For their first general meeting of the year, members of the British Turned Parts Association (BTMA) visited Liberty Steels in Stocksbridge, Sheffield, and saw for themselves how their raw materials are made.
Acquired by Liberty in May last year, Liberty Speciality Steels is a fully-integrated steelmaker with electric arc steelmaking and vacuum induction melting primary steelmaking capabilities combined with casting and re-melting facilities.
BTMA President Phil Smith said: “We had a very good meeting at a really interesting venue. It was fantastic to see a British manufacturing plant producing excellent quality raw materials that are used by all of our members.”
Liberty Speciality Steels produces carbon, free cutting, alloy and stainless steels, as well as added value machined components. These go into products ranging from aero engine components and landing gear to automotive diesel injectors, crankshafts, gears and bearings.
Mr Smith said that around 40 members attended the meeting and the mood was very positive.
“The state of trade is very buoyant. Everybody is really busy, including our machine tool members who are reporting a record year with demand for strong machines going forward into this year. Business seems to be at a high and people are investing – not the message you hear from the media.”
He says that the next key date in the BTMA diary is the Congress of the Syndicate Internationale du Décolletage (International Association for Turned Parts Manufacturers) in Limerick in June.
The BTMA recently re-joined the international association, becoming its eighth member country.
Phil Smith says: “It looks as if it is going to be a really good Congress and we want as many of our members as possible to try to attend. It will be really useful to speak to people from around the world who have the same issues and problems that we have.”
Commenting on the BTMA’s visit, Stephen Kinsey, Market Development Manager – Aerospace at Liberty Special Steels said: “It was a genuine pleasure to have the BTMA members at the site, who were all very interested in LSS and the assets they were shown on the tour. I sat in the BTMA meeting and it was very interesting to hear what the BTMA members were involved in and that the market conditions seemed very positive for them.”