Aubert & Duval invests €75 million in new SMS closed-die press
January 16, 2024
Aubert & Duval has signed an agreement with SMS Group to purchase a new 6,000 ton hydraulic press, in a deal worth a total of €75 million. To be installed at the company’s Pamiers site in Ariège, France, the modular structure of the press means it can accommodate an isothermal forging module, enabling the manufacture of high-performance Powder Metallurgy components for aircraft and engines.
The new four-column, hydraulic closed-die forging press is scheduled to be operational in 2027 and will replace one of the company’s older Schloemann presses originally supplied by SMS in 1932. The new press will offer substantial improvements for all the production lines currently operated by the Schloemann press and will contribute to the company’s decarbonisation objectives thanks to its much-improved energy efficiency.
“This major investment paves the way for Aubert & Duval’s medium and long-term future,” stated Bruno Durand, Chairman and CEO of Aubert & Duval. “In serving our customers, our primary goal is to modernise and drastically improve our industrial performance and capability. Yet to make Aubert & Duval the metallurgy leader in Europe, we need to look even further ahead and anticipate what technical developments are to come: This is also the task of this new instrument. We would like to thank our shareholders who, by making this investment, demonstrate the trust and ambition they have in the company and its teams.”
Thomas Winterfeldt, Executive Vice President Forging Plants, SMS group, added, “With this new forging technology, Aubert & Duval can process completely new material combinations and thus make a significant contribution to achieving greater drive efficiency for aerospace applications. As a long-standing partner of Aubert & Duval, we are proud, thanks to this new press, to work with them on jointly achieving the company’s goals of becoming one of Europe’s leading metallurgical companies, especially in the aerospace sector.”
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