Final revised figures released by the Forging Industry Association show 2010 sales of metal forgings produced by independent (custom) forging plants in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico have improved in two of the three categories.
Domestic custom forging shipments in 2010 totaled more than $8 billion, based on data collected from its member companies. The figures do not include forgings produced by captive manufacturing operations, nor do they include cold forging production.
The highest-value segment of the custom forging market is impression-die forging, with total 2010 shipments increasing 11% over 2009, to $5,287,811,000 from ($4,782,405,000.) FIA reported that 2010 orders for custom impression-die forgings rose 42% to $5,805,934,000 from $4,091,747,000.
Shipments of custom open-die forgings increased 7% to $1,65,606,000 in 2010, from $1,568,296,000 in 2009. Bookings for open-die forgings also rose last year, up 37% to $1,777,831,000 from $1,299,885,000 in 2009.
Shipments of custom-forged seamless rolled rings dropped 3% to $1,258,416,000 in 2010, from $1,298,151,000 in 2009. Bookings of seamless rolled rings rose 33%, however, to $1,331,309,000 from $999,946,000 in 2009.
FIA, FIERF Elect Directors, Officers
The Forging Industry Association and the Forging Industry Educational and Research Foundation elected directors and officers at their annual meeting earlier this spring. The newly elected officials will serve three-year terms.
The FIA chose Michael Kamnikar of Ellwood Group Inc. as its president, and Dennis Potter of Impact Forge Group as its vice president. Arnold Visser of IMT and Ronald Wallis of Wyman-Gordon Forgings were named to the FIA Executive Committee, to serve with Kamnikar and Potter. The four new directors of the FIA’s Board of Directors are Cesar Garza (Pat Crow Forgings), Charles Crout (Ajax-CECO), Simon Ormerod (Ajax Rolled Ring & Machine), and Matthias Praus (Metform LLC).
FIERF elected as its president Brad Ahbe of Canton Drop Forge, and as its vice president James Woidke of SIFCO Industries. Douglass Brown of Inductoheat and Jeffrey Jones of Girard Engineering Inc. were named to the foundation’s Executive Committee, serving with Ahbe and Woidke. Elected to the FIERF Board of Trustees are: Tim Gudszend (Rotok Inc.), Darryl Hammock (Weld Mold Co.), Markus Knoerr (HHI), and Jack Simmons (Electralloy).
A detailed summary of the 2011 FIA Annual Meeting is presented online at www.forging.org
FIERF’s 2011-12 Research Projects
The FIERF Board approved a series of research projects to be pursued during the coming academic year, and scheduled to be completed by August 2012.
- Marquette Univ. “Heat Loss Study on Ring Rolling and Evaluation of Heat Amounts Required for Near Isothermal Rolling.”
- Univ. Of Michigan. “Advanced Tonnage Signal Analysis for Forging Process Monitoring and Quality Improvement” (a fouryear project.)
- Colorado School of Mines. “Hot Deformation and Recrystallization Behavior of Ni-Base Superalloys.”
- Case Western Reserve Univ. “Development of Coatings and Procedures for Reducing Decarburization during Preheat of Forging Billets.”
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “Effect of Carbide Formers on Steel Decarburization.”
- Wright State Univ. “Economic Ways to Create UFG Bulk Materials for Forgers.”
- Univ. of Pittsburgh (co-sponsored by Ellwood Group Inc.) “Effects of Aluminum Nitride Precipitation on Hot Ductility of Steels.”
- Illinois Institute of Technology (co-sponsored by A. Finkl & Sons.) “Experimental and Finite Element Investigation of Defect Closure in Large Forgings.”
A summary of ongoing FIERF research can be viewed online at www.forging.org/pdf/Tech_Proj.pdf, and the current project plan is available from FIA Technical Director Carola Sekreter. Contact her at 216-781-6260, or [email protected]