While we are very confident that each of the ten commercial heat treaters on our list of the ten largest commercial heat treaters in North America in terms of estimated sales for 2006 deserve to be there we cannot in all honesty say that the order that we have them in is 100% correct. Keep in mind that the vast bulk of these companies are privately owned which means that they do not generally disclose sales figures. We have put together this summary based upon our knowledge of the industry and in most cases input from the companies on the list. When we say the largest in North America we are taking into account Canada, the USA and Mexico, although we do not believe that the largest commercial heat treater in Mexico, Esta www.especialidadestermicas.com has sales of over $25 million US which is our criteria. This figure incidentally has risen over the past few years.

When we originally started our annual list 5 years ago our feeling was that all the companies on the list needed sale of at least $20 million, this figure as you can see has risen to $25 million over the years. In some cases shops that were on the list in past years have disappeared but this does not necessarily mean that their sales have dropped, rather that we have a better knowledge of the industry than when we first started. There are a number of operations that are very close to being on this list and could possibly even be there. A few examples are Lone Star Heat Treat in Houston, Texas, HTG in Cleveland, Ohio, Huda pack Metal in the US Midwest, Commercial Steel Treating Corp., Heat Treating Services and Specialty Steel Treating all in Michigan are a few that come to mind. March 12/07  

1) Bodycote International.
Who else? Without a shadow of a doubt Bodycote is the largest in both the US and Canada with sales of over $200 million US and also the largest in the world with sales of over $1 Billion US (although this does of course include their testing and "Hipping" operations). It's an interesting bit of trivia that this UK based company did not exist in North America just 10 years ago. If you feel the inclination, a browse through our archives (a long browse) will give you Bodycote's history in North America. Very briefly it started with the acquisition of Hinderliter HT, based in Texas many years ago (Mr. John Hubbard was the owner of Hinderliter and is of course now the CEO of Bodycote) and continued with the acquisition of Lindberg HT a few years back which at a stroke made them the largest commercial heat treater in North America. www.bodycote.com  

2) Bluewater Thermal. (previously Gibraltar Industries).
Again another large conglomerate Gibraltar is clearly the second largest in North America with estimated sales of over $100 million US. They are best known for their individual companies such as Brazing Concepts, CCHT, B & W Heat Treat, Harbor Metal Treating, Hi Temp Inc., Pennsylvania Industrial Heat Treat, Rock River HT and SCM Metals. All of these shops were part of the heat treating division of Gibraltar Industries based in Buffalo, NY until the heat treating operations were bought by a private equity group in June of 2006 and the name changed to Bluewater Thermal. www.bluewaterthermal.com

3) Paulo Products.
While not as clear cut as our number one and number 2 rankings we still feel reasonably confident in suggesting Paulo Products as the third largest commercial heat treater in North America. This is a privately owned company long owned and run by the Rassieur family. By anybody's standards this is a well run company but it is not a company that you hear a great deal about. www.paulo.com

4) AL-Fe Heat Treating.
Another privately owned and run commercial heat treater, Kurt Westman owner and president. Our understanding is that they have seven locations and a further division that builds new aluminum furnaces. This is a company that concentrates on aluminum heat treating and is probably the largest aluminum heat treater in NA. Again not a company that you hear a great deal about, however they just quietly seem to keep growing. The name by the way stands for Aluminum-Iron, Al-Fe.ttp www.al-fe.com

5) Atmosphere Annealing.
There have been some big changes at this company. Previously they were part of MAXCO, INC. a publicly traded company until they were bought by Quanex Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Quanex Corporation in late 2006 (all the details about this sale are again buried in our archives). A rough guess about their heat treating sales is in the $45 million US range. www.atmosphereannealing.com/page.php?pid=1

6) Woodworth Industries.
This is another company we have spoken about many times over the years. Like most of the Michigan based commercial heat treaters Woodworth specializes in large volume automotive work which can be a blessing or a curse depending upon the year. Obviously for Woodworth it has been a blessing as they have grown substantially over the years. Based in Michigan, Woodworth, has 3 locations in the Detroit area and another operation in Virginia. While they are largely automotive they also have very substantial vacuum and gas nitriding departments. www.woodworthheattreating.com/industry.htm

7) FPM.
This one is a bit trickier. Do we have any doubts that FPM should be in the top 10 list? No. Do we have definite confirmation about what their sales are? No. This a very substantial operation that had a tough run of business a few years back mainly because their main area of business is the Chicago area which was very hard hit at the time. We have mentioned them a lot of times over the years including Oct/05 when they took over all the heat treating from Rexnord Chain Division in Milwaukee, WI., a contract which shows they as always are a force to be reckoned with. They are around, they are healthy and they deserve to be in our top 10 list. Now here is a bit more trivia for you. Their Senior Sales Manager Jim Feltner was voted on our website in January 2007 the best salesman in the Heat Treat Industry. www.fpmht.com

8) Solar Atmospheres, Souderton PA.
If you heat treat or send heat treating out it would be surprising if you haven't heard of Solar, the largest vacuum commercial shop in North America if not the world. Started by Bill Jones, Bill remains as CEO with Roger Jones his son as President. There is no guessing involved with this company as Bill very kindly provided us with all the sales figures below. This is where is gets tricky. Total estimated sales for Solar in 2007 as you can see are over $40 million US which includes heat treating and manufacturing. Using those numbers Solar should be about #6 on our list. Take out the new furnace and power supply business and at $27 million they are #8 on our list. We could certainly debate where they stand but the bottom line is that they again certainly amongst the largest in NA. www.solaratm.com Solar Atmospheres, Souderton, Pa. is ranked No 1 in sales for the Mid Atlantic Chapter, MTI, and has resided in that spot for over five years. 2006 sales were $12.7 million and projected sales for 07 are $14.7 million. Solar Atmospheres of Western Pa. is ranked No 3 in the Great Lakes Chapter, MTI, and rising. 2006 sales were $9.6 million and projected sales for 07 are $12 million. This plant has just landed two major Aerospace contracts which will add substantially to the sales volume in 2007. Combined 07 sales projections are close to $27 million. If you use these combined sales Solar Atmospheres would rank well in the top 10 MTI ranking, National, probably 7. Solar Mfg sales (new vacuum furnaces and hot zones) for 2006 were $9.1 million. Order entry has been brisk and projections for 07 are $12 million. Our power supply company MSI had sales for 06 of $2.2 million and projected sales are $3 million. All combined the Solar business is projected at $42 million for 07. ( All vacuum process related )"

9) American Steel Treating.
Again another very large Michigan based commercial heat treater that specializes in the auto industry. Owned and operated by Roy Waits, an ex Surface Combustion fellow (new heat treating furnaces) that as far as we know started the company from scratch. While American Steel Treating offers a number of different processes the one that we are most enamored with is their pusher carburizing department. This is one of the most automated, tightly run, quality controlled set ups we have ever seen and this includes captive operations. Their website which should be up and running soon is www.americansteeltreating.com  

10) Metal Improvement Company (Parent Company, Curtiss Wright).
Metal Improvement has a number of commercial heat treats around the US but our problem quite frankly is that Metal Improvement specializes in shot peening and for the life of us we cannot figure out how much of their business is heat treating and how much is shot peening. We feel very comfortable saying that they are in the top 10 but we do not feel comfortable telling you exactly where they fit in in the top 10. www.metalimprovement.com/index.php

August 2007