Long Beach, Calif., is perhaps best known as the retirement home of the legendary cruise ship Queen Mary, which is permanently moored there and is currently an operating hotel and museum. But on Sept. 11-12, Long Beach hosted some of the forging industry’s best and brightest technical people, industry professionals, suppliers and educators at what was FIERF’s 32^nd Technical Conference.

Steel is an amazing material when you consider its versatility. Steel can achieve the needed characteristics for a vast array of end products; it is relatively low cost compared to many other materials; it is endlessly recyclable without loss of property; and it can be mass produced, with annual global production of over 1.5 billion tons.

If there is one machine on your manufacturing floor that isn’t getting the attention it deserves, it’s most likely your bandsaw. For many forging houses, it is a bottleneck at worst and ignored at best.

The international ISO 50001 standard puts forth ambitious goals to reduce CO₂ emissions and increase the generation of electricity from renewable energy sources. Energy-intensive manufacturing industries, such as forging, can reduce electricity costs and improve their competitive position through ISO 50001 certification.

The durable nature of forging machinery, coupled with budgetary considerations, spawns a viable market for used equipment.

Since steels are so widely used, two articles will be devoted to this class of materials. This article will discuss the chemistry, typical applications and some operational forging issues.

Open-die forgers use computer simulations to maximize their material yield, design dies, establish process procedures and more.

The Timken Company recently invested $35 million in a new in-line forging press to improve its products.