Atlantis Foundries – 40 years of history

Atlantis Foundries has evolved over the years, originating from Atlantis Diesel Engines (ADE), an engine machining and assembly plant that was built in the late 1970s. The brand ‘ADE’ died away, but the company was purchased by Daimler/Mercedes-Benz in 1999, and has continued to cast cylinder blocks for heavy-duty trucks ever since.

In 1980, and at a final cost of 260 million rand (the equivalent of approximately 3 billion rand today), the two engine factories for Daimler-Benz and Perkins were completed. To cover the costs of establishing the ADE plant, the government raised import tariffs on diesel engines to a prohibitive level, despite strong protests from the private sector

Daimler has another foundry specialising in the casting of truck components in Mannheim, Germany, but severe environmental laws have restricted possibilities for expansion. In order for Daimler to meet their market demands, Atlantis Foundries provides them with the additional capacity they need from their site in Atlantis, approximately 50km north of Cape Town, along the West Coast of South Africa.

Since becoming part of the Daimler family, Atlantis Foundries has exported all its engine blocks to customers in the UK, USA, South Korea and Germany, and despite being through a number of ownership changes in the last few years, is now back in the Daimler Trucks family.

The story of Atlantis is a true success story of a ‘National Treasure’ surviving hard times to become one of the best South African manufacturers in the world, and a world-class leader in foundry innovation.

We reflect on the company’s last 40 years of history.

While much has changed in the world since 1978 – the year that the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) effected an initiative to create a national strategic resource to provide diesel engines to the South African market – and the formation of Atlantis Diesel Engines – in principle, not much has changed for Atlantis Foundries.

In the late 1980s casting and machining of V-blocks (V6 to V12) was introduced, which also began to power Bell Equipment’s articulated dump truck. Forgings for crankshafts were supplied by neighbouring plant Atlantis Forge. This picture, taken in 1988, shows the first V-block and a 57kg 4-cylinder passenger car block along with John Davies

Core dipping was done manually until robots were introduced. Today core dipping is automated and done with Fanuc robots

The foundry still produces high-quality automotive castings for the commercial vehicle industry, but can now regard itself as a global leader in the foundry industry through measures such as the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning to achieve zero defects on the large engine block castings that are supplied to their customers in the United States and Europe.

Literally though, much has changed at Atlantis Foundries, and the foundry, while now navigating the aftermath of the damage done by the COVID-19 pandemic, looks set to consolidate and improve its innovative approaches to eliminating casting defects. Continuous improvement is part of the culture at the foundry, and this explains why the foundry is able to achieve a gross melting capacity of 100 000 tons per annum.

In 1979, and defined as a ‘National Strategic Resource’, Finesco (Pty) Ltd, the development company was given the task to start construction of the ADE facility, which was to become a licenced manufacturer of Mercedes-Benz diesel engines.

In 1980, and at a final cost of 260 million rand (the equivalent of approximately 3 billion rand today), the two engine factories for Daimler-Benz and Perkins were completed. To cover the costs of establishing the ADE plant, the government raised import tariffs on diesel engines to a prohibitive level, despite strong protests from the private sector.

One of the first and the biggest robots to be installed was a Fanuc M-900iC dipping robot linked with automatic coating control systems. Every robot has been named and this one has been christened Eben after the South African rugby player Eben Etzebeth

Separate machining lines were setup both on the Perkins side and on the Daimler-Benz side in order to protect intellectual property and brand identity and components included blocks, heads, cranks, cams and conrods, alongside other parts such as sumps, supplied by Atlantis Aluminium (Atlantal) and flywheels by Leyland Motors and other suppliers

ADE was set to create 1 500 jobs in the engine machining and assembly plants alone by producing Mercedes-Benz and Perkins diesel engines for the South African commercial and agricultural markets, and for military vehicles such as the Ratel IFV, Buffel, Casspir and SAMIL Trucks and in the following years almost all SADF armoured vehicles and transport vehicles were fitted with ADE engines.

The first Managing Director of ADE was Hartmut Beckurts. Fritz Korte took over from him in 1990 and was followed by Ron Shires. In 1999 Gerry Klos took over as MD of Atlantis Foundries, followed by John McEwan, Peter Hommel, and Felix Homburg. After the change in ownership in 2015, Pieter du Plessis held the position of CEO of Atlantis Foundries, and was followed by Christoph Ewers before Pieter returned to his former position to take over the helm as CEO once again, at the end of June 2020.

In 1981, ‘ADE part’ was born, creating a further 2 500 jobs, taking the total employment up to a massive 4 000 employees and at the same time, Ferroform started the construction of a greenfield Foundry project on a neighbouring site with the intention of producing automotive castings such as engine (cylinder) blocks for supply to ADE machining and assembly. From early 1981 engine assembly and testing started, mostly from CKD kits (complete knock down) until the machining of the main engine components was introduced later during 1981.

Machining lines were equipped with state-of-the-art equipment supplied by Tiefbohrtechnik (TBT), Stama, Naxos Union, Diedesheim and Heller

The Atlantis Foundries complex as it looks today

In 1981, ‘ADE part’ was born, creating a further 2 500 jobs, taking the total employment up to a massive 4 000 employees and at the same time, Ferroform started the construction of a greenfield Foundry project on a neighbouring site with the intention of producing automotive castings such as engine (cylinder) blocks for supply to ADE machining and assembly. From early 1981 engine assembly and testing started, mostly from CKD kits (complete knock down) until the machining of the main engine components was introduced later during 1981

Separate machining lines were setup both on the Perkins side and on the Daimler-Benz side in order to protect intellectual property and brand identity and components included blocks, heads, cranks, cams and conrods, alongside other parts such as sumps, supplied by Atlantis Aluminium (Atlantal) and flywheels by Leyland Motors and other suppliers. Machining lines were equipped with state-of-the-art equipment supplied by Tiefbohrtechnik (TBT), Stama, Naxos Union, Diedesheim and Heller.

After 15 months of designing and building, the foundry was completed in 1982 and in March of the same year cast its first engine block which was used to power an ERF model 66 truck.

The Ferroform Foundry Group was later sold to the Murray and Roberts Foundries Group, and later acquired by ADE in 1985, where the legacy of Atlantis Foundries (Pty) Ltd. as we know it today, began.

In 1986, the foundry produced a momentous 45 000 castings, and although this number is low in comparison to the volume of castings produced and sold worldwide by Atlantis Foundries today, it was a substantial volume in the 1980s, especially since this was only produced for the South African market.

In 2018 Atlantis Foundries achieved yet another notable milestone in the company’s history, when it cast its one-millionth Heavy-Duty Engine Platform (HDEP). These grey iron castings are currently produced in two variants at Atlantis – OM471/DD13 and OM472/DD15 and supplied to Daimler AG in Germany, and Detroit Diesel in the US for use in Mercedes-Benz (Europe), Freightliner (USA) and Fuso trucks

During the latter half of 2017, Atlantis Foundries installed an off-loading robot at the shotblast machine. In addition to off-loading, the robot will use the spare cycle time to perform fettling of the front and rear face of the casting

In the late 1980s casting and machining of V-blocks (V6 to V12) was introduced, which also began to power Bell Equipment’s articulated dump truck. Forgings for crankshafts were supplied by neighbouring plant Atlantis Forge.

By this time ADE engines, specifically the 400 series, had become a well-established South African brand and product, (many still refer to Atlantis Foundries as ‘ADE’ today), powering not just defence vehicles but also MAN buses for the Durban Transport Management Board.

Trade embargoes were finally lifted in 1994 and South Africa was free again to procure engines and parts from overseas, however the removal of this embargo meant that ADE now had competition from foreign engine manufacturers. Business continued, and in 1996, Golden Arrow Buses replaced all the engines in their fleet with ADE 447 engines, many of which are possibly still in operation today, with further contracts secured in 1998 to supply 140 000 engine blocks for Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles and engine blocks for the Nissan Diesel Coca-Cola delivery trucks.

Sadly ADE’s lack of competitiveness in the global market led to their demise and ultimately to their insolvency in 1999, and ADE was no more, although their success in the earlier years will never be forgotten. However, in order to secure their supply of engine blocks, DaimlerChrysler (now known as Daimler AG), acquired Atlantis Foundries and the Block Line 1 machining facility and incorporated them into the Daimler Trucks Powertrain business unit through its local subsidiary, Mercedes-Benz South Africa (Pty) Ltd., and re-opened the very next day employing 500 people.

In 2017 already, under the leadership of Pieter du Plessis, Atlantis Foundries had embarked on a process that would pave the way for it to become a smart foundry and embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The foundry is currently focused on the production of large heavy-duty cylinder blocks weighing between 450kgs to 500kgs (depending on engine size)

The takeover by DaimlerChrysler increased to incorporate the acquisition of the Business Park, machining facilities, and the crankshaft line from the IDC in 2002. And what followed next was a path of continuous growth, including an upgrade of the Perkins machining line and an expansion project for the introduction of the Heavy-Duty Engine Platform (HDEP) for Daimler Trucks, and the installation of a second mouldline for the production of Mercedes-Benz cylinder blocks for SsangYong in 2003.

The next eight years saw further growth and expansion, with the installation of a new dedicated machining line for Perkins ‘Vista’ engine blocks consisting of 22 CNC machines, two additional 10-tonne furnaces, new fettling areas, a new coreshop, a second mouldline and a new steel scrap handling facility.

As for the foundry itself, the journey of diversification, enhancement and expansion has been equally significant. Boasting a melting capacity of 80 000 tons per annum, the foundry uses cold box technology to facilitate the full spectrum of shapes and sizes across its engine blocks, operating fully automated core dipping facilities to connect to its tunnel indexing core drying oven and using green sand moulding techniques to be able to cast as many as 160 000 moulds a year and catering for the full range of automotive component grades including GG20, GG25, GG26 Cr, GG26 CuCr, and GG30. In addition, Atlantis Foundries also has the basic infrastructure to manufacture castings in Compact Graphite Iron (CGI) and Spheroidal Graphite Iron (SGI).

Atlantis Foundries has always invested in the latest technology that is available. The ITACA thermo-chemical analysis system was introduced at the same time as the coating preparation plant and a dip tank

The most recent of the investments to aid and automate production lines and improve quality control was in a decoring robot

After casting, the foundry offers a complete finishing process, enabling them to improve the product by removing excess material (fettling), powder coating, reference machining (spotting), and partial (pre) machining.

Rooted in history, and equipped with an expert production team, Atlantis Foundries has a wealth of experience in casting and machining engine blocks for passenger cars, medium-duty and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, marine applications, and off-road applications. The foundry is currently focused on the production of large heavy-duty cylinder blocks weighing between 450kgs to 500kgs (depending on engine size).

Introduction of robotics
2012 was a record year for production with the foundry reaching 60 000 tons cast, amounting to a total of 225 930 engine blocks. More significantly, this year marked the incorporation of robotics within the production process with the commissioning of the first two robots ‘Nizaam’, installed in the Reichmann shotblast machine and ‘Eben’ for automation of core dipping. Both named after Western Province rugby team players, the name Eben was given to the dipping robot to reflect its sheer size and strength as the largest robot in the Southern Hemisphere installed at the time. Robots can now be found all around the Atlantis plant and the Fanuc robots installed by Robotic Innovations have now become the workhorse to carry instruments acquiring data whilst handling or performing their operations.

ADE’s first MD Hartmut Beckhurts

In 1981, ‘ADE part’ was born, creating a further 2 500 jobs, taking the total employment up to a massive 4 000 employees and at the same time, Ferroform started the construction of a greenfield Foundry project on a neighbouring site with the intention of producing automotive castings such as engine (cylinder) blocks for supply to ADE machining and assembly

Separate machining lines were setup both on the Perkins side and on the Daimler-Benz side in order to protect intellectual property and brand identity and components included blocks, heads, cranks, cams and conrods, alongside other parts such as sumps, supplied by Atlantis Aluminium (Atlantal) and flywheels by Leyland Motors and other suppliers

Ron Shires was the third MD to be appointed

2015 was another memorable year in the history of Atlantis Foundries, and saw a temporary departure from the Daimler Truck Group in terms of ownership, as German foundry group Neue Halberg-Guss GmbH, a group of two foundries located in Germany, and a European market leader in the development and production of automotive castings, supplying both leading passenger car manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Daimler, Opel and Ford, and leading truck manufacturers of Daimler, Deutz, Scania and Iveco at the time, took ownership of Atlantis.

Despite the change in ownership, the partnership between Atlantis Foundries and Daimler did not end there, and the foundry continued to supply commercial vehicle cylinder blocks to the engine plants of Detroit Diesel, and Mercedes-Benz for assembly and installation in Mercedes-Benz, Western Star, Mitsubishi Fuso and Freightliner trucks, as well continuing to supply the Vista, V-series,
400 series and Cummins blocks to Perkins, MAN, and Cummins Inc. 2015 saw the foundry reset the record yet again, by reaching a massive 79 000 gross tonnes of hot metal cast.

In mid 2017, German financial services provider Süddeutsche Leasing (SDL) purchased the NHG Group of companies including the Atlantis site, only for it to be sold again in January 2018 to the Bosnian family conglomerate Hastor through the Prevent Group. This however was relatively short-lived, and Atlantis Foundries was welcomed back with open arms under the ownership of the Daimler Truck Group once again at the end of June 2020.

Atlantis Foundries embraces the Fourth Industrial Revolution
In 2017 already, under the leadership of Pieter du Plessis, Atlantis Foundries had embarked on a process that would pave the way for it to become a smart foundry and embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

John McEwan was one of the MDs in the early 2000s

Current CEO Pieter du Plessis

The company embarked on an ambitious plan to build a ‘smart foundry’ to further improve the quality and cost position of Atlantis Foundries, via the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to detect sub-surface defects in their castings and refine the process parameters to increase quality and reduce scrap. The basic building blocks for such a concept are robotics, process instrumentation, and the tracking of components using RFID and other software applications. With so much data available and it being traceable to individual castings, the door was opened to enable the use of artificial intelligence for process control and inspection of components.

The corner stone of the project is the programme of automation in the foundry. The Fanuc robots installed by Robotic Innovations have become the workhorses to carry instruments that acquire data while handling or performing its operations. All the data collected throughout the process by the robots and the variety of inline instruments are linked to specific castings. At the end of the process, the entire set of process parameters including operator information will be available for each casting.

The smart foundry ambitions have continued within the foundry with the aim of retrieving live data to enable immediate analysis and reaction. All castings produced at Atlantis Foundries are exported to the USA and Europe, so with such long supply lines, any type of failure can be very costly if castings require rework or sorting at the customer.

All the Fanuc robots that have been installed are christened with Western Province rugby players names as well as Caster Semenya

Blocks being moved around

The foundry process is complex and has many separate steps, with each step having many process variables that influence the quality of castings. Additionally, there are many different material input factors, such as sand and chemistry that can vary from batch to batch or supplier that need to be taken into account. Metal temperature and pouring times are also contributing factors. All of these parameters, if they are not correctly managed, impact the foundry’s objective of zero-defects.

Casts its one-millionth Daimler HDEP engine block
In 2018 Atlantis Foundries achieved yet another notable milestone in the company’s history, when it cast its one-millionth Heavy-Duty Engine Platform (HDEP). These grey iron castings are currently produced in two variants at Atlantis – OM471/DD13 and OM472/DD15 and supplied to Daimler AG in Germany, and Detroit Diesel in the US for use in Mercedes-Benz (Europe), Freightliner (USA) and Fuso trucks.

Daimler Trucks AG acquires Atlantis Foundries
Five years to the day after previously parting ways at the end of June 2015, Daimler Trucks AG reacquired Atlantis Foundries. Daimler AG, commonly known and referred to as Mercedes-Benz, is a German multinational automotive corporation, with headquarters in Stuttgart, Baden-Würtemberg.

Pieter du Plessis, Atlantis Foundries’ current CEO, recently stated in an interview with this publication: “In order to build a better future for Atlantis Foundries, our corporate values must be the guide in this process: Respect, Passion, Integrity and Discipline. They must be believed and lived every day; our actions must bear testament to our values.”

Early days

Confirmation of this was the bestowal of the prestigious Best Brownfield/Expansion Project award at the 2019 Investment Conference that was awarded to Atlantis Foundries. The award was presented by President Cyril Ramaphosa for continued sustainability and contribution to local society. A similar award was given to the company in 1994 by, then President, Nelson Mandela and this symbolises the sustainability and longevity that Atlantis Foundries has been able to achieve over the years.

A more detailed timeline of the foundry’s history can be viewed on the company website: https://www.atlantisfoundries.com/about/history/

For further details contact Atlantis Foundries on TEL: 021 573 7200 or visit www.atlantisfoundries.com