SKF has invested 16.3 million euros in a new forging press for the Lüchow facilities in Germany.

The new forging press makes it possible to process round steel bars with a diameter of 36 to 75 milli-metres. The manufacturing material feeds directly from the truck to the bar stock carrier and is a fully automatic processed via the induction heater to the press. The maximum press force amounts to 15,000 kN.

The press was officially put into operation on June 17, 2004. Joachim Werren, state secretary in the Ministry of Economics, Labour and Traffic of Niedersachsen, and Karl-Heinz Schultz, mayor of Lüchow, attended the launch.