Green process chains

Sustainable business practices help to reduce the effects of climate change and ensure a future worth living for generations to come.
Kasto is aware of its responsibility and pursues several strategies: minimizing CO2 emissions and resource consumption with energy-efficient, durable products and converting its own company to environmentally friendly processes.

Sustainability means achieving a balance between ecological, social and economic development – to meet the needs of society without jeopardizing the opportunities of future generations.
Kasto relies on resource-saving technologies that reduce and eliminate negative environmental impacts thanks to sustainable production.
The specialist for saws, storage and material handling is also driving forward the green process chain on the product side.
For example, the recertification of the energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001 was on the agenda.
This enables the company to ensure that energy is not wasted.
“In recent years, we have invested a seven-figure sum in efficient technology, heat recovery and solvent-free painting,” explains Sönke Krebber, member of the management team at Kasto.
“The successful re-certification has shown that this was the right approach.”
Two of the building blocks were replacing the oil heating with efficient infrared heaters and converting the lighting to LED.
Kasto also replaced heat pumps and compressors with more economical models.
In intralogistics, the old chargers for industrial trucks had to make way for modern, highly efficient units.
Kasto also converted its telephone system and computer center to ecological operation.
The company now uses the waste heat from its compressors to heat the staff rooms.
Between 2016 and 2022, these measures saved the company a total of 2.3 million kilowatt hours of energy.
This corresponds to a reduction of 22 percent.
Kasto has also been reducing its CO₂ emissions from business trips year on year for around ten years – by keeping them to a minimum and using virtual meetings instead.

Environmentally friendly processes

In addition to increasing efficiency, Kasto is also focusing on environmentally friendly processes.
One example is the conversion of the paint shop from liquid paint to powder coating.
Thanks to the new process, the specialist for saws and bearings can completely dispense with solvents.
The use of digital twins also saves resources.
With the help of virtual commissioning (VIBN), the company simulates machines and systems before they actually go into operation.
This is based on the 3D design data, which also includes actuators and sensors.
This allows potential problems to be rectified at an early stage, implementation runs smoothly and there is no need for time-consuming reworking at the customer’s premises.
Another advantage: users can train their specialists in the operation of the new machine before the system goes into operation.
This not only saves energy, but also time.

Repairability and retrofit

And something else is crucial for greater sustainability: the longevity of the machines.
If users use saws, storage systems and handling technologies for many years, this saves resources for production and disposal.
Reduced material and energy consumption lowers the environmental impact, CO2 emissions and waste volumes.
In its in-house repair workshop, Kasto also makes saws that have been in operation for more than 20 years fit for the future.
One impressive example is one of the oldest bandsaws still in operation from the 1980s, which ran every working day for over 40 years at a metal dealer.
The experts modernize the bearings with a retrofit directly on site at the customer’s premises.
The machines are then brought back up to the current state of the art and will remain functional for the next ten to 20 years.
Kasto also offers an environmentally friendly solution for new installations of automatic Unicompact long goods storage systems.
With the Kastoweld mobile cassette production system, the company produces the voluminous load carriers directly on site using robots to a high and certified quality.
This eliminates the need for many truck transports that would otherwise be necessary due to the bulky cassettes.
The production system is usually ready for operation within two weeks.
It welds the cassettes from the raw material provided and coats them with an anti-corrosion oil.
“When Kasto presented us with this solution, we were delighted. It saved us considerable freight costs and reduced our environmental impact by around 23 tons of CO2. We also didn’t have to worry about storing the cassettes ourselves and were able to use the warehouse after a short time,” reports Felix Kern, assistant to the management at VBE.
As a steel trading partner in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region, Vereinigte Baustoff- und Eisen-GmbH (VBE) offers an extensive range of steel bars and sheets, shaped steel, pipes, construction elements and reinforcing steel.

Reducing and recovering energy

Another Kasto tool that supports users on the road to sustainability is Kastoenergysave.
It enables them to save up to 40 percent energy and up to 50 percent on the connected load of storage and retrieval machines (SRMs) without having to sacrifice performance.
The system converts excess kinetic energy into electricity and stores it temporarily.
The drives in the storage system can thus be supplied efficiently when the energy is needed.
This enables companies to cut their operating and investment costs and reduce their CO2 emissions.
Metalworkers are also environmentally friendly with Kastooptisaw.
The straight and mitre cut optimization ensures ideal use of the long material, significantly reducing the amount of waste and reducing the amount of material that needs to be moved.
The optimization tool is fully integrated into the Kastologic warehouse management system (WMS).
Kastologic enables fully automated storage, sawing and material handling.
The focus is not only on process reliability and speed, but also on low energy consumption.
Algorithms calculate the energy requirement and reduce it by controlling the storage components as required.
For example, the software perfects the paths of the storage and retrieval machine (SRM) and thus the travel strategy.
Kasto’s sawing technology is also energy-optimized: The drives comply with energy efficiency class IE3.
Frequency controllers control the motor speed and adapt the speed variably to different applications, thus enabling savings to be made.

Competitive advantages through cost savings

With its sustainable solutions, which focus on energy recovery, repairability and resource efficiency, Kasto shows how both ecological and economic benefits can be achieved.
Efficient systems enable users to lower their operating costs and reduce their CO2 footprint.
The optimized use of raw materials minimizes the amount of waste and at the same time reduces the environmental impact.
Kasto also plays a pioneering role within its own company, continuously revising its processes and actively promoting greater sustainability.

Facts & Figures

The Kasto Group, based in Achern, Germany, specializes in sawing, storage and automation technology for metal long products and sheet metal.
The company is a global market and technology leader for metal sawing machines, semi-automatic and automatic long goods and sheet metal storage systems, automatic handling systems for metal rods, sheets and blanks, as well as the associated intelligent software. With 180 years of experience, Kasto is one of the oldest family businesses in Europe. 170 patents, more than 140,000 sawing machines delivered all over the world and over 2,400 automatic storage systems installed testify to the company’s success. In addition to a branch plant in Schalkau, Thuringia, Kasto has subsidiaries in England, France, Singapore, China, Switzerland and the USA as well as sales and service partners in many other countries.

Web: www.kasto.com