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 A successful manufacturer of forged steel and aluminium parts with production facilities at six locations the world over, Hirschvogel Automotive Group plans to start supplying from its manufacturing facility located at Ranjangaon within the Kalyani Thermal Systems plant, by July 2010. With sales turnover of Euro 503 million in the year 2008, Hirschvogel produces around 160,000 tonnes of hot and cold forged steel parts a year. The company has three subsidiaries in Germany – Hirschvogel Aluminium GmbH in Marksuhl, Germany, which produces sophisticated chassis components made of high-quality aluminium materials; Hirschvogel Eisenach GmbH in Marksuhl, which produces steel forgings; and Hirschvogel Komponenten GmbH in Schongau, Upper Bavaria, which processes steel and aluminium forged parts into ready-for-assembly components. Besides Germany, the group also has a facility in Ohio, USA, which produces hot and cold forged parts as well as ready-for-assembly components for the US market. The Shanghai facility to supply forged and finished parts was set up nearly five years ago. Hirschvogel also has a 49 per cent stake in the Brazilian forging company Mahle Hirschvogel Forjas s.a. In India, the company entered into a joint venture with Kalyani Thermal Systems, a subsidiary of Bharat Forge, in 2008. Hirschvogel holds 51 per cent in the joint venture company, Hirschvogel Kalyani India, and Kalyani Thermal Systems the rest.
Explaining Hirschvogel's entry into India, Florian Emsters, Key Account Manager, Hirschvogel adds that his company wants to be close to its clients – the OEMs. “Our stress is on localisation,” remarks Emsters. Revealing the plan to start manufacture at Kalyani Thermal Systems' plant at Ranjangaon until the joint venture company's plant at Baramati is up in some time from now. “We will be doing cold and warm forgings, and a combination of both. The site will also accommodate machining facilities as well as an in-house die shop,” he reveals. The original plan announced at the time of the forming the joint venture was to set up a facility in 2009 at Baramati, 100 km from Pune, to produce cold forged transmission shafts and pinions as well as constant-velocity joints, diesel injection components and wheel hubs. This would be complemented by machining and in-house die shop facilities. Production would start by mid-2010.
The plan to start supplies by July 2010 remains afloat but the plan to commission the Baramati plant has been delayed. Undaunted, Emsters avers that Hirschvogel Kalyani India will supply forged driveshaft components.. The product portfolio of Hircshvogel Kalyani also includes cold forged transmission shafts and pinions as well as diesel injection components and wheel hubs. “We have orders from a driveshaft manufacturer,” elaborates Florian. Announcing that the company is looking at businesses in other areas like engine, chassis, transmission, powertrain, etc., Florian remarks that his company will not be doing aluminium forging (in India). “We are spearheading hollow forged shafts in Europe with supplies to major manufacturers. We want to promote this CO2 reducing technology in India.” Concludes Florain Emsters, “Ranjangaon is the bridge until the Baramati facility is ready.”
Warm and cold forging
For those who are unsure of what a forging looks like, it is the shaping of metal using localised compressive forces. Beyond this, hot forging is dictated by the temperature of the billets at the start of the process. During hot forging, the billets are heated to a temperature at which recrystallisation processes occur. In the case of warm forging, which Hirschvogel would be doing in India, steel is processed at a temperature of between 700°C (1,292 °F) to 950 °C (1,742 °F). The flow stress is lower than is the case with cold forging, while scale formation and distortion are lower than in hot forging. Warm forging therefore allows high plastic strain at great levels of precision. Warm forged parts typically include centre shafts and injector bodies.
Cold forging, at the other end, refers to a process in which the billets are not heated prior to a metal forming operation, but are forged starting at room temperature. As no shrinkage or scale formation occurs, cold forged parts demonstrate greater geometrical and dimensional accuracy than comparable hot forged parts. However, the choice of materials, which can be used, and the geometries which can be generated is not as wide as with hot forging. Cold forging is thus ideal for producing transmission shafts with minimum machining |
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