GNA joined the EBNER Group in 2019. Since then, the combination of competencies provided by Group membership has already led to the completion of several successful projects.

Over the last two years, GNA has helped market a complete casthouse solution to North American customers. We have now quoted three complete casthouses at which the partnership between GNA, Gautschi, and HPI allows us to provide every piece of equipment in the plant.

Currently, GNA is developing a project to restart a casthouse that has not been in operation for several years. This plant currently has an HPI horizontal casting system installed, and HPI and GNA are working closely together with our client to find options, solutions and improvements to the existing plant.

HIGH ENERGY SAVING

Our most recent large-scale project, for Nanshan Aluminum in Lafayette, Indiana (USA), was just recently completed. Existing furnaces at the Lafayette plant had been requiring rebuilds for some time, as the reliability of the equipment had fallen and energy usage had increased.

GNA completely rebuilt and re-insulated two of the client’s four furnaces, and implemented a number of modifications to increase efficiency and reliability. Our client was very happy with the end result, and stated that they could not believe the amount of work GNA completed in just two weeks. The orderliness of the job site and the high degree of safety with which work was carried out also exceeded their expectations.

After only one week of operation, the client expressed their satisfaction with the high energy savings that were achieved. The ability of the furnaces to retain heat has been greatly improved, reducing the demands placed on the burners. A rebuild of the remaining furnaces by GNA is now under discussion.

IMPORTANCE OF SERVICE

For many years, customers relied on their own in-house maintenance teams to maintain and repair equipment in their production lines. Companies would have their own engineering, electrical, mechanical and hydraulic specialists, and in many cases would have their own fabrication resources to fill their needs. Today, however, companies face challenges such as technological advancement and personnel shortages – leading to more and more services being bought in.

This trend means that the importance of the customized services offered by GNA will only increase. In the future, our focus will thus be on growing the GNA service team with specialized technical personnel from the aluminum industry. We are also developing a special training plan to ensure both that our competence continues to grow and that our service is of the highest quality.

Alongside our partners in the EBNER Group, we look forward to continuing to provide the highest quality products and services to our customers.