On August 31, Japanese steel producer Sumitomo Metals announced that SMI Amtek Crankshaft Pvt. Ltd, its joint-venture company with and Amtek Auto Limited (Amtek), has decided to install a second forging press line in order to respond to rapidly growing demand for crankshafts in India. Accordingly, this expansion will increase annual production capacity from 800,000 to 2.2 million units, with a planned investment of INR 1 billion (approximately $22 million). The line is scheduled to start operation in November 2012.
Back in April 2010, Sumitomo Metals and Amtek started up a 4,000-mt press line in India, where the automobile industry is growing rapidly The current forging line no. 1 is expected to reach full production capacity in the second half of 2012. As demands from customers have substantially exceeded the production capacity of the forging line no. 1, the joint-venture company has decided to install a second forging line of 5,000 mt, with an annual production capacity of 1.4 million units, to meet rising demand. As a result of this investment, the worldwide forged crankshaft supply capacity of the Sumitomo Metals will increase from 9.3 million to 10.7 million units.
The Sumitomo Metals aims to raise the global share to over 10 percent by the forged crankshaft business and plans to provide service through its four-bases supply and sales structure, which comprises Japan, the United States, China and India.