Siempelkamp closes 125 MN forging press order deal

The components will be used for engines engines as well as parts made of aluminum for the aircraft industry. The closed-die forging press will also be used produce components for rail vehicles and for the oil and gas industry. 

Samiron Mondal, Managing Director at Siempelkamp, sees the competitiveness of Siempelkamp on the international stage proven: "Obviously, the customer has awarded the contract to us because we can supply the complete press from one source. Worldwide we are the only manufacturer that can design, cast and machine the extraordinary large components for metal forming presses made of spheroidal graphite iron in our own factory in Krefeld. The fact that this has not been the first time we have built presses with large dimensions provided our customer with a sense of reliability during project handling. High quality "made in Germany" and proven adherence to schedules meant more to our customer than the geographic proximity to other manufacturers."

The closed-die forging press will apply a pressure of 125 MN; the dimensions of the press table will be 4,000 x 2,200 mm. The press will allow the forming of very large parts as well as the forming in stages with several forging dies. The press will have a stroke of 2,000 mm. The oil-hydraulic drive will generate a pressure of up to 420 bar.

The press will be equipped with two main press cylinders as well as four lifting (balancing) cylinders for the top bolster. The bottom bolster alone will weigh 273 t. When casting the bottom bolster, Siempelkamp will repeat the world record which it set in 2013 with the casting of the bottom bolster for a press with a similar design. At that time 320 t of molten spheroidal graphite iron with a temperature of 1,350 °C was poured into the mold. 

During contract negotiation, the delivery time played an important role. Siempelkamp will supply the complete plant from one source, from the design to the casting process, to the machining of the castings in its own factory, to the installation and startup at the customer's location. In this way, the company not only saves time: The close coordination between the design engineers and Siempelkamp Giesserei, which are collocated on the same premises, makes it possible to optimally coordinate the properties of the press and the casting process. By supplying everything from one source Siempelkamp has full control over the entire manufacturing process and thus achieves higher reliability during project  handling.

The technology in detail 
The press' innovative strain rate control will compensate high eccentric loads. It also allows extremely low forging speeds in a range from 0.05 to 50 mm/s for the forming of very challenging geometries and materials used in the aerospace industry. In this way, Siempelkamp achieves maximum precision during forming.

The customer's scope of supply also includes the software Prod-IQ?. Developed by Siempelkamp, this process control system covers the areas of production management, quality control as well as service and maintenance. Furthermore, the system integrates the press into the customer's ERP system. Prod-IQ? utilizes collected information from plant data. The system allows cost transparency, saves resources and increases plant availability. As a result the operator reduces manufacturing costs.

Furthermore, Siempelkamp supplies Dahmos, a software for the recording, archiving and analysis of process data. 

The sales contract was signed on August 13, 2014. The installation at the customer's location will start mid 2015; the startup is scheduled for the end of 2015. Full production capacity is expected to be reached by January 2016.

Lebron XIV 14 Glow