Ellwood Closed Die Group reported it completed and commissioned a new manufacturing line at its Navasota, TX, forging complex. The core element of the new installation is a 16,000-ton screw press, with a trim press, rotary forge; robotic manipulators, and various other auxiliary equipment.
ECDG, headquartered in Houston, has forging operations there and in Navasota plant, which Ellwood Group Inc. purchased from Interstate Forge Southwest in 2008.
Ellwood Texas Forge Navasota forms steel and nickel- or titanium alloy ingots into products up to 120 in. long, and weighing up to 8,500 lb. Products include wheels, crankshafts, and other critical, large-scale complex forgings for aerospace, construction, and oil-and-gas markets.
In 2010, the group installed a new counterblow hammer there as the centerpiece of a $60-million, 27,500-sq.ft. expansion, which also included a 5,500-ton pre-forming press, a 3,000-ton trim press, two robotic manipulators for billets and forgings, and overhead cranes.
The new expansion is located in a 38,000-sq.ft. building with two 50-t overhead cranes. The new screw press is supported by a two-hammer rotary forge with 7-in. capacity; a 1,800-ton trim press; electric atmosphere controlled and ambient air gas-fired furnaces; and robotic material moving equipment. The maximum billet weight is 1,250 lb., with a cycle rate of less than one minute.
“This combination of equipment and capability results in a state of the art complex with the capability to forge up to 15,000 pounds of steel per hour,” according to ECDG’s announcement.
The Ellwood Group Inc., headquartered in Ellwood City, PA, produces closed-die forgings for aerospace, construction, defense, oil-and-gas, power generation, heavy truck, and industrial markets.
