When the OEM owns your Competitor

When a foundry gets into trouble, other foundries start looking for tool transfers. The thinking is straightforward; the parts are still needed, the tools already exist, and somebody has to produce them. If you have available capacity and an attractive price, perhaps that business will come your way. But what happens when the customer buys into one of your competitors instead?

Porsche has acquired the Chinese shareholder’s 50% stake in KS Huayu AluTech in Neckarsulm. According to Rheinmetall’s confirmation to the Heilbronner Stimme, Porsche entered the joint venture on 1 September 2026, with Rheinmetall retaining the other half. The company now operates as KS AluTech GmbH. Porsche’s stated reasons include preserving technology in Germany and securing its own supply chain. For me, the interesting part is what this means for everyone still hoping that being a little cheaper will fill their machines.

Ownership Changes the Purchasing Decision

An OEM buying castings from an independent supplier wants reliable parts at a competitive cost. When that OEM also owns half the supplier, the decision tree changes. Now it is about the performance of its investment. Keeping suitable and interesting new parts within that business supports its capacity utilisation, retains expertise, and strengthens the supply chain the OEM has chosen to protect.

That does not mean every future Porsche casting will automatically go to KS AluTech. Nor does it prove that other Volkswagen Group brands will direct their contracts there. But it does mean that an independent foundry should question the assumption that a lower quotation is enough to win.

You might be competing against a supplier whose success matters to your customer beyond the casting’s purchase price. A good relationship with the purchasing manager does not remove that ownership interest. And another discount also doesn’t compensate for it.

A Tool Transfer Cannot Be Your Whole Strategy

Of course, tool transfers can bring desperately needed revenue. If the parts fit your equipment, the commercial conditions work, and you can manage the transfer, there is nothing wrong with taking that opportunity. The problem starts when waiting for somebody else’s difficulties becomes your business-development strategy.

Porsche’s investment shows one way an OEM act to secure supply. Instead of simply moving work to whichever independent foundry offers the best quotation, it takes ownership in a supplier it considers worth protecting. My concern is that foundries watching for the next transfer are assuming access to business that will never reach them.

You cannot build your future around the expectation that an OEM will eventually rescue you, either with transferred tools or an investment. You need a reason for customers to choose your foundry even when another supplier has a stronger ownership connection.

Give Customers a Reason to Look Beyond Price

That reason has to start with a problem you solve particularly well. The typical website headline “We produce high-quality aluminium castings” does very little here. It doesn’t explain which application you understand, which requirements you meet, or why an engineer should involve you before contacting another foundry.

Your specialty must be backed by process knowledge and evidence. The goal is to offer a combination of properties, geometry, and production capability the customer cannot easily get elsewhere.

But a specialty nobody knows about will not generate enquiries. You have to explain the engineering problem, demonstrate what changes with your solution, and reach the people responsible for those decisions. That requires direct contact with engineers and development partners, supported by articles, application examples, and technical discussions that make your expertise visible before purchasing sends out an RFQ.

Rheocasting changes which Parts you Compete for

This is where Rheocasting becomes interesting. With a suitable high solid fraction and a reliable process, the semi-solid slurry fills the cavity laminarly, reducing gas entrapment. Lower porosity supports pressure tightness, welding, and heat treatment. The wider alloy range creates opportunities for properties such as higher thermal conductivity or higher scrap contents.

The commercial consequence goes beyond making an existing die casting differently. A thick-walled component produced by permanent mould or low-pressure casting might become a candidate for Rheocasting. A thermal-management component will benefit from combining a conductive alloy with a geometry that is difficult to produce economically through any other route.

All of these applications require a proper assessment of loads, geometry, alloy, tooling, and volume. But it starts a much more useful conversation than asking whether you can cast the same drawing for a few cents less.

You are now helping the customer reconsider how the component should be made. That gives your foundry a role in development and creates opportunities beyond the existing pool of die-casting RFQs. The successful Rheocasting implementation then locks out the competition.

The Work Starts Before the RFQ exists

Those opportunities will not arrive simply because you install a slurry maker. If the customer still sees the component as a welded assembly or a permanent mould casting, you will never receive an enquiry to answer. You have to find the application, reach the responsible engineers, and demonstrate why changing the manufacturing route is worth investigating.

That means building a network of customers, designers and development partners around the problems you can solve. It means communicating consistently and supporting your claims with trials and component data. The market development has to happen alongside the technical development, long before the final drawing and purchasing specification are fixed.

Porsche is acting to secure its supply chain. Independent foundries need to act just as deliberately to secure their future customers. Waiting for cheaper offers, better purchasing contacts, or somebody else’s insolvency to solve the problem leaves too much of that future in somebody else’s hands.

If you want customers to know your foundry for something other than its eventual insolvency announcement, give them a reason to hear about it now. Schedule a Free Consultation Call to learn how to get started!