Wieland moves forward on investment in Germany

A late-May groundbreaking ceremony in Vöhringen, Germany, has helped global red metals producer Wieland Group marks the official start of construction to an expansion of its recycled-content melt shop and foundry there.

Germany-based Wieland says the foundry expansion will entail an investment of some $87 million at the site in a move the copper and brass producer calls key to its decarbonization strategy.

When announcing the project in 2022, Wieland said it involved “state-of-the-art technology and electrifying process steps that are typically gas fired,” adding that the result means “customers will benefit from products with the highest rate of recycled content and the lowest carbon footprint.”

The firm now says the foundry in Vöhringen will be expanded to include a recycling center.

“Thanks to state-of-the-art and efficient technology, this center will enable the processing of copper scrap, thus increasing the global recycling rate of Wieland products to more than 80 percent after commissioning,” the company says.

“If we look at the foundry expansion in Vöhringen with a recycling center from a sustainability perspective, this is a global showcase project with a signal effect,” Wieland Group CEO Erwin Mayr adds.

“The new plant is an important building block on our way to sustainably closing the material cycle and increasing our global recycling rate to 100 percent in the near future."

The project is part of an overall Wieland decarbonization strategy that includes the electrification of all plants to phase out fossil fuels and the full use of renewable energy through green power supply contracts and in-house power generation using photovoltaic and wind power systems.

Wieland says the Vöhringen foundry supplies other plants in Europe and Asia with high-quality semifinished copper.