Forgemasters sees 290-tonne castings head for South America

TWO giant castings weighing a total of nearly 600 tonnes have begun a 4,000-mile journey from Sheffield Forgemasters International to Venezuela.

They are two of the largest ever produced by the 200-year-old steelworks and are 13m long, 4.7m wide and 2m high, weighting 290 tonnes each.

The castings will create a large-scale mill housing roll plate steel for German company SMS Siemag, part of the SMS group, a global giant in plant construction and mechanical engineering.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Graham Honeyman, chief executive of Forgemasters, said the contract was an extension of a relationship with SMS lasting more than 30 years.

He added: “We are proud that we are the only European foundry able to cast products of this scale.

“To cast components of this complexity takes an enormous amount of preparation and innovation.

“The sheer size alone highlights the excellent skills and vision of our engineers.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The castings were sent from Forgemasters’ Brightside Lane site, accompanied by a police escort, on a heavy loader to Grimsby port. When they arrive in Venezuela they will have finishing work carried out on them.

Forgemasters is currently making the first pair of rolls which will fit inside the structure, weighing 130 tonnes each, and production of the next set is expected to begin in April next year.

The production of the rolling mill house is part of a number of castings the firm has produced for SMS, which includes a 325-tonne casting for the foundation platen for the Kisco closed-die press in South Korea, valued at more than £1m.

Forgemasters works in industries such as defence, nuclear, oil and gas exploration, power generation, marine and construc- tion.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It maintained profit levels for the year to June 2010 despite the global slump in the demand for steel which pulled down turnover by more than a tenth.

The Yorkshire Post previously revealed that turnover for Sheffield Forgemasters International, parent company for six subsidiaries, dropped to £104.8m from £117.3m but pre-tax profit rose to £6.5m, up from £6.4m, for the 12 months to June 30.

Related topics: