SFIL places £6m order

Sheffield Forgemasters International (SFIL) has placed a £6m order for a brand new hydraulic forging press to meet global demand for its forged steel products. The press will be made by Huntbud Engineering in South Korea.

The 4,000 tonne press is due to be operational in Autumn 2008 and will complement the company’s 2,500 and 10,000 tonne presses enabling the South Yorkshire engineering firm to fulfil its largest ever order book.

‘The new press is a landmark development for us and will make a significant change to our current forging output,’ said Graham Honeyman, chief executive at SFIL. ‘Our other two presses are working at full capacity to feed demand and as the new equipment will fit production runs for medium sized forgings, it will take a substantial load off of both existing presses.

‘This will enable us to use the 2,500 tonne press, which has stood the test of time since it was originally installed in 1897, for smaller pieces and the 10,000 tonne press for larger forgings. This is increasingly important as we are now forging the largest ingots ever produced in the UK at 300 tonnes each.’