Investing to grow Forgital Group

investing to grow

The Forgital Group is a leading Italian manufacturer of rolled rings that is constantly innovating to maintain its competitive edge. As Industry Europe reports, last year saw further investments in new plant and capital increases to ensure its continued growth.

The Forgital Group is led by the fifth generation of the founding Spezzapria family and is headquartered in the Vicenza area of north-eastern Italy (specifically in Seghe di Velo d’Astico). Its size and structure keeps on growing – in fact, at the end of 2017 it announced it would be strengthening its capital structure to enable it to realise its ambitious 2017–2020 Business Plans. Forgital Italy SpA shareholders have fixed a capital increase with share premium to a total amount of €20 million.

The group’s structure currently includes a series of production and commercial companies, through which it produces and distributes forged and laminated rolled rings of rectangular or shaped sections. Various materials are used for this activity, mainly carbon steels, alloy steels, stainless steels and aluminium, as well as a nickel alloys, cobalt alloys, and copper and titanium alloys. Forgital’s products are used in applications in a large number of industries such as aerospace, oil and gas, transmission, power generation, and general mechanics.

Current structure

The group is subdivided into operational sites and a sales network, with a couple of its companies crossing these boundaries. First of all there is Forgital Italy, the first and main player of the group. Totally focused on innovation, the company makes important investments in research, has modern production facilities and takes special care of people and the environment. The constant exchange that it has with its customers is a real asset in terms of keeping at the cutting edge. It has three hot-working lines, a complete range of over 20 furnaces for heat treatment, and an extended machining capacity, as well as holding all relevant certifications issued by the most important international bodies.

Then there is France based Forgital FMDL – one of the most important European manufacturing units specialised in small and medium-sized rolled rings weighing up to a maximum of 14 tonnes. As well as this specialism, FMDL also has unique experience and know-how in terms of open die forging. One of its three rolling mills is actually the most powerful in Europe, and thanks to these facilities the company produces a very wide variety of rolled rings, whose weights range from 10kg to 40 tonnes, and whose diameters span from 300mm to 8000mm.

In terms of machining, the group can count on Forgital Rimach, Forgital Sumec, Fly and Visual. Forgital Rimach, a subsidiary of Forgital Italy, based fairly close to its parent company, deals with mechanically machining rings with diameters between 500mm and 2000mm, while Forgital Sumec is the machining unit of Forgital Italy SpA and specialises in the rough, semi and finish machining of medium-sized rings whose diameters are between 900mm and 3100mm. Its drilling capacity reaches diameters of 50mm. Again, the company is based near Forgital Italy.

One of the more recent additions is Fly, a machining centre based in northern Italy and equipped with the latest generation of lathes and measuring machines. It is able to finish the group’s products for the most demanding clients. Last year (2017) Forgital announced its plans to double production capacity at Fly with the construction of a new plant adjacent to the existing one. Since its establishment in 2007, Fly has already tripled its capacity from 6000 to 17,500 square metres so this represents another major step forward. This success has been possible thanks to the important contracts it has won in recent years, including manufacturing of the Trent XWB engines for Rolls-Royce and the supply of components for the Ariane Space consortium’s Ariane 5 launcher.

Finally, Forgital is a shareholder of Visual, based in north-eastern Italy, a dynamic company active in mechanical and electronic construction, as well as retrofitting and servicing of lathes.

Focused on research

In addition to the above, the group structure includes RTM Breda, a research centre based in Milan. Through the centre, the group can test and independently certify products, as well as providing testing of instruments and carrying out research and development. Furthermore, it acts as a contact point with the university world.

Moreover, the group also includes TS Coatings Italy, which was set up in relation to a research project aimed at developing anti-wear coatings to improve the surface performance of materials. Research is particularly important because Forgital operates in such a specialist field that it is hard to find external people who have the right know-how for its techniques. A significant percentage of its staff are research engineers.

International reach

Forgital’s sales network is composed of various foreign based subsidiaries, namely Forgital USA, Forgital South America, Forgital Germany, Forgital UK, Forgital East Europe and Forgital India. The opening of Forgital India and Forgital South America is a clear sign of how the group has responded to the increasing importance of fastemerging markets, while Forgital UK has also marked a milestone in the group’s development.

Thanks to its huge range of capabilities, the group is able to provide clients with a unique and compact supply chain, offering them a fully tailored service, including scientific know-how in materials and forging, design and engineering of products, support during assembly and testing. Today, the official mission of Forgital is to provide complete solutions in order to improve and simplify the production process through an integrated system of technologies and services.