Japan's Shibaura Will Produce a 12,000t Die Casting Machine

Shibaura Machinery will soon become the second Japanese manufacturer capable of producing die casting machines with a clamping force exceeding 5,000 tons.

All the major Japanese OEMs are investing in Gigacastings, including Honda, Nissan and Toyota which is also investing in the Unboxed Manufacturing process inspired by Tesla.

Currently, UBE Machinery Inc holds the lead in Japan, having delivered 6,500-ton machines and planning to supply a 9,000-ton machine to one of Toyota Motor Corporation’s plants in Japan.

Shibaura aims to develop ultra-large die casting machines with clamping forces between 6,000 and 12,000 tons, designed to produce massive automotive underbody components known as Gigacastings.

The company has set a sales goal of 10 units per year, targeting markets in Japan, South Korea, India, and North America.

Shibaura revealed that the equipment with a clamping force of 12,000 tons is the largest in Japan, with a length of 27 meters, a width and height of 9 meters and a total weight of 1,100 tons.

Reports suggest Shibaura Machinery could unveil its first ultra-large die casting machine as early as this month (March 2025).

Meanwhile, LK Machinery launched the world’s first 12,000-ton die casting machine in 2022. It has secured multiple orders in China and is notably producing Rear Underbody (RUB) Gigacastings for the XPENG X9.

2025 Model Y Update, No Front Casting but New Rear Gigacasting

In this latest video from Munro Live, Tesla’s President of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy discusses the latest upgrades on the 2025 Model Y, including its underbody gigacastings.

The 2025 Tesla Model Y adopts a redesigned Rear Underbody Gigacasting which is 7kg lighter than the old design (65-67kg) and requires 50% less machining.

Also, Lars discussed how Tesla’s Gigacasting process evolved since 2020 thanks to conformal cooling which helped improve cycle time from 170 seconds in 2020 to 75 seconds today, on their 6,000t die casting machines.

If Tesla’s Gigacasting process is now more than two times as fast and requires even less machining, then why not adopt Front Underbody (FUB) Gigacastings?

Let's start from the foundations to clarify doubts and build the discussion;

1) Tesla has 5 production lines for the Model Y. One in Fremont, Austin, Berlin and two in Shanghai.

2) All the Model Ys, prior to the production switch to the 2025 refresh, were being built with Rear Underbody Gigacasting ONLY.

3) Berlin and Austin were the only factories which had a secondary Model Y production line with Front (FUB) + Rear (RUB) Gigacastings and structural battery pack.

Both production lines were decommissioned in 2023 or Q1 2024 and every Model Y with FUB was always built with a structural battery pack.

4) This is how many Giga Presses were installed at Tesla's factories:

5) Given the number of machines and 75 seconds cycle time, every factory has the ability to produce Model Ys with both FUB and RUB Gigacastings as well as the upcoming "new models which will be built on existing lines" also with FUB and RUB Gigacastings.

Here are my considerations on why Tesla chose not to use Front Castings;

1) Standardization. This is from The Limiting Factor;

"All Model Ys were using stamped underbodies for the front, with only 2 out of 5 production lines capable of also using Front Gigacastings.

So it makes more sense to cut the minority of Gigacastings over to stampings, rather than to cut the majority of stampings over to castings.

Yes, it will create some inefficiencies within the factory, but it simplifies and harmonizes the supply chain."

2) Financials

Yes, Gigacastings are cheaper, but since 2020 Tesla set up 5 production lines which are all using a "traditional" stamped front underbody for the Model Y. This equipment, which is mostly 3 to 4 years old, is not fully depreciated.

When a company spends on equipment, the cost isn’t expensed immediately. It’s spread over the equipment’s “useful life” (up to 15 years) and recorded as a small annual expense in the profit and loss statement (P&L). The remaining value on the books is called the “book value.”

If the company stops using the equipment before its useful life ends, the remaining book value gets “written off”. This means a one-time expense is recorded in the P&L and result in a one time huge loss for the quarter.

Therefore it's more expensive to switch all the global production lines to Gigacastings when you have such fresh equipment. Making small changes to the front stamped underbody is a lot cheaper and faster than dumping a brand new production line.

3) Time

While Austin and Berlin had a secondary, or sub, Body in white (BIW) production line for the Front Gigacasting production line with structural battery pack, Fremont and Shanghai never had.

The Model Y is the best selling vehicle in the world, switching Fremont and especially Shanghai to a new BIW would have taken too much time and Tesla would have simply lost a lot more money by not being able to sell its products for a longer period of time.

Building the Model Y with front castings but without the structural battery pack would have required a lot more retooling and engineering as they’d have to adapt the Front Underbody Gigacasting to a body structure with a non-structural battery pack.

Changchun Faway Enters the Thixomolding Market

Changchun Faway (Faway) will establish a new project for lightweight automotive components, which will concentrate on the research, development and production of magnesium alloy products.

The project, with a total investment of 98.7 million yuan ($13.6 Million), aims to produce magnesium alloy auto parts weighing less than 10 kg, such as steering wheel frames, display brackets, dashboard supports, and triple-screen back panels.

The project will leverage magnesium Thixomolding technology, offering significant advantages in cost, quality, safety, and environmental impact compared to traditional die-casting methods.

With the entry in the magnesium thixomolding market, Faway hopes to enrich its product structure and strengthen its market competitiveness.

Rivian Shows Off its Megacastings

Rivian CEO, RJ Scaringe shared Rivian’s Megacastings for the New R2 on X. The company plans to start production of the R2, a compact electric SUV, in the first half of 2026 at its existing facility in Normal, Illinois. The Normal plant is expected to produce 155,000 R2 units annually after expansion, with deliveries beginning in early 2026.

For now, it doesn’t seem likely that the 3 Megacastings for the Rear Underbody use semi solid aluminum die casting technology despite Rivian is using award winning Rheocasting parts in its vans.

First TPI Magnesium Thixomolding Machine in Italy

The SuperPlast Thixotropic Piston Injection (TPI) Module is installed on a 900 t IDRA die casting machine and it's capable of 5kg shot weight of semi solid magnesium.

Unlike conventional thixomolding machines, the TPI module allows foundries to also produce aluminum products when needed.

In fact the TPI SuperPlast is mounted to the side of a conventional die casting machine to produce magnesium parts and It can be disconnected to go back to conventional aluminum die casting, allowing flexible production on a single machine.

UBE Machinery Delivered the First 6,600t Die Casting Machine to Ryobi in Japan

On September 14, 2023, UBE Machinery issued a press release saying that it had received an order from Ryobi for a 6,500t super-large die-casting machine. Ryobi Die Casting invested about 5 billion yen ($35.2 million at the time) to build a new die casting shop at its Kikugawa plant to accommodate the new 6,600t machine.

• Ube Machinery announced that it would start accepting orders for UB6500iV2 die-casting machines at the "Japan Die-casting Conference and Exhibition" held in November 2022.

UBE’s goal was to deliver the machine by the end of fiscal year 2024 and Ryobi intended to start Gigacasting production for customers by the end of March 2025.

BYD is increasing the use of magnesium in its vehicles, moving closer to China's goal of 45 kg by 2030. Swiss supplier, GF Casting Solution manufactures the magnesium CCB for the new Denza Z9.

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