New State of the Art 90MN Press for North American Forgemasters

Ellwood Group Inc. and Scot Forge are expanding the capabilities of North American Forgemasters (NAF) in New Castle, PA, marking the second chapter in the 50-50 joint venture partnership between the two companies. NAF was established by the two partners in 1997 when together they built a 4,500 ton open die forging press.

The thirty year relationship continues to grow and, building on the success of the 1997 joint venture, the partners are investing over $80 million to add a state-of-the-art open die press facility at its New Castle location to meet their customers’ needs for larger forgings. Danieli Breda has been contracted to build a 90 MN (10,100 ton) press for NAF. This press will have the greatest tonnage, the greatest daylight, the largest opening, and be the fastest acting large open die press in North America. It will be serviced by both a 200 ton rail bound and 100 ton mobile manipulator; each the largest in North America, as well as three additional forging furnaces. Installation of the new press will take place alongside the NAF facility which is adjacent to the primary material supplier, Ellwood Quality Steels. The new facility which will also have a 190 ton overhead crane, has been designed to process ingots up to 165 tons.

With the installation of this press, NAF will provide its customers with a stand-alone operation, quality system, and dedicated sales team. The target markets will include subsea oil and gas, power generation, including the evolving nuclear small modular reactor market.

The new facility will be complete and the press will be assembled in the 4th quarter of 2014, and production will start in Q1 2015.