B.F.M.- Bari Fonderie Meridionali S.p.A.

Bari Fonderie Meridionali was born in 1961 under the name of Breda Fucine Meridionali S.p.A. with the aim of furthering the industrial development of the South of Italy.   

Bari Fonderie Meridionali is now the largest foundry working in Southern Italy and the most important producer in Italy of permanent railway superstructures materials,particularly crossing in cast manganese steel.

The plant is situated in the industrial area of Bari and covers an area of over 130.000 square meters.

Design Research & Development

The experience acquired by the companies in the Group has enabled Bari Fonderie Meridionali to reach a high standard technology for foundry casting in a relatively short time.

There is a constant exchange of information and experience between the technical department and various railways companies, and with The Italian State Railways in particular. The development of continuous innovation such as the movable point crossing for high speed lines is the result of this exchange.mThe Research and Development Group working alongside the technical department has the full support from other departments providing the required services.

Its main concern is to improve the company’s know-how employing highly qualified staff  backed upby the most advanced computer-aided design systems. An important result of this work is the patent obtained by the company for welding cast manganese steel crossing with rail crops.

Quality Assurance

Bari Fonderie Meridionali works under a Quality Assurance System . This system was originally set for the  manufacture of nuclear power plant components and approved by the American Society of Mechanical  Engineers (ASME) after strict surveys. This Quality Assurance System is today recognized and approved by I.G.Q. and by the most important  national and foreign  companies  ,including the Italian State Railways. Testing is carried out in accordance with international standards such as ASTM , DIN, ANFOR, UNI or following special procedures required by the customer.

The chemical and metallurgical laboratories as well as the laboratories for mechanical and non-destructive tests (RT,UT,MT,LP) are equipped   with the most advanced measuring instruments which are regularly calibrated. The computerized measuring centres   for  the   dimensional  control,as well as the radiographic laboratory   with  its   linear accelerator for RX controls on steel wall thickness of up to 450mm (among the most powerful in Italy), are clear indications of the Quality Control Department's high level testing equipments.

Production Departments

Foundry

Hand moulding line: for low carbon  ,middle high alloy steel with unit weight up to 15 tons.

Mechanical flaskless moulding line : for high quality castings up to 250 Kg unit weight. The line flexibility allows to produce, with the same pattern , a few pieces as well as large quantities.

Steel plant: it is equipped with three electric arc fournaces having a nominal capacity of 5,8 and 12 tons respectively, and a brand new refining system (converter 12 tons nominal capacity)allowing us to produce also low carbon steels (C% below 0.03).

Heat treatment dept.:  six ovens (2 electric and 4 natural gas heated) are installed , all equipped with automatic devices for the continous temperature-time control.

Machining

It is equipped with a wide range of machinery both traditional and N.C. working centers.

Products

Railway equipment

Manganese cast steel crossing for railway switches, direct or indirect connection type, conforming to U.I.C (rail 49-50-54-60) and A.R.E.A. standards;  weldable monobloc crossing made up by a central bloc in manganese steel where crops of rails are welded by using the flash butt-welding system.

Mobile point crossing, this new generation of crossing is an electromechanical mechanism which no longer retains the   characteristics of fixed components of the classic cast manganese steel crossing but  retains its fundamental quality of good performances under eavy wear.Two years of design and experiments have been necessary before coming to the constructive plan of the mobile point crossing.

Various hand moulded castings

• Locomotors parts as engine frames, girders , commutators , wheels.
• Valve bodies , pump and turbine casing for petrolchemical and power generation applications.
• Components for rolling mills , presses , crushers and other industrial machines.

Various mechanical moulded castings

• Permanent railway superstructure components.
• Sprokets, front idlers wheels and other crawler components.
• Axle guides, buffers and other components for railway carriages.
• Hammers, plates and other components for concrete industry..