Schuler AG has detailed the 16,000-mt closed die press that its Farina subsidiary is designing for installation at thyssenkrupp Forged Technologies’ operation in Homburg, Germany, "describing it as one of the world's largest mechanical systems of its kind." thyssenkrupp recently announced the €80-million (est. $89.7 million) capital investment project, noting it has long-term contracts from commercial vehicle manufacturers for the front axles and crankshafts to be manufactured there.
Construction for the new forging line will start early next year, with a roughly 12,000-sq.m. plant to be built at Homburg. Production on the 1,700-mt, 10-m-high press will begin in 2021.
Farina, which Schuler acquired in 2018, previously supplied thyssenkrupp with a 4,000-mt forging press from its GLF series, though the new design will be four times more powerful.
Schuler will produce the new press at its manufacturing operation in Erfurt, Germany.
“The main press of the new forging line will be the world’s first eccentric press of this size, capacity and output to go into operation,” stated Dr. Franz Eckl, COO of the thyssenkrupp Forged Technologies business unit. “It will produce around 360,000 forged components per year.”
Eccentric forging presses deliver force that is derived from a circular motor device, with a mechanism that converts the motor’s circular motion into a linear stroke. Some of the advantages of the process are longitudinal rigidity and minimal ram tilting, contributing to high forging precision, and fast stroke rates that correlate to high productivity.
The thyssenkrupp Forged Technologies business was established in 2017 by consolidating the former Forging & Machining and Undercarriages businesses. It produces various component parts for automotive, construction machinery and general engineering applications, and operates 50 closed-die presses at 17 sites worldwide.
thyssenkrupp’s forging business employs around 7,500 people, and the new operation will add about 70 more workers to the 750-person workforce at Homburg, Germany. Construction of the new, roughly 12,000-sq.m. plant will start in early 2020.
