Nodular & grey cast iron integrated solutions
for industries that move the world – railway, construction, agriculture and beyond
- Found. 01 Development & Technology
- Found. 02 Core Shop
- Found. 03 Melting
- Found. 04 Moulding Line
- Found. 05 Cleaning & Painting
- Found. 06 Quality Control
- Found. 07 Sustainability
One foundry. Multiple industries. Endless applications.
Development & Technology
Core Shop
Melting
Moulding Line
Cleaning & Painting
Quality Control
Ideas cast in metal –
even before the first pour
- Full in-house R&D: new castings, alloys, production technologies
- 3D CAD modelling and 2D technical drawings for every casting
- 3D sand printing for rapid core inserts: faster prototyping, complex geometries made possible
- Magmasoft casting simulation: flow and solidification modelled digitally before production starts (eliminates costly trial & error)
- Development of new advanced material as tailor made solutions
- In-house advanced machining shop for production of pattern sets
Pros at internal geometries
- Machine capacity: 15 L to 100 L
- Cold Box and CO2 processes
- Automated sand mixing and transport
- Water-based coatings for superior casting surface finish
- Gas oven drying for dimensional stability
- Re-use recycled bentonite sands for cores production
- Zero waste approach and highly sustainability production process
Where metallurgy begins
- Integrated Melting Technology
- Two ABP electric induction furnaces (IFM 7 Twinpower, 6.100 kW, 250 Hz)
- Automated raw material storage and charge preparation (no manual variation)
- Automatic dosing system for alloy additions
- Mg-treatment with Tundish ladle (2 t)
- High-Efficiency Melting Operations
Cast iron grades available
Nodular cast iron
EN-1563 (EN-GJS-400 to 600 series)
Grey cast iron
EN-1561 (EN-GJL-300, 250, 250-special (improved for brake discs))
Special cast irons
ADI (EN-17804)
Vermicular graphite cast iron (EN-16079)
KL-GJS-SINIMO, KL-GJV-SINIMO
special low-temperature grades to -40 °C (EN-GJS-400-18-LT)
Smart moulding.
Reliable quality.
- Automatic moulding line & pouring machine (HWS)
- Mould size: 1270 x 1070 x 400+400 mm
- Complete mould-level traceability system: every casting trackable back to its pour
- Automatic green sand plant with Eirich vacuum mixer technology (140 t/h)
- Real-time sand quality control (AT1 system)
- Flexible production with different castings (1/1 mould or ½ mould)
- High-Performance Moulding Technology for consistency and dimensional accuracy
Polishing the final touches
- Automatic shake-out & controlled Magaldi cooling conveyor belt
- Optimized cooling cycles reduce internal stresses and enhance the mechanical stability of every casting
- Castings and pour systems separated with precision breaking wedges
- Automatic sandblasting machines
- Diverse CNC grinding machines (MAUS, LIANCO)
- Automatic dip painting line with water-based paints (red or black)
- Max dimensions: 1100 x 900 x 500 mm
Handovers with
zero defect policy
Quality for us is not just a final check.
It runs through every step of production.
- INCOMING: Raw material analysis, supplier qualification
- IN-PROCESS: Laboratory NDT/DT inspections at control points
- FINAL CONTROL: Full documentation, 3.1 certificates, packaging control
Inspection capabilities
thermal + spectrometer
microstructure, grain size
non-destructive examination
faster, more reliable than X-ray, better defect detection, direct integration into production data
detects subsurface defects up to 2 mm, reliable on complex geometries, suited to series production
tensile test (up to 250 kN), Charpy impact test (20 °C to -40 °C, up to 300 J)
Certificates
Green practices
built into our core operations
At Kovis Livarna, reducing environmental impact is not an afterthought, it is built into our core foundry work process.
own solar plant
Sand recycling
Around 78 % of all core sand is recovered, reclaimed and fed back into production, fully automatically. Leading to less waste, lower raw material costs and smaller environmental footprint.
Circular economy
Scrap and production residues are processed back into raw material and fed into the next melt. This is how zero waste comes best to life – with 90 % of secondary raw materials in our products.
Less climate impact
Our own solar plant generates 24 % of electricity needed for operations. Optimized processes and clever innovation strive for minimal impact on the environment with 60 % CO2 savings, less ventilation losses, 11 % weight savings, noise reduction and recyclability.
A certified commitment
ISO 50001 (Energy Management) and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management). Maintaining high standards in sustainable practices.
Sandblasting
Automatic sandblasting machines handle the bulk of surface prep at high throughput. This is followed by CNC grinding (MAUS, LIANCO), robotic grinding (for tight-tolerance surface) or manual finishes.
The result: Clean, consistent castings ready for customer inspection.
Robot cleaning
Finishing cores with robotic cleaning ensures consistent quality and surface preparation. It removes human variability from one of the most detail-sensitive steps in the process.
Machine vision
Automated visual inspection is integrated in the process. This way we can catch deviations before they reach the moulding line, preventing irregularities even before the start.
3D printing
With 3D sand printing we produce core inserts directly from digital files. Enabling complex internal geometries that traditional tooling can’t achieve, with lead times that were previously impossible.
- Lead time improvements
- Solution for high complex cast iron
- Low quantities – for spare parts production
- Reverse engineering of parts
Pattern shop & warehouse
- Modern pattern workshop with CNC machines
- Pattern sets from wood, plastic or aluminum
- Full in-house capability: new patterns, adaptations, repairs
- Own pattern warehouse (with barcode system) for flexibility and faster times
- Good storage conditions – longer lifetime of pattern sets
Kovis BP
JWL Kovis Limited
Good ideas create future
Behind every casting we produce stands a group built around one idea: complete integrated solutions for safer, more efficient and climate-friendly rail transport and beyond.
Kovis Group operates five production sites across four countries.
Each with a focused role, all working as one.
Kovis Group at a glance
last 10 years
Kovis d.o.o.
Group Headquarters · Machining & R&D
The heart of Kovis Group. Home to the central R&D and machining operations, and the origin of Kovis’s position as a European niche champion in railway components.
- Largest axle box producer for freight transport in Europe
- 550+ brake disc types developed for railway
- Exporting to 32 countries
- 150 employees
Kovis Livarna
Foundry · Nodular & Grey Cast Iron
The casting foundation of Kovis Group. Kovis Livarna supplies high-quality iron castings for the group’s own railway components and for external customers across railway, construction, agricultural and other industries.
- 18.000 t of castings produced annually
- Castings from 20 to 270 kg
- 50+ years of foundry expertise
- 265 employees
Kovis Transporti
Logistics · Internal & External Transport
The group’s own logistics arm. Ensuring reliable, controlled transport between production sites and to customers across Europe.
Kovis BP
Machining · Painting · Railway
Kovis BP handles machining, painting and final production. Focused exclusively on railway components, extending the group’s manufacturing capacity with precision and efficiency.
JWL Kovis Limited
Foundry & Machine Shop · Railway & Beyond
Kovis’s production footprint in Asia. A full foundry and machine shop producing brake discs and cast iron components for railway, construction and agricultural machinery.
- 1.200 t of cast iron per month
- Certified to ISO 9001, 14001, 45001
- 180 employees
- Ind. 01 Agricultural Machinery
- Ind. 02 Construction & Mining
- Ind. 03 Beyond Core Industries
- Ind. 04 Railway
If it needs precision casting, we make it
Railway is our home industry. We produce castings that go into the most demanding, safety-certified applications, but our expertise goes well beyond, to a variety of industrial sectors.
Explore our reference by selecting an industry.
Railway
Railway is our home industry. We deliver safety-critical castings — brake discs, axle boxes, gearbox & stator housings, and passenger components — for the most demanding rail operators in Europe.
Pick a programme on the left to see the castings we make.
- 500+ brake disc types in production
- Europe’s leading axle box foundry
- Max gearbox casting size: 1270 × 1070 × (400+400) mm
- Certified by DB, SNCF, Alstom, Siemens, Stadler …
Railway
- Material
- Weight
- Application
- Advantages