Bharat Forge and AREVA sign MoU for manufacture of heavy forgings in India

Feb. 6, 2009
New plant to have a 14,000-ton open die forging press.

Bharat Forge Ltd., based in Pune, India, and reportedly the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive forgings, and the French company, AREVA, a world leader in nuclear power, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a joint venture (JV) to build a manufacturing facility for heavy forgings in India.

Bharat Forge is a global forging company with manufacturing facilities in USA, Europe, and China, as well as India. It produces a wide range of closed die and heavy open die forgings.

AREVA is engaged in design, manufacture and supply of nuclear power plants, components, and fuel to customers on a global basis.

Production of non-automotive forgings is a major growth area for Bharat Forge. In order to meet the strong energy needs in India and given the exciting opportunities emerging in the country’s nuclear power sector, Bharat Forge and AREVA are partnering in the JV.

Availability of heavy forgings is a major constraint for global manufacturers of equipment in the energy sector. The JV would improve the supply of heavy forgings, especially stainless steel forgings.

Heavy forgings manufactured by the JV would primarily meet domestic requirements in the power generation sector, including manufacture of turbines, and generator rotors, as well as steel mill rolls and other products, and also of new nuclear power plants in India.

Bharat Forge and AREVA are presently evaluating various locations for the new facility. The plant is expected to become operational by 2012. The JV will have a state-of-the-art 14,000-ton open die forging press with associated equipment and an integrated steel making facility.

In November, Bharat Forge announced that it intended to set up a joint venture in India for power plant equipment manufacturing with Alstom. The new company will manage the whole process from engineering and manufacturing to selling and commissioning state-of-the-art 600 MW to 800 MW supercritical turbine island power plant equipment in India. Alstom claims to have supplied more than 25% of the world's installed power generation capacity.

In August last year, Bharat Forge commissioned India’s largest commercial open die forging press at its Mundhwa facility in Pune. The 4,000-ton press can produce open die forgings weighing up to 70 tons