Forge Fair 2019, which begins today in Cleveland, is North America’s largest event dedicated exclusively to the forging industry. More than 1,650 forging professionals will be in attendance to learn about new products, make purchasing decisions and network with each other in a unique event platform that offers forgers and their suppliers the opportunity to connect with each other. From material selection to the shipment of finished parts, Forge Fair 2019 will showcase innovations in heating, tooling, equipment, testing, automation, conservation of resources, process and plant improvements, and technology for all types of forging operations. Please take a minute and stop booth #233 and visit FORGE.

JSW Steel plans invest approximately $1 billion to ramp up the production capacity at its Vijayanagar plant in Karnataka, India, to 18 million metric tons per year from the current 12 million metric tons per year. A current expansion project, which will raise production at the plant from 12 to 13 million metric tons per year, includes the revamp and capacity upgrade of blast furnace-3 to improve hot metal availability. The company will also modify and enhance the capacity of its melt shop, its flat and long products mills and allied facilities to utilize the additional hot metal output. This project will be complete by March 2020.

ArcelorMittal received European Commission (EC) approval for the sale of several steelmaking assets to Liberty House Group. Assets included within the divestment package are ArcelorMittal Ostrava (Czech Republic), ArcelorMittal Galati (Romania), ArcelorMittal Skopje (Macedonia), ArcelorMittal Piombino (Italy), ArcelorMittal Dudelange (Luxembourg) and several finishing lines at ArcelorMittal Liège (Belgium). According to Liberty House, the acquisition will make the company Europe’s third-largest steel producer. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first half of 2019.

SMS group received the final acceptance certificate from Japan’s Hitachi Metals following the successful commissioning of its open-die forging press. This is the largest four-column open-die forging press in push-down design that SMS group has built in the last 25 years. The press, which operates with a forging force of up to 90 MN and an upsetting force of 108 MN, forges flat and round bars from ingots at a maximum starting material weight of 30 tons. Hitachi Metals intends to use it to process titanium alloys, tool steels, high-speed steels and nickel-based alloys.

Hydro will upgrade casting operations at its Husnes (Norway) facility with new technology to produce more advanced products for the growing automotive aluminum forging market. Newly developed in-house casting technology, low-pressure casting (LPC), will enable Hydro to provide materials with enhanced properties for various extrusion markets in which it is already a major material supplier. After the upgrade, Hydro Husnes will also be able to offer materials for forging. The Hydro-developed technology enables a shift from traditional extruded forge stock to cast forge stock, eliminating costly steps in the production process while improving quality. The as-cast surface is ready for forging, and homogenizing is not required. The upgraded facility will commence operations in 2020.

Big River Steel (BRS) commissioned SMS group with the expansion of its steel plant in Osceola, Ark. SMS group will supply BRS with mechanical equipment and electrical and automation systems. The expansion will increase the plant’s annual output to approximately 3 million tons of steel. After completion, the facility will have two electric-arc furnaces (EAFs) and two twin-ladle furnaces. Installation of an additional gas cleaning system will ensure compliance with environmental regulations.

Porsche and Schuler have chosen Halle an der Saale, Germany, as the location for their new joint press shop. The 13-hectare site is in the vicinity of Porsche’s Leipzig plant. The sports-car manufacturer and the forming specialist from Göppingen want to drive the flexibility and digitalization of body-part manufacturing. Their joint venture, Smart Press Shop GmbH & Co. KG, will invest approximately $112 million in this project, which is expected to create 100 permanent jobs. Construction is due to commence in the second half of 2019, and production at the new press shop is scheduled to begin in 2021. 

OSR Inc., a manufacturer of automotive fasteners, plans to increase its manufacturing production in Columbus, Ind. The company, a joint venture between Japan’s Owari Precise Products Co. and Columbus-based Rightway Fasteners Inc., will invest $7 million to construct and equip a new 82,395-square-foot manufacturing facility. OSR plans to add up to 12 new positions and is hiring immediately for positions in heat treatment and IT. Production is scheduled to increase at the beginning of 2020. OSR, which currently has 29 employees, specializes in M4 to M9 cold-forged fasteners, primarily for Toyota.

SMS group received a contract from Chinese steel and forging company Daye Special Steel Co. Ltd. for the engineering and delivery of a high-speed hydraulic open-die forging press. The press operates with a forging force of up to 50 MN and an upsetting force of 60 MN. Daye Special Steel opted for the stable, four-column push-down press with moving crosshead. The high forging frequency of the press enables sophisticated materials requiring a narrow temperature range to be forged and reduces machining times.

China’s Shandong Iraeta Heavy Industry Co. recently rolled off a huge seamless stainless steel forged ring, which it claims is the world’s largest. The ring, which weighs 150 tons and measures 51 feet (15.6 meters) in diameter, was manufactured as the key part of a nuclear power unit. The product was developed by the Institute of Metal Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and ordered by the China National Nuclear Corporation. It is expected to play the supporting function in a nuclear reactor vessel to withstand pressure of up to 7,000 tons. The giant steel structure was produced by welding segmented sections into an assembly.