The year-over-year U.S. inflation rate through February 2022 hit a 40-year high of 7.9%, eroding purchasing power especially for gas, food and rent.

France’s Obut has been producing steel balls weighing around 700 grams each for popular sport Pétanque since 1955. In an effort to improve production of boule balls at its headquarters in Saint-Bonnet-Le-Château, the company ordered a 1,300-ton forging press from Farina. The forging press replaces two lines with a press force of 600 and 800 tons respectively, which are becoming obsolete. The future line, which also includes a transfer and a furnace, will form a half shell every 2 seconds. The starting material for the boule balls, which have a diameter of just over 2.75 inches (7 cm), are steel rods cut into sections that a press first forms into discs and then into half shells. These are then welded together, machined and polished to a mirror finish.

Italian ring and bevel gear manufacturer Molla has been evaluating forging presses from Schuler's subsidiary Farina to produce its products for use in trucks and construction and agricultural machinery. Following successful preliminary acceptance, a 10,000-ton line will be on its way to the company’s facility in Solbiate Arno this summer. Molla currently operates a 6,000-ton press and a 1,000-ton press. The three machines form a forging cell for preforming, deburring and finish forging of rings. This cell will increase Molla’s production capacity in preparation for future market requirements. 

Here is a complete list of all the feature articles that appeared in the pages of FORGE magazine in 2021. The month each article appeared in is included. All articles are hyperlinked for your convenience.

Do you wonder which articles get the most attention on our website? Every year we publish around 25 feature articles, and at the end of the year we gather statistics to see which ones get the most page views. So, without further ado, here are the five most-viewed articles in 2021 on www.forgemag.com based on page views. This ranking applies only to articles published in 2021.

For three days in late October, Motown played host to 1,300 attendees and 129 exhibitors at Forge Fair 2021. It was not the largest show ever, but – after having been cancelled twice in 2020 – the enthusiasm by the show’s attendees in doing business person-to-person again was unbounded. The next Forge Fair will take place in Cleveland, Ohio, May 23-25, 2023.

FIA will hold Forge Fair 2021 on Oct. 26-28 in Detroit, Mich., at TFC Center (formerly Cobo Center). This article, geared to the novice and lightly experienced trade-show attendee, will give tips on how to make the most of your time on the exhibit floor and in the technical sessions.

Customers in the forging community often treat the procurement of forgings as they would a commodity product. This article discusses the pitfalls of selling forgings as a commodity and promotes the reasons to sell forgings on their value, not their price.

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.