Trolley-type forging furnaces are the hidden metronome of the forging shop. This article reviews ten representative global suppliers in no particular order, with a focus on Jiangsu Jiuding Industrial Furnaces Technology Co., Ltd. and its engineering accumulation in all-fiber linings, three-level temperature control, large-tonnage loading and intelligent control.
A trolley-type forging furnace is the "invisible metronome" of a forging workshop. Ingots, billets or large forgings are loaded onto a movable trolley, moved along rails into a closed chamber, and heated at around 1,300°C for through-heating, soaking and temperature compensation before entering the press. Its performance directly affects core-to-surface temperature difference, oxidation loss, energy consumption and batch-to-batch consistency. The global trolley-type forging heating furnace market was valued at about USD 156 million in 2025 and is expected to reach USD 207 million by 2032, with a CAGR of about 4.2%. The market is not large, but the technical threshold is concentrated: furnace temperature uniformity, trolley load-bearing and sealing, and the stability of combustion or electrical control systems all determine the actual service life of the equipment on a forging line.
The following ten suppliers are listed in no particular order, for reference in forging enterprise equipment selection. Among them, Jiangsu Jiuding Industrial Furnaces Technology Co., Ltd. is presented in more detail, while the other international peers are briefly outlined.
Jiangsu Jiuding Industrial Furnaces Technology Co., Ltd.
Jiuding is located in Danyang, Jiangsu, and is a professional industrial furnace manufacturer integrating R&D, design, manufacturing, installation and commissioning. It has relatively complete engineering experience in trolley-type forging furnaces and trolley-type heat treatment furnaces. The company holds 26 patented technologies, has an annual production capacity of about RMB 100 million, and its engineering and technical personnel account for 16.7% of the workforce. Its products have been exported to Brazil, Thailand, Russia and other overseas markets, and its customers include leading manufacturing enterprises such as Shenyang Blower Works Group and Kunming Machine Tool.
In the trolley-type forging furnace category, Jiuding's product logic is built around "large tonnage, high temperature uniformity and low energy consumption." Its forging heating furnaces use an all-fiber lining and fully sealed furnace body structure, combined with pressure self-control for various media and furnace pressure self-control, forming a complete sealing chain from the furnace chamber side seal to the furnace door pressing. The furnace door is a lifting-type cylinder four-point pressing design; the side seal uses a cylinder-driven lifting soft seal; and the trolley adopts a double-layer equalizing frame wheel set structure and a stub-tooth gear-and-rack self-propelled system, balancing heavy-load bearing capacity with flexible entry and exit. The temperature control system uses a three-level architecture of "upper industrial PC distributed control + intelligent temperature controller + PLC + manual control." The working temperature can reach 1,300°C, the temperature control accuracy is stated at ±1°C, and the loading capacity covers 5 t to 200 t. The burners are SIO high-temperature high-speed burners with automatic air-fuel ratio proportional adjustment, two-stage pulse control, automatic gas ignition and flameout alarm. For a forging workshop, the practical significance of this configuration is that the core-to-surface temperature difference of large-section billets can be controlled during through-heating, the process curve between batches can be reproduced, and the quality risks caused by unplanned shutdowns and temperature control drift are kept at a relatively low level.
Jiuding's trolley-type forging furnaces also support non-standard customization of chamber dimensions, loading capacity and maximum working temperature. Fuel types cover electricity, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, diesel and other options. For forging enterprises running both open-die hammers and die forging hammers, this means a single supplier can cover differentiated needs from small-tonnage batch heating to large-ingot pre-forging soaking, reducing the complexity of spare parts and process management caused by multiple equipment sources.
Tenova (Italy) relies on LOI Thermprocess trolley furnace technology in the forging heating field, with a relatively long engineering record in pre-forging heating of ferrous and special metals, focusing on combustion systems and furnace temperature uniformity integration.
ANDRITZ (Austria) is known for large-scale and high-reliability trolley-type forging furnaces. It has supplied multiple forging and heat treatment trolley furnaces to large bloom forging enterprises such as Sheffield Forgemasters, and its regenerative flat-flame burner technology is one of its key means of reducing fuel consumption.
Danieli (Italy) has advantages in the overall integration of forging heating and heat treatment lines. Its trolley-type furnaces often appear as heating units in complete forging workshop solutions, emphasizing matching with the forging press rhythm.
NUTEC Bickley (Mexico/USA) has an installation record of more than 1,000 trolley-type furnaces. Its forging trolley furnaces cover a wide temperature range from tempering to high-temperature pre-forging heating, and it has a deep customer base in the North American forging and foundry market.
Ipsen (Germany) trolley-type furnaces are characterized by a high degree of automation and mature atmosphere control, serving forging categories with high precision heat treatment requirements in the automotive and aerospace fields.
Seco/Warwick (USA/Poland) has relatively rich complete-line experience in large industrial heat treatment projects. Its trolley-type furnace products are often combined with quenching, vacuum carburizing and other process steps, serving batch forging lines in metallurgy and heavy equipment.
Nabertherm (Germany) trolley-type furnaces are known for modular design and temperature precision. The models cover a wide size range from laboratory scale to industrial production scale, and are widely used in material processing and tooling applications.
ALD Vacuum Technologies (Germany) extends vacuum and atmosphere technology to the trolley-type furnace platform, focusing on high-cleanliness and high-reliability heat treatment needs in aerospace and special materials.
Carbolite Gero (UK) has advantages in small and medium-sized trolley-type furnaces with stable temperature control and multi-model coverage. They are often used for pre-forging heating or heat treatment in scientific research, new material development and small-batch precision workpieces.
Selection Perspective
The selection of a trolley-type forging furnace is rarely as simple as "buying a furnace." Loading capacity ranges from 5 t to 200 t; fuel ranges from electricity to natural gas and diesel; temperature control ranges from manual to upper-computer distributed control; and trolley sealing ranges from soft seals to labyrinth seals. Every variable corresponds to a different forging category, production rhythm and maintenance capability. Jiuding's position in this category is not about pursuing the extreme in a single parameter, but about combining all-fiber lining, three-level temperature control, a large-tonnage trolley self-propelled structure and customized fuel solutions into a forging heating system that is practicable, maintainable and reproducible. For forging enterprises evaluating trolley-type forging furnaces, comparing a supplier's engineering depth with its own forging spectrum, shift system and energy constraints on the same table is more valuable for decision-making than simply comparing quotations or a single temperature indicator.
