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.

Automation within forges and heat-treating facilities often consists of individually controlled processes for individual pieces of equipment, such as furnace heating or press operation cycles. Individual processes can be controlled at a Level I protocol. Full cell automation consolidates these automated steps and implements a central Level II control system, which is designed using a combination of Windows services and model-view-controller (MVC) architecture.

In today’s rapidly changing environment, finding the right marketing message and taking the correct actions can be challenging. As a result of the pandemic, the world looks much different than it did at the beginning of 2020. Manufacturers are trying to mitigate COVID-19’s economic fallout, ensure employee and workplace safety and keep supply chains moving.

ABB signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Hitachi Construction Machinery to share their expertise and collaborate in bringing solutions to market that will reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with heavy machinery in mining. The companies will explore possibilities to apply ABB’s electrification, automation and digital solutions to mining trucks and excavators provided by Hitachi Construction Machinery as part of wider efforts with mine operators to electrify all processes from pit to port.

This is a complete list of all the feature articles that appeared in FORGE, by month, in 2020. All articles are hyperlinked for your convenience.

Additive manufacturing (AM) has rapidly evolved since its inception, and investment in AM technology has flourished in both the public and private sectors. This article, the first of two parts, evaluates predictions made in FORGE in 2012 and illustrates some appropriate applications that could affect (or already have affected) forging processes and markets.

If you’re at all like me, 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 on www.forgemag.com based on page views. This ranking applies only to articles published in 2020.

With the advent of Industry 4.0 in manufacturing, the forging industry is faced with yet another challenge: talent management. We’ve all been there.

The Forging Industry Association (FIA) announced that Forge Fair 2021, North America’s largest forging industry trade show, will be rescheduled to October 26-28, 2021. It was originally scheduled for May 18-20, 2021. The general logistics, schedule and location of Forge Fair 2021 will remain the same. The three-day trade show will take place at the TCF Center in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center is the host hotel and will provide discounted room rates to Forge Fair attendees.

When it comes to forging research, it turns out that size really does matter. The bigger the press, the lower the chance of using it for experimentation and the higher the costs associated with the research.