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As a leading open forge supplying critical parts, we have been asked for our opinion on the current challenges facing UK manufacturing companies. Believe it or not, Somers Forge Ltd is still a family-run and has been since 1697, which is well over 300 years! In fact, we are proud to say that we are the 10^th oldest family-run firm in the UK.

The complex forging process makes us a high energy intense company, with this in mind, much like many businesses, costs have been soaring. From the visuals of forging ingots in excess of 20 tonnes, you will have a greater understanding of energy and high skill level involved in the forging process. This raises the question that we should be supporting British industry. As a company we are happy to be a spokesperson to bring awareness to the fact heavy engineering still takes place in the heart of the UK and to continue to push the government for support which is inline with other countries.   

Why buy from a British manufacturer?

The biggest benefits of using UK based manufacturer are:

• Less supply chain risk
• Greener supply chain
• High level of control over quality
• Bespoke/ low minimum order products
• Lower transportation costs
• Greater flexibility
• Greater communication
• Reduced lead times

The common challenges customers face with supply chains outside of the UK?

• Slow lead times
• Volatile international delivery cost
• High supply chain risk
• Focus on more bespoke product
• Greater quality control importance

We have donated over a 1,000 bottles of hand sanitisers to secondary schools in Halesowen. As a critical defence supplier, we have stayed operational and continued to manufacture throughout the pandemic with measures in place. Realising the challenges this has created for not only the critical manufacturing sector, but also for the next generations education.

We recognise the high case numbers, and we have donated over 1,000 hand sanitisers to our local secondary schools to ensure we do our bit for the local community we operate in.

One of the schools included Windsor High School who we have previously teamed up with to take part in the STEM Project. The project included showing how we are being environmentally friendly through investment in the latest technology. The aim was to boost student’s engagement in the key topics and show them future career options outside of a classroom.

The development for global infrastructure has never been as important as it is today to our countries future. This is because within the next 15 years, many countries around the world will invest into infrastructure, whether this be transport, energy or infrastructure of any other kind.

The UK Government has an estimated £650 billion of public and private infrastructure investment across the country over the next decade.

With this amount of investment will open many opportunities for UK contractors and other service providers, further leading to job opportunities and a growth in the UK economy.

Forging and infrastructure

Forging is noted as a trusted process for manufacturing component types as it provides qualities other methods that cannot produce/compare with such as quality, integrity and the performance of forged products. For this reason, it appears that forgings will make up roughly 20% of the US investment into global infrastructure.

Forging provides the following advantages:

• Many types of metals and alloys can be forged.
• Products offer high strength, ductility and resistance.
• Improves the structure of the metal.
• Parts are highly reliable.
• Products can be recycled if necessary.

Forged parts that are used in infrastructure

Open die forging process can produce many parts that are required for infrastructure applications including construction, water engineering, waste management and other civil engineering applications. Somers supply forged material for items such as bridges and hydroelectric components. Other forgings include:

• Hubs
• Rings
• Shafts
• Pinons
• Coupling

At Somers Forge, our forging capabilities enables us to produce open die forgings from 1 kg to in excess of 60 tonnes in weight, with lengths with to 23 metres. As well as providing forgings to infrastructure applications such as aerospace and oil and gas, to name a few, our services are available to a wide range of sectors.

Contact us today on 0121 585 5959 (UK), +1 734 729 3700 (USA) or fill out our online contact form.

Very happy to announce over the last 24 months we undergone in-depth assessment and have now been granted Fit For Nuclear (F4N) status, by the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.  The Fit For Nuclear award is granted to companies that have benchmarked their performance against the standards demanded by the nuclear industry’s top tiers.

For more information on our Nuclear forgings capabilities email sales@somersforge.com