Steel and Industrial Forgings Ltd
(SIFL) is a public sector
undertaking (PSU) fully owned by Government of
Kerala situated in Athani in Thrissur, Kerala state of India. The
company was incorporated in 1983 and started commercial
production in 1986. It is an AS 9100 C and ISO 9001:2008
certified company.
Since its inception in 1983, SIFL has professionally forged
ahead to become a reputed manufacturer of critical and
complex forgings for Aeronautical/ aerospace applications,
Missile components, Online Fittings for Submarines, Defence/
tactical equipment and machineries, Oil and gas industry,
Heavy Engineering, Earth moving, Railway locomotives and
Automobile sectors. SIFL has the proven Technical capability
to forge all types of steel alloys including stainless steel &
maraging steel, forgings out of Non ferrous and special metals
viz. Titanium alloys, Aluminium alloys, Nickel alloys, Inconel,
Super alloys, etc. With expertise over the years SIFL has now
been recogonised as a World class manufacturer and Solution
provider for Aerospace forgings and finished components.
# Report on Internship at Steel and Industrial Forgings
Limited
I am a second year mechanical engineering student at
Muthoot College of Engineering, Varikoli. I had the
opportunity to do a six-day internship at Steel and Industrial
Forgings Limited (SIFL) in Athani, Thrissur from 15 May to 20
May 2023. SIFL is a public sector undertaking fully owned by
Government of Kerala and an AS 9100 C and ISO 9001:2008
certified company . It is a master in titanium and special alloy
forgings and supplies products to various sectors such as
defence, aerospace, oil and gas, power, railways, etc.
During my internship, I visited various departments of the
company and learned about their functions and activities.
The departments I covered are:
- **Die Shop**: This department is responsible for designing
and manufacturing the dies used for forging. The dies are
made of alloy steel and are machined using CNC machines.
The die shop also performs heat treatment, inspection and
maintenance of the dies.
- **Forging Shop**: This department is the core of the
company where the raw materials are forged into desired
shapes using different types of hammers and presses. The
forging shop has four closed die pneumatic hammers with
capacities of 16T, 10T, 6T and 1T, a 1200T hydraulic press and
several trimming presses. The company is capable of
manufacturing closed die forgings up to the weight range of
850kg per piece. The plant is equipped with oil/gas fired and
electrical furnaces with sophisticated temperature controls as
per international standards.
- **Heat Treatment Shop & Lab**: This department performs
various heat treatment processes such as annealing,
normalizing, hardening, tempering, etc to improve the
mechanical properties of the forgings. The heat treatment
shop has different types of furnaces such as pit furnaces, box
furnaces, salt bath furnaces, etc. The heat treatment lab
conducts tests such as hardness test, microstructure analysis,
etc to ensure the quality of the heat treated forgings.
- **Quality Checking**: This department ensures that the
products meet the specifications and requirements of the
customers. The quality checking department has various
instruments and equipment such as vernier calipers,
micrometers, height gauges, profile projectors, ultrasonic
testing machines, magnetic particle testing machines, etc to
measure and inspect the dimensions, surface defects,
internal defects, etc of the forgings.
- **Technical Department**: This department provides
technical support and guidance to the other departments.
The technical department mainly uses NX CAD software to
design and model the dies and forgings. The technical
department also prepares drawings, documents and reports
for the customers.
- **PPC (Production Planning & Control)**: This department
plans and controls the production activities of the company.
The PPC department monitors the inventory of raw materials,
dies and finished products. It also schedules the orders,
allocates the resources and coordinates with the other
departments to ensure timely delivery of the products.
- **Marketing**: This department deals with the customers
and markets the products of the company. The marketing
department identifies the potential customers, negotiates the
prices and terms of contracts, receives the orders and follows
up with them. The marketing department also participates in
exhibitions, seminars and trade fairs to promote the
company's products.
- **Finishing & Dispatching Department**: This department
performs the final finishing operations such as grinding,
polishing, painting, etc on the forgings before dispatching
them to the customers. The finishing & dispatching
department also packs and labels the products according to
the customer's specifications.
- **Managing Department**: This department manages the
overall functioning of the company. The managing
department sets the vision, mission and goals of the
company. It also formulates policies, strategies and budgets
for the company. The managing department oversees the
performance of all other departments and ensures
compliance with legal and ethical standards.
- **Materials Management Department (MMD)**: This
department procures and stores the raw materials required
for forging. The MMD department sources the raw materials
from various suppliers such as Steel Authority of India Limited
(SAIL), Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL),
etc. The MMD department also maintains records of receipts,
issues and stocks of raw materials.
- **Cutting Department**: This department cuts the raw
materials into suitable sizes for forging. The cutting
department uses different types of machines such as band
saws, shearing machines, cropping machines, etc to cut the
raw materials into billets or blanks.
I learned a lot from this internship experience and gained
valuable insights into the forging industry. I am grateful to
SIFL for giving me this opportunity and to all the staff
members who guided me throughout my internship.
