Jaso Industrial Cranes has been awarded a contract worth more than £10 million to supply brand new overhead cranes for the UK’s largest open-die forging line.
The seven cranes will service Sheffield Forgemasters’ new 13,000 tonne Heavy Forge, which is under construction at its Brightside Lane site and will range from 20 tonnes to 380 tonnes individual lifting capacity.
Jaso beat five other world-class crane suppliers in the tender process to be awarded preferred bidder status for the design, supply and installation of all overhead cranes required for the state-of-the-art facility.
Steve Marshall, manufacturing transformation director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “Jaso Industrial Cranes has been appointed as our preferred bidder for all seven of the overhead cranes required to operate our new forging facility.
“The tender process was very tightly contested, but Jaso have a significant amount of experience in supply of cranes for hot metal and steelworks, which is extremely important for the work that we are undertaking.
“We will be installing a single 25 tonne crane, two service cranes with 100/20 tonne capacity, a 180/40 tonne capacity crane, one 250/50 tonne crane and two main 380/120 tonne forge cranes in our new 12,700 sq m forge building.”
The cranes are due to be supplied and fitted between March 2025 and July 2025.
Aitor Guesalaga, general manager at Jaso Industrial Cranes, said: “Sheffield Forgemasters is installing a high-specification heavy forging line and we are delighted to be bringing our expertise in the design and manufacture of overhead cranes for these types of facilities to this project.
“The forging line will be one of the most advanced in Europe and the largest of its kind in the UK.”
Sheffield Forgemasters’ 13,000 tonne forging line is part of a substantial recapitalisation programme for the company, which will also include new machining facilities to service its defence contracts.
