serious efforts and new approach to production management will enable surmounting this tremendous crisis. Besides, foundry can’t function successfully without direct links with other sectors, such as metalmaking, chemistry, mining, etc.
Compilation of the National Program for Stabilization and Development of Ukraine’s Foundry in 2000-2005 can spur the recovery of the Ukrainian foundry.