The arsenal of democracy rests on America’s forging industry. More than 152 forging plants in 38 states forge the metals and alloys for warships, planes, spacecraft, combat vehicles, missiles, rockets, bombs, ammunition, artillery pieces, and much more.
But collectively, they have significant untapped capacity to meet growing national defense requirements.
Inefficiency and unclear demand signals in the Defense Department’s supply chain has led to the false perception that the forging industry lacks the ability to support the nation’s historic preparations for great power competition.
An independent capacity utilization study commissioned by the Forging Industry Association recently found that forging equipment utilization is at just over 50 percent, while the industry continues to invest in automation at historic rates to increase production capacity.
The forging industry can domestically manufacture all the components required by the Department of Defense, according to Jim Warren, president and CEO of the Forging Industry Association, which represents 110 forging companies encompassing 152 plants.
Warren, a manufacturing association veteran and expert on heavy manufacturing, spoke to Defense News about how the forging industry is playing an increasingly important role in strengthening America’s military deterrent, the challenges it faces, and the opportunities to unleash its full potential.
The transcript of this conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
In a real way, the forging industry represents the building blocks of our defense industrial base.
It doesn’t get much more basic. Yet it’s easy to overlook the role that America’s forging companies play. We help ensure our military can operate – on land, at sea, in the air, and in space. In most cases you can’t see the forgings, but they are crucial to the warfighter’s success.
Some examples: We forge components that go into machine guns. We make the tie-down rings for military transport planes that carry our troops and their equipment. We forge the 155 shells and barrels they launch from. Without forging, there are no tracks or mechanical drives for tanks. Forgings are integral to all ground vehicles – Humvees, tanks, and trucks. We forge the major structural components and power plants for nuclear submarines. Without forged parts, NASA can’t return humans to the moon with the launch vehicles being developed under the Artemis program.
Trade policies have created strong headwinds for your industry, particularly from China.
The Pentagon can’t use Chinese components in its weapons platforms without a special waiver. But unfair trade practices by China, India and other foreign producers means that commercial customers pass over North American producers in favor of their significantly lower prices. That has siphoned off billions of dollars’ worth of work from the domestic forging industry. And that has left the nation and its armed forces at risk of losing the domestic capacity necessary to ramp up in a major crisis.
We are approaching the tipping point of having a case to file an antidumping/countervailing duty lawsuit against foreign countries that violate our trade laws by dumping cheap forgings into the U.S. market. These unfair practices have a direct impact on our defense preparedness. They weaken a domestic industry that our armed forces cannot do without. This legal remedy is expensive – at least a million dollars a case – and not a guarantee that perpetrators won’t seek other countries as a get-around. It becomes an expensive real-life game of whack-a-mole.
How is the forging industry modernizing its manufacturing processes?
Using robots to perform material handling is expanding production capacity by up to three percent. It also reduces costs, improves quality, and reduces injuries. Since 2018, our industry has trained 1,000 workers in automation. As we speak, automated forging processes are producing vital components for the Pentagon, including munitions, tracked vehicles, small arms, heavy trucks and air frames, and engine parts.
Does that require the forging workforce to have new skills?
Many forging producers want to implement robotics into their processes. But they don’t have a ready pool of what we call ‘robot heroes’. Traditionally, such skills are acquired at two-year vocational schools. But that’s not fast enough.
The industry is collectively seeking to leverage available Pentagon industrial base funding that is set aside for workforce development, to increase the level of expertise by taking the school to the factory. The funds will be utilized for a pilot program for a mobile training platform called Robotcart that can be scaled up and deployed at junior colleges and directly into forging companies to accelerate the creation of robot skills industry-wide.
There is also a perception that the forging industry is a dirty business environmentally. Is that changing?
Like many industries, we want to be better stewards of our planet. In fact, we need to be. Cleaner processes, made possible by new technologies, help us do our jobs better.
One big example is induction (electric) heating of forged billets prior to forging – instead of gas. They are much cleaner, substantially reducing CO2 output and lowering emissions. These tools can heat raw materials much more quickly – in seconds. Forging plants that have been able to invest in making that switch are much more efficient, and better at meeting customers’ needs. However, we still rely on gas heating for many of the large forgings required by the DOD.
What do policymakers and prime contractors need to know most about the forging industry at this moment?
The forging industry has the capacity to make all DoD forgings and is adding to its capacity by extensive deployment of automation – before, at and after the press and hammer operations. Unsubstantiated rumors of lack of capacity are just not true and often are started because of supply chain management frustrations caused by the DOD and primes or from a lack materials to forge, such as titanium and super alloys.
The DOD and primes should work very closely with the forging and casting associations who are closest to their respective memberships and can arrange tours, provide capacity utilization survey results and other proof that capacity is plentiful for forgings. The DOD can further make strategic investments into the forging industry to ensure a strong and vibrant forging supply base, focusing on automation technology and training, in-line hot scanning of forged parts, increased choice and availability of metals to forge, and by streamlining supply chain decision making so it is more rapid and transparent.
Learn more at Forgings for Defense: The Capacity to Meet the Moment.
