Italian company San Grato produces numerous forged parts for cars, motorcycles, industrial and commercial vehicles, and agricultural machines. Many of them are made on seven Farina presses with press forces between 1,000 and 5,000 tons at the company’s sites in San Carlo Canavese (Torino) and Malonno in the province of Brescia. San Grato recently ordered its eighth press from Schuler affiliate Farina. The 2,500-ton machine features a kinetic energy recovering system (KERS), which reduces the power demand by 40%. San Grato already covers two-thirds of its energy cost through its hydroelectric power station located close to Torino and a photovoltaic system installed on the roof of both plants. The Farina press also offers increased output and reduced maintenance costs.

Hirschvogel Automotive Components (Pinghu) Co. Ltd., a manufacturer of automotive parts and components in China, contracted Germany’s SMS group to supply a fully automated closed-die forging press. The press will forge aluminum chassis components with high dimensional accuracy at a short cycle time at the company’s Pinghu location near Shanghai. The new line will have a force of 3,150 tons, and it will be the third unit from SMS at this site. Commissioning is scheduled for the second quarter of 2022.

Otto Fuchs KG ordered a crank forging press with ServoDirect technology from Schuler for its Shenyang, China, location. The automotive supplier will use the machine, which has a press force of 3,150 tons, to produce more aluminum chassis components for customers in China. In crank forging presses with ServoDirect technology, several torque motors operate on a main shaft via a step-down gear unit. They are suitable both for wear-free single-stroke operation and for forging in continuous operation.

Nissan unveiled a $1.37 billion investment plan to create an EV hub, Nissan EV36Zero, in Sunderland. The project has three prongs: electric-vehicle manufacturing (including a new-generation, all-electric vehicle), renewables generation and battery production. Envision AESC, a battery technology company, is partnering with the automaker. Envision AESC, which already owns and operates Europe’s first battery plant in Sunderland, will build the U.K.’s first gigafactory on the International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) adjacent to the Nissan plant.

The University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), part of the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, is opening an office in Sheffield, United Kingdom, to provide local forging and forming houses with easy access to support from the research center located near Glasgow Airport in Scotland. Supported by Sheffield City Council and operating out of an office on the Olympic Legacy Park, the AFRC’s new base will effectively bring the research lab directly to the manufacturers. The office will help South Yorkshire companies tap into leading metallurgy capabilities, numerical and analytical process modeling tools, and some of the most advanced industry-scale forging and forming equipment in the world over 260 miles away in Scotland.

Mosdorfer GmbH, a manufacturer of fittings for high-voltage overhead lines, ordered two screw presses and five C-frame presses from Schuler. According to Schuler, its screw presses with ServoDirect technology are the ideal solution for Mosdorfer’s new forge in Weiz, Austria. The press models have 2,100 and 1,100 tons of press force. Thanks to the servo motors, the screw presses have a lower design and offer improved drive controllability and higher starting torques with shortened stroke cycle times. The closed water-cooling circuit for the servo motors results in optimized temperature stability of the drive system independent of operational air conditions.

The U.K.’s Sheffield Forgemasters is being acquired by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to support a substantial recapitalization of the company’s defense-critical plant and equipment over the next 10 years. The investment will secure Sheffield Forgemasters’ role as a critical supplier to the next generation of U.K. defense programs while continuing its independent commercial activities, serving markets such as civil nuclear, oil and gas, power generation, renewables and steel processing.

ArcelorMittal will invest approximately $1.2 billion in decarbonization technologies at its Asturias plant in Gijón, Spain. The project will reduce CO₂ emissions at the company’s Spanish operations by up to 4.8 million metric tons, which represents approximately 50% of emissions, within the next five years. At the heart of the plan is a 2.3 million-metric-ton green-hydrogen direct reduced iron (DRI) unit, complemented by a 1.1 million-metric-ton hybrid electric-arc furnace (EAF). This starts the transition of the Gijón plant away from the blast-furnace and basic-oxygen-furnace steelmaking production route to the DRI-EAF production route, which carries a significantly lower carbon footprint. The new DRI, which ArcelorMittal says will be the first of its kind in Spain, and EAF will be in production before the end of 2025. 

Rio Tinto started operations at a new commercial-scale demonstration plant to produce high-quality scandium oxide at its Rio Tinto Fer et Titane (RTFT) metallurgical complex in Sorel-Tracy, Quebec. Six employees have been hired to operate the plant, which uses a process developed by RTFT to extract high-purity scandium oxide from the waste streams of titanium dioxide production without the need for any additional mining. According to Rio Tinto, customers will benefit from a North American supply of scandium oxide as an additive to produce high-performance alloys. Commissioning work has started as production ramps up to a capacity of 3 metric tons of scandium oxide per year.

United States Steel Corp. executed a non-exclusive memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Equinor US Holdings Inc., an affiliate of Norway-based Equinor ASA. Under the MOU, the companies will study the potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS) and hydrogen development in the tristate region of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Hydrogen-based steel processes and CCS are among the more promising and sustainable technologies currently being developed.