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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2009

20

In the late 1960s, when many

commercially available casting methods

for copper and copper alloys were in

use, typically casting downward or

horizontal, a decision was made at

Outokumpu’s Pori (Finland) plant to find

a way to cast rod closer to the size of

the final product.

The

initial

development

work

culminated in the first successful

upward test casting in 1968 and a

couple of years later the first

production line was installed at the

Pori foundry.

The inventors of the technology were

convinced that the Upcast

®

method

had so much potential that it deserved

active in-house development and

should be treated as a valuable

technological innovation, so sales

and development of upward casting

technology was made into its own

business entity within Outokumpu’s

copper division, the JAVA-unit (later

renamed Outokumpu Castform Oy).

The unit’s work proved fruitful, with 21

lines sold by the end of the

1970s. Landmarks of 50 and

100 commissioned lines were

crossed in 1983 and 1993

respectively.

Coming to the 21

st

century,

the

Outokumpu

Group’s

management decided to focus

on stainless steel products and

divest its copper products

division. This was followed

later by an announcement from

the new owner (Nordic Capital)

to concentrate in copper semis

production and to sell or close down

all of its newly-acquired technology

companies.

At that moment Castform Oy’s

management joined forces with two

outside investors to ensure the

continuity of Upcast business activities

and Upcast Oy was born. Upcast

technology continues to be among

leading continuous casting systems

for oxygen-free copper and copper

alloy rod production with more than

170 units sold to date – a total annual

capacity of around 1.5 million tons.

The innovative spirit of early Upcast

technology pioneers lives on within the

Upcast Oy staff. Confidence is strong

in the future and in finding new ways

of utilising this flexible technology.

Upcast Oy – Finland

Fax

: +358 207 577 401

Email

:

info@upcast.com

Website

:

www.upcast.com

Forty years of Upcast

®

The birthday is taken to be the day of the first

m

m

successful test casting, 6

th

November 1968