Largest New Furnace Builders in North America. An inherent problem with putting together a list of the ten largest new furnace builders in NA is the fact that the vast bulk are privately owned and have no desire to share their sales figures (very similar to the issue facing us when putting together a list of the largest commercial heat treaters in NA and the world). In spite of this most of the companies we approached willingly shared their sales figures on the basis that we not publish the actual figure, we of course will honor this wish. A few notes about the criteria we used when putting together this list. This is North American based manufacturers only, as an example a very good sized company with a strong presence in NA is Grenoble, France based ECM which does little or no manufacturing in NA which means they were not considered. Seco Warwick which does make our list would probably be #1 if we took into account their worldwide activities, however we have only looked at their Meadville, PA operation. Another point to keep in mind is that this is heat treating only and we are not looking at builders for steel mills as an example. It was suggested to us that Flinn & Dreffin might be amongst the largest, they certainly might be but we do not believe if we looked only at their heat treating furnaces that they would make this list. We will freely admit though that the line between heat treating furnaces and furnaces built for other industries does tend to "blur" a bit. Enough preamble, let's see where we stand with a brief background of each company.  

AFC-Holcroft, Wixom, Michigan.
We are picking AFC-Holcroft as the largest new furnace builder in North America although it would appear to be a very close race between AFC-Holcroft and Ipsen International. What tipped it in their favor was the AFC/ALD partnership which builds vacuum carburizing systems. Strong in Pushers, Batch IQ's, mesh belt and cast link belt furnaces. http://www.afc-holcroft.com/

Ipsen International, Rockford, Illinois.
Worldwide Ipsen is one of the 2 or 3 largest builders in the world. Far and away the strongest in North America when it comes to new vacuum furnaces. While they are also very involved in atmosphere furnaces, they do not command nearly as large a share of the market in NA as in Europe. http://www.ipsen-intl.com/index.asp

Surface Combustion,  Maumee, Ohio.
When it comes to batch IQ furnaces Surface has probably sold more than all the competition combined in North America. Also known for pushers, some vacuum furnaces and the occasionally mesh belt line. Also pushing hard for Vacuum Carburizing. Estimated sales are in the $40 million USD range.  www.surfacecombustion.com/indexflash.html

Consolidated Engineering Company, Kennesaw, Georgia.
The largest when it comes to Aluminum heat treating furnaces. A well established company with a good reputation. Sales of approximately $35 million USD. www.cec-intl.com/

Seco Warwick, Meadville, PA.
Worldwide one of the largest builders of new furnaces and this also holds true for North America. Seco pretty well covers the gauntlet, vacuum furnaces, vacuum carburizing systems, aluminum furnaces, all in all this is a company that has been growing steadily over the years.         www.secowarwick.com

Can-Eng, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
One of two Canadian companies that makes our list, the other being Vac Aero. Can Eng was the first to bring mesh belt furnace lines to North America when they formed a partnership with a Japanese builder a good 20 years ago. Strong in mesh belt lines and aluminum furnaces. Estimated sales are $20 to $25 million USD. www.can-eng.com/

Vac Aero, Oakville, Ontario, Canada.
The largest Canadian builder of new vacuum furnaces. Vac Aero is also one of the largest commercial heat treaters in Canada (specializing in Aerospace work) and a long established builder of new vacuum furnaces. While not one of the best known companies on our list they have a very strong history of building new furnaces. Vac Aero also has a division in Poland and a joint venture with Hightemp Furnaces in India. www.vacaero.com

Solar Manufacturing, Souderton, PA.  
For a company that was formed not that many years ago Solar has registered the fastest growth of any of the companies on this list. Owned and run by Bill Jones, Bill also started VFS and his Solar Atmosphere company is the largest commercial vacuum heat treater in NA. Concentrating on new vacuum furnaces they also offer vacuum carburizing. http://www.solarmfg.com/

GM Enterprises, Corona, CA.
While GM is mainly vacuum they also occasionally get involved in other types of furnaces including a brief foray into Batch IQ units. Sales are estimated at  $15 million USD. www.gmenterprises.com/

Abbott Furnace Company, St. Mary's PA. 
The heart of the powdered metal industry in North America and probably the world is St. Mary's, PA. Based on this it is no surprise that some of the largest builders of new sintering furnaces are located in this area. As far as we can tell the largest of these is Abbott Furnace, a company which specializes in new sintering furnaces. Our best (educated) guess is that Abbott rounds out our list of the 10 largest new furnaces builders in North America. www.abbottfurnace.com

December 2007