The Dean Group do not just offer präzisionsgießen or lost wax castings, the range encompasses commercial grade präzisionsgießen, Sandgießens and die castings.
As part of their pro active sourcing policy they are now able to source quality extruded parts in both aluminium and brass. Because extrusion has a relatively low labour content, savings over UK production are not as significant as with Präzisionsgießen; however, if there are subsequent processes involved, drilling/ tapping of holes, cutting to length etc, significant savings are still possible.
This rule applies generally to all the process they source; the more added value that can be applied, the larger the savings. This is particularly true with präzisionsgießen where parts could be post machined, electo polished, mechanically hand polished, plated and assembled.

In today’s global market a large percentage of the UK’s manufactured goods come from the Far East, where labour is still relatively cheap.
This is still particularly true where products, such as präzisionsgießen, have a large labour content in the manufacturing process.
The Dean Group have invested heavily in the latest manufacturing techniques, in automation and robotics, to try and remain competitive and our UK prices are still the most competitive on a like for like basis. But for larger volume work, the Far East still offer significant benefits for the lost wax process.
The key to success in sourcing from this region is to retain total control of the process parameters and quality procedures and this is where the Dean Group offers the most significant benefits over less technically able sourcing companies. The very reason for choosing the lost wax process for your parts is usually to achieve the very best quality part from a dimensional and surface finish aspect. Präzisionsgießen is a highly technical and multi staged process; failure to control any one aspect of this process will have an impact on the subsequent Präzisionsgießen.
There are a vast number of potential sources in the Far East for Präzisionsgießen but only a few that can offer the quality and service that we demand in the UK. There are less still that are interested in the smaller accounts. This is where the Dean Group scores again; as we already source a huge range of parts from our supply partners we are able to add relatively small accounts, and offer exactly the same benefits to our range of customers. As one of our supply partner’s largest customers we are able to demand the very best levels of service for our lost wax/ präzisionsgießen.

The human rights and moral issues are at the forefront of DGI’s thoughts when sourcing supply partners in China. DGI have been dealing with their main Präzisionsgießen foundry for eight years now, the two companies growing together and sharing knowledge and techniques to continually improve the lost wax process and quality and consistency of product.
Many people’s perception of China foundries is of cramped and poor working conditions, shoddy or non existent health and safety and child labour. This could not be further from the truth. Our main Präzisionsgießen foundry employs in excess of a thousand people with on site living accommodation if required and a real ethos and understanding for working conditions and health and safety.
Investment is also key. The facility is brand new having moved from a rather old foundry and the standard of equipment is impressive. And the investment is ongoing, if they have an increased demand then new machines are brought in immediately.
DGI have also invested heavily in time and training and continuous improvement systems to ensure that they remain one step ahead of the competition and continue to provide the very best tailored service for präzisionsgießen, Sandgießens and die castings.

DGI have experienced significant growth in demand for aluminium präzisionsgießen in the last few months. Aluminium has always been a relatively small part of the UK Präzisionsgießen portfolio, most of the lost wax casting being in carbon and stainless steel and other non ferrous materials.
DGI have been developing the process for aluminium casting and results are now significantly improved. The quality of Präzisionsgießen that is now achieved is consistent and of extremely good quality. Minor surface finish issues that were experienced from time to time have now been overcome with subtle changes to the process.
DGI can now offer a wide range of investment cast aluminium parts with full confidence that yield and quality will be as high as other materials that are cast.

Conventional lost wax castings are produced using a hollow ceramic shell. The metal is poured in and the mould is allowed to cool, either at room temperature or with forced air cooling. The resultant Präzisionsgießen was a rather unrefined grain structure so to optimize the mechanical properties of the casting, various Wärmebehandlung processes are undertaken. This could be simply an annealing process or may be more involved with parts being soaked at a specific temperature and potentially oil or water quenched. Mechanical properties can be found in the technical section on DGI's web site.

Präzisionsgießen has been around for thousands of years and essentially, the technique is still the same today. A mould is produced in wax and this is "invested" into ceramic. Once the ceramic shell has been formed the wax is removed, usually with high pressure steam and this is where the term lost wax casting comes from. The process is then completed by firing the shell and pouring in the required material, removing the shell by vibration and shot blasting and applying any additional processes such as Wärmebehandlung, Maschinelle Bearbeitung, plating or painting.

Präzisionsgießen, or Lost wax casting as it is also known, is ideal for casting "near to shape parts" in a variety of high and low temperature materials including carbon steel, stainless steel, brass, bronze and aluminum.The accuracy achievable with präzisionsgießen reduces significantly the amount of Maschinelle Bearbeitung required thus keeping the overall part price down.Whilst the process of Präzisionsgießen is quite labour intensive the savings gained from reduced on processes makes it ideal for certain applications.