SIFCO Industries Buys Quality Aluminum Forge

Cleveland-based SIFCO Industries Inc. is buying GEL industries Inc., an aerospace forger that operates as Quality Aluminum Forge at plants in Orange and Long Beach, CA. QAF produces precision forged and machined aerospace components for commercial and military aircraft markets, on nine hydraulic presses ranging in capabilities from 500 to 2,500 tons.

“This is SIFCO's second major addition within the past 12 months and has again added an immediately accretive business to the core of our strategic focus,” CEO Michael S. Lipscomb stated. “QAF will enhance our near-term financial performance and will also add aluminum forging and machining capability to SIFCO's broad offerings in the commercial aerospace and energy markets.”

Last December SIFCO bought T&W Forge Inc., Alliance, OH. In neither case has the value of the acquisition been made public. SIFCO said that GEL’s management and workforce would remain largely unchanged under its ownership.

Lipscomb pointed to a new, 5,000-ton forging press at SIFCO Forge in Cleveland, which he said would be used to produce aluminum forgings in larger dimensions than QAF has been capable of manufacturing. SIFCO emphasized that the purchase increases the “commercial content in its revenue base.”

QAF has customers in both the OEM and aftermarket segments of the aerospace industry. In addition to forging, QAF has die-sinking, machining, heat-treating and aging, assembly and honing, and inspection and NADCAP-accredited quality-assurance capabilities.

SIFCO’s forging operations include a closed-die press for forging up to 40,000 lb; hydraulic presses up to 2,500 tons; a precision hydraulic screw press; a mechanical upsetter; and a 5,000-lb open-frame hammer. Forged products are offered in carbon, alloy, and stainless steels, aluminum, titanium, and cobalt, copper, and nickel alloys.

The T&W Forge operation produces components weighing less than 500 lb. in multiple alloys for various brands and sizes of industrial gas turbine engines.

SIFCO Industries also has heat-treating, coating, welding, machining, and electrochemical finishing capabilities.