Engineering group Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd. recently reported a 2018 order book worth £118 million ($156 million), which it indicated is its highest since it recorded £117 million ($155 million) in 2012. The U.K. steelmaker and open-die forging operation has accumulated multiple contracts for major global engineering projects, in particular for U.K. and U.S. defense programs, civil nuclear power projects, and material processing programs.
“We are very pleased to report that our order book has breached the £100-million mark for the first time in five years,” according to CEO Dr. Graham Honeyman, CBE.
The company explained that its policy of heavy investment in technology and skills training make it a global competitor for large-scale engineered components orders, including safety-critical parts.
“This announcement follows a prolonged period of market austerity across all of our market sectors after the global recession started to take effect, which was further compounded by the collapse of oil and gas markets which closed off a key revenue stream almost overnight,” according to Honeyman.
“It is important to recognize that our customers see the high integrity of our products and our ability to create engineering solutions as invaluable against increasing competition from other, less experienced manufacturers and aggressive tiger economies,” he added.
