In Brief

First show car in China

The third show car from GF Casting Solutions is now 4.60 meters long, 1.80 meters wide and 1.50 meters high.

On the occasion of the Culture Day 2022 in China, GF Casting Solutions has presented its first show car for China at the Suzhou and Kunshan sites at the end of 2022. It is the 3rd of its kind from GF Casting Solutions worldwide. There is no better way to demonstrate the diversity of the lightweight solutions from GF for the global automotive industry – from body, structural and e-mobility solutions to powertrain parts and chassis components. The custom-made car shows where each component sits. The battery-powered electric car was designed and built in Suzhou. Weighing 500 kilograms, the car consists of 52 individual die-cast and iron cast parts. The installation includes products that GF produces for customers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz or booming Chinese e-mobility start-ups such as Xiaopeng. The show car will be used for customer events, training courses and corporate events and will certainly be a highlight at the official opening ceremony of Shenyang site at the end of April 2023.

More pictures?

You want to see more of the showcar? Click here for some impressions of the Culture Days in Suzhou (China).

Happy Birthday Culture Movement!

GF celebrated the first anniversary of the Culture Movement with two virtual sessions gathering around 4’250 employees from all over the world. The Executive Committee and some Change Agents (photo) shared their experiences of living the GF values for a year. Big screens were set up at many production sites.

Team spirit at community watch party in Brazil

The soccer teams playing in the World Cup were not the only ones showing team spirit. It was also evident among employees of GF Piping Systems. Viewers at the Cajamar site near São Paulo (Brazil) enjoyed live action on the large screen at the community watch party, cheering the Brazilian team when it played against Switzerland.

Together against waste

A mandatory exercise for apprentices at the GF Piping Systems site in Sissach becomes a durable learning success.

GF Piping Systems is teaching its apprentices about the issues caused by littering through its “No time to WASTE” project. It used to be that the apprentices did not enjoy collecting the trash that accumulated at the Sissach (Switzerland) site. The project, run by strategic quality management & sustainability and the management of vocational training at the site, is successfully raising awareness. A course was developed to introduce the 30 or so trainees to the topic, in which they learned about waste disposal at GF, and that included a tour of a bulk foods store. One integral part of the annual program is cleanup work on the grounds. The apprentices work as a team, are open to new ideas and take their findings back to their everyday lives – all in keeping with the GF values.

Award-winning GF image film

The GF image film has been viewed around the world and has won several awards in the meantime. The film was shortlisted in the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards. At the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards, it received the Silver Dolphin ( second place). And the highlight came when the film was honored with first place at the German Business Film Award in Berlin. Now the film will be used to woo potential employees. GF will launch a campaign around the image film “Going Forward” at Zurich Airport in Switzerland from July to November 2023. The aim is to highlight the image of GF as an attractive, modern employer to a more international audience.

Curious now?

Do you want to watch “Going Forward,” GF’s award-winning image film? Click here for the video.

Marketplace for sustainability

Noah Christen (left) and David Schelker, both apprentices at GF Machining Solutions, have established an online marketplace for sustainable material procurement to ensure discarded materials can be reused. It offers employees an exchange platform where they can find a new home for items lying around the office or at home, such as unused keyboards. The web portal, developed as a Kickbox project, is now being tested at the headquarters of GF Machining Solutions in Biel (Switzerland). It is likely to be rolled out across GF.

We@GF soon available for everyone

The new intranet We@GF was launched at the end of 2022 for GF employees who could access the previous SharePoint intranet. The second project phase is currently under way. All employees, including those from production and logistics, will gradually be given access during this phase. The intranet is intended to connect all employees – regardless of division and location – and to facilitate exchange among employees worldwide. It is user friendly and features a smartphone app offering 24/7 access from anywhere, even for employees without a computer.

The app for We@GF

Download it on your smartphone