OSKAR FRECH Presses in the Franciacorta Region

“Franciacorta bubbles” and die casting plants in the evening organized by OSKAR FRECH for its Italian customers

by Alberto Pomari

The hillsides of the Franciacorta region and the scenic cellars of the Bonomi winery in Coccaglio (near Brescia), provided the setting for the meeting organized by OSKAR FRECH, the well-known German company specialized in the manufacture of plants for high pressure die casting; with this event in July the company introduced the latest innovations to its Italian clients. There were many participants, all eager and interested, coming from the pick of the Italian industry specializing in this segment. Besides tasting glasses of “bubbly” and listening to the presentation of the latest generation of die casting machines, brought here for the occasion, we had the opportunity of talking to the company’s marketing manager, Paulina Haller, to Louis Braun, in charge of the coldchamber diecasting machines Series K, to Jürgen Lamparter, sales Director of cold chamber machines, series GDK, and … Lamparter and we would also like to mention Jochen Leibbrand, manager of the W hot chamber series, who could not take part in the evening.

Looking at the framework and at the high attendance, it can be seen that Frech believes firmly in communication and in the promotion of its products in Italy and particularly in the metallurgical district of the Brescia area. By all means, our production and sales philosophy focuses sharply on direct contact, presenting our machines in action is in our opinion the best method to ensure that clients are really involved with our products, technological innovations and sales initiatives thought of by our Marketing manager, Paulina Haller. We have been present in Italy for over thirty years now, having started by selling our machines for hot chamber die casting, the technique used specifically for Zama alloys with zinc, aluminium, magnesium and copper widely used in the general components for transportation, mechanics and building. As we know, in the hot chamber die casting process the feeding of the molten metal is inserted in a furnace, thereby obtaining an excellent control of the temperature with a high productivity and a uniform metallurgical structure. We should mention that in the cold chamber technique the feeding of the metal occurs at temperatures which are not so closely monitored, with working pressure which is much superior than with the hot chamber method. This process is less productive with respect to the hot chamber, but it offers greater flexibility in the use of materials. Today our machines are offered on the Italian market both for hot chamber and cold chamber use. Cold chamber plants have been produced in Germany for the past thirty years and are now sold in Italy even thanks to the cooperation with DSI Srl, that not only takes care of sales and installation but also of after-sales technical service.

What is your sales strategy?
Die castings which may be obtained using our plants are very numerous and destined to a vast range of final uses. It is clear that the two markets, hot and cold chamber, are different, the first being more linked to general components without any special structural demands, the second is more targeted towards the automotive industry and high-performance applications. We have clients who use both technologies, but today we are heading towards specialization, for this reason we created specialized sales departments within our company.
We are developing the cold chamber technology for machines with up to 4,800 tons of power, especially for the Italian market, and we are already prepared to develop even more powerful plants, because the market seems to be heading in this direction. We shall present our novelties at the next GIFA in 2019.

Which are your main markets and what is your idea of the European market for die casting machines?
Our company exports about 50% of its production to Europe and the remaining 50% to the rest of the world, Italy is today one of our main markets, definitely one of the most dynamic ad interesting.
During the past few years Frech continuously improved its performances, increasing its market share, even though the scenario was not particularly favourable. During the next few years we expect the positive trend to continue, new markets are developing, such as Turkey, and we definitely cannot rest on our laurels!