Thyssenkrupp will build an advanced forging line at its Homburg site in Germany’s Saarland region. The company will invest approximately $90 million in a new 12,000-square-meter facility to produce forged front axles for trucks. The centerpiece of the highly automated and digitized forging line will be a 16,000-ton forging press measuring 32.8 feet (10 meters) high and weighing 1,700 tons. According to thyssenkrupp, the press will produce 360,000 forged components per year and will not be restricted to one product. In addition to front axle systems, the line will be able to produce crankshafts and other forged parts as required.

Without the ability to forge steel and other metals over the past century and a half, industry would have lacked the parts needed to manufacture cars, build aircraft, drill for oil, mine for minerals or lay down rail tracks.

ParkOhio completed the previously announced acquisition of Erie Press Systems (formally EFCO Inc.) of Erie, Pa. Erie Press manufactures advanced forging presses, hydraulic and mechanical presses, and metal stretch-forming and carbon extrusion machines for end markets including aerospace and defense, primary metals and high-speed rail.

Forgital, a producer of large forged and machined components for the aerospace and other industries, will be acquired by global investment firm The Carlyle Group. The transaction values Forgital at approximately $1.1 billion and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2019. Established in 1873 with headquarters in Vicenza, Italy, Forgital is a specialist in the manufacture of machine-finished forged and laminated rolled rings made from different materials, including steel, aluminum, titanium and nickel-based alloys. In addition to aerospace applications, Forgital also serves the oil-and-gas, construction, mining and power-generation industries. The company employs over 1,100 people across nine facilities in Italy, France and the United States and through its global salesforce.

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.

Surprise! Today your boss instructed you to attend Forge Fair 2019 this coming May in Cleveland, Ohio!

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. 

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.

SMS group received an order from Dongfeng Forging Co., part of commercial vehicle manufacturer Dongfeng Motor Group, for the supply of an eccentric forging press with a forging force of 5,000 tons for its plant in Shiyan, Hubei Province, China. Dongfeng Forging, which operates a total of 26 forging lines at this site, intends to use the new forging press to manufacture light-truck crankshafts with a maximum finished part weight of 47 pounds (21.5 kg). The closed-die press will forge parts fully automatically with a nominal forging force of 50 MN.

The forging industry will meet in Cleveland for the third consecutive time at Forge Fair 2019. The new Huntington Convention Center will host the biennial event May 21-23, 2019.