£1m for firm to expand further

Independent Forgings and Alloys has launched a 1 million plan to install new furnaces which are twice as big as its existing facilities, after investing 2 million in the first fully integrated forge to be built in the UK for 25 years.

The Owlerton company's new forging line was installed with backing from South Yorkshire Investment Fund and opened earlier this year by Minister for Industry and the Regions, Margaret Hodge.

That investment came on top of IFA's launch of an advanced manufacturing operation at Ecclesfield around a year ago, which has computer aided design and manufacturing facilities, including five axis machining centres and a novel extrusion line, which it has developed with help from Sheffield Hallam University.

Now, weeks after recovering from having part of its Liversey Street premises under five feet of water during the floods which hit Sheffield in June, Independent Forgings and Alloys is planning its next investment – in a new building and two new furnaces for its heavy forge.

The new furnaces are twice as long as the 12 furnaces which currently serve the forge, giving IFA the capacity to handle longer bars of aerospace steel which are being produced following investment by Corus at its Stocksbridge plant.

IFA's chairman and chief executive, Martin Burnham, says the bigger furnaces will open up new markets for the company, which has boosted its turnover from 2.7 million to 20 million, since it was formed in 2001.

Mr Burnham added: "The funding from South Yorkshire Investment Fund has been crucial to the continued expansion of the company. It has supported us since day one with a number of investments."