Heat Treat Industry Expert Speaks With The Monty
Today we have an interview with industry experts “Thomas Wingens” and “Mark Hemsath” of “Wingens Consultants“.
- Thomas, both you and Mark are pretty well known in the North American heat treat industry, as a matter of fact you both are pretty well known in the global heat treat industry so I don’t believe we need your full background, however a brief synopsis wouldn’t hurt.
Hi Gord, and thank you for the kind words. Mark and I have taken similar, yet different, paths through this industry, and both of our fathers were in this business. I am a third-generation heat treater and have worked for IHI, Bodycote, Ipsen, Seco-Warwick and Tenova, and I started Wingens Consultants 15 years ago. Mark also worked for Seco-Warwick, did consulting work with his father, and was President/CEO of Nitrex, GM Enterprises and UPC-Marathon until the Austrian firm bought them last year. We each have almost 40 years in the industry, including commercial heat treating and furnace companies. Together with our six additional consultants, we cover a fairly broad range of heat treat experience, and we still learn something new on almost every project.
- Mark, not that long ago you made a career change by moving to “Wingens Consultants” which represents a substantial change. I might be getting ahead of myself a little bit, but my first question is; has this been a good career move for you and are you having fun?
Yes, very much so. It has been exactly one year since the Nitrex equipment divisions were sold, with my last signatures on the deal. I was offered the chance to step away, and I took it. Now that my past agreements are behind me, two things have pleasantly surprised me: how much I enjoy consulting, and how interesting and innovative the projects at Wingens Consultants are. In this role I get to help many more companies and people than before, and that is the part I enjoy most. I am glad I can be of help.
- At this point let’s back up slightly, Thomas, can you give us the background on “Wingens Consultants”?
Wingens Consultants works in three connected areas: metallic materials, the furnaces that treat them, and the heat treaters, captive or commercial, who run those furnaces. We have been fortunate to support rare earth magnet material projects; titanium, tantalum and niobium metals production projects; and clients procuring plant equipment such as furnaces and cleaning systems. In short, we aim to be a full-service metals advisory group, and we rely on a wide network of colleagues and partners when a project calls for expertise beyond our own.
- What do you consult on? A basic question yes, but does Wingens get involved in any and every form of heat treating? Steel mills as an example? Foundries? In other words what are the fields that your team focuses on?
Over the years we have worked on projects ranging from powder metals and primary metals to forging, dies, aerospace parts and coatings, cleaning of metals, and recycling of high-value metals, so the work spans quite a few disciplines. Where there is heat and metal, there is a good chance we have seen something similar before, and where we haven’t, we are happy to say so and bring in the right people.
- And you personally Mark, can you give us some examples of projects you have been involved with to date? I fully understand that you probably can’t name, names, but in general terms what occupies your time day to day?
We generally don’t mention current customers, but in broad terms: I am starting to work with a graphite machining and CFC forming group (materials used in vacuum processing). I have also worked with some commercial heat treaters. I will be advising on nitriding of all kinds this month, and I am helping with project management of large furnace installations in an industry that is new to me, which keeps me learning. We would also welcome the chance to support aerospace and industrial gas turbine companies as they expand. Project management is something I picked up early, through my MBA studies, working with my father, building furnaces and the installations and start-ups that go with these projects. I still love seeing equipment installed, tested and commissioned until it runs productively and delivers high-quality output. In those days I did a bit of everything, including writing PLC code, running loads and testing materials.
- Thomas and Mark, I have all kinds of questions such as how long your projects last, are you international and so on and so on. With all due respect when I think of most consultants I think of old, retired guys picking up a few little jobs here and there-obviously this is not you and your team.
Thomas: Thank you, Gord, we will gladly take “experienced” over “old”! We have been fortunate to pick up a number of new clients in recent months, many of them European equipment companies looking at the US market. We help with market messaging and market fit, adapting product design for the US, and supporting messaging materials such as brochures, website content and technical papers. What we bring most is familiarity with these US markets and how to position oneself and sell. Aerospace, gas turbines and rare earth metals are very hot right now, no pun intended, and there are simply not enough experienced people to go around. That is a gap we can help fill now and for the short run, working alongside our clients’ own teams.
- Thomas, money is flowing into this industry. Business are being bought, sold, and merged. We just heard about Private Equity putting in large sums into software for heat treaters and Bodycote, as you know, is a huge deal. We ran an article recently on The Monty talking about PE failures. What are you seeing?
Gord, we are glad to see money coming into the US heat treat market. Between Mark and I, we have seen these transactions from several sides. After acquiring and/or integrating 24 heat treat shops in my Bodycote years, I came back to the US again to help buy companies for strategic and PE investors, and Mark participated in the sale of Nitrex, a PE-owned company, and has secured venture capital in the past. We both have MBAs and enjoy the equity side of the business. We have nothing negative to say about PE; the US heat treat industry needs to catch up with investments, and more of it is needed, not less. What investment in this field requres is people who understand the industry to help structure deals, perform proper due diligence, and, most of all, know how to run the daily business. In this field, getting qualified people is usually the most valuable asset. Deciding who to keep and how to fill the gaps and train and mentor are skills we have. This is precisely where many mistakes are made after the purchase. Having seen what is under the hood of quite a few of these companies, we can often help buyers see early on what is worth paying for, comprehending what they are buying, and what may become an issue a few months after closing. That is where we try to be useful.
- I have known you guys a long time. Mark, you love to boat. I never realized Wingens was this prevalent in the industry. Do you guys have time for all the work that should be coming your way?
Thomas: We are still growing Wingens Consultants. We have started building out a nitriding advisory team with Mark, we will be introducing Dr. “Glow” (Dr. Edward Rolinski) and several other metallurgists, and we are now, in October, advising equipment companies in these areas. The aim is to help users of this equipment (heat treaters) nitride better and choose the right equipment right here in the US. And yes, Gord, we are busy, but we both enjoy the work, and we try to keep a healthy balance, whether that is Mark on his boat in Florida or me running, biking the Pittsburgh hills, or at soccer tournaments with my family. We have also added services and people to support us: last year we implemented an ERP system and increased our back-office staff, so the consulting team can focus on what they know best — heat treating and metallurgy. In the end, our goal is simply to be useful to companies that value experience and careful thinking, and to help them grow with as little cost and risk as possible.
