With the help of our readers (just over 300 different suggestions in total) we have completed our 2019 list of the 25 Most Influential People in the North American Heat Treating Industry. The basic criteria we suggested to make the list is that the individuals named are in positions to change the course of the captive and heat treating markets in North America either in terms of presenting new technologies, influencing purchasing decisions, deciding what type of heat treating to do or effecting current heat treatment practices. Examples could include pioneers in new forms of heat treatment, the fellow at a major captive heat treater who decides which furnaces to buy, CEO’s of major furnace builders, large commercial heat treaters or consultants who advise on what equipment should be used. In addition, to make the list individuals must currently be active in the industry which means that those who are deceased will not be included (we are not being facetious, time marches on at least 3 individuals who made previous lists are no longer with us, Jeff Pritchard of Vac Aero, Mr. George Pfaffman of Ajax Tocco and Steve Graham of American Axle & Manufacturing).

We received some very interesting (although in some cases puzzling) suggestions. Some suggestions we received who did not make the list were Dan McCurdy of Bodycote (just retired), Mr. Bill Andreski, President – MetConsult LLC who received one very complimentary suggestion from a large captive heat treater (by the way we also have a high opinion of Bill) and Don Longenette formerly of Timken and Bodycote (who very recently changed career paths). It is interesting how much the list has changed since our last update-13 out of 25 names on this list did not appear all those years ago.

We do want to stress that all of these names were suggested to us by multiple people, but unfortunately we are sure that some who deserve to be named were not for one reason or another.

So we proceed to the fun part–the actual list. The #1 suggestion for the most influential individual in the North American heat treating industry is none other than Mr. Stephen Harris, CEO of Bodycote. We have listed his name first along with the reasons he was suggested. The other 24 names are in alphabetical order. We appreciate all the suggestions and look forward to another updated list in 2020.

Stephen Harris, Bodycote International. As CEO of the largest commercial heat treater in North America (although based in the UK) Stephen decisions have an enormous effect on the industry. In North American alone the company has 67 facilities between Mexico, Canada and the US and sale of over $400 million USD per year-the company’s footprint has doubled over the past 7 years. Other readers mention the fact that under his 11 years of leadership the share price has gone from 115 pence when he started to 760 pence today.

Pete Batche, Emerald Steel. So why Pete? Since 2005 the heat treating standard for automotive components has been CQI-9 which covers most aspects of the heat treating process. The standard was developed by a team from the automotive industry, one of which was an individual by the name of Pete Batche. While we recognize that Pete is just one part of the CQI-9 team his name keeps popping up and several people suggested him. Pete has been going strong for many years and is currently Quality Manager/Metallurgist at Emerald Steel in Michigan.

Bill Braddock, Braddock Metallurgical. Family owned Braddock Metallurgical based in the US Southeast is ranked as the 7th largest commercial heat treat in North America https://themonty.com/largest-commercial-heat-treats/ and this is largely due to the efforts of Bill and Steve Braddock (unfortunately Steve has passed away). Bill has been on our lists in the past and while he is not as involved in the day to day operations as he once was, several people suggested him. Bill’s title these days is executive Vice President.

 
Bill (B.J) Bernard, Surface Combustion. When introduced in the last century Surface Combustion’s, “Allcase” batch IQ furnaces completely changed the direction of heat treating. As owner and President of the company Bill Bernard (Senior) had a direct impact on the industry. In turn his son B.J. Bernard who is now President of the company has a very strong influence in the industry.
 
Bill Disler, AFC-Holcroft. Bill has spent virtually his entire working career in the heat treating industry and for the past 13 years has been President and CEO of AFC-Holcroft (part of the Aichelin Group located in Vienna Austria). As one of the largest furnace builders in North America his decisions about what new technologies should be pursued and what products to offer can and do affect the entire industry.
 
Mario Ciampini, Bodycote. Mario has not been on our list before, however with his history in the industry we agreed with each of the suggestions we received about including Mario. 18 years with Ipsen (1987-2005) of which 13 were in the capacity of President/CEO. Two major accomplishments: Acquisitions integration of Abar Ipsen and Ipsen Industries followed by the acquisition of Vacuum Furnace Systems. This was followed by joining the Bodycote Group in 2006 and establishing the Asia footprint in China, SE Asia, India and Japan for a period of 6 years, followed by operational responsibilities in North America, and M&A for past 3 years.
 
Fred Hamizadeh, AAM. A brand new entry on our list is Mr. Fred Hamizadeh of American Axle & Manufacturing who has the title of Director – Global Manufacturing Services – AAM Heat Treat & Facilities Process. Fred has over 30 years in the industry with companies such a Surface Combustion, Williams Industrial and AAM where he makes the heat treating decisions for one of the largest captive heat treaters in the world. Without a doubt Fred deserves to be on our list.
 
Mark Hemsath, SECO/WARWICK. Director of Nitriding & Special Vacuum Furnaces-Thermal GM, SECO/WARWICK. Like many of us in the industry Mark was born into it as his father was very prominent in heat treating. We had a total of 6 suggestions that Mark be included which is very impressive. Mark offers a lifetime of experience in heat treating and new technologies.
 
Jeff Hemmer, Bluewater Thermal. Jeff has been in the heat treat industry for almost 40 years and has worked with commercial heat treaters such as Industrial Heat treating and NDT services which was acquired by Lindberg which was then acquired by Bodycote. Since 2008 he has had a leadership role at Bluewater Thermal and is currently President and CEO. Overseeing over 550 people Jeff has a very decided influence on heat treating.
 
Bob Hill, Solar Atmospheres. Commercial heat treater Solar Atmospheres is one of the largest commercial vacuum heat treaters in North America and several people suggested Bob. We will leave it up to Bill Jones, CEO of the company to tell us why Bob should be in included on our list; “Bob is a degreed metallurgist with over 40 years’ experience in the heat treating industry. His career began in 1977, with Precision Heat Treating Co. of Southampton, PA. Within two years, Bob was promoted to Plant Manager. In 1995, Bob left Precision HT to join Solar Atmospheres of Souderton, PA as Plant Manager. In 2000, Bob established Solar Atmospheres of Western PA (Hermitage) from a greenfield site, with the first 24’ car bottom vacuum furnace for annealing large Ti rolls, some 50,000lb workloads, and, at the time, the largest car bottom vacuum furnace of its kind. Bob has since expanded the plant to 75,000sf of factory floor space, with an additional 18 vacuum furnaces, including a metallurgical lab and testing facility. Bob is well recognized as a heat treater for large aerospace components, medical, and other critical materials, including Ti, high temperature SS alloys, magnetic metals, and vacuum brazing large assemblies. Starting from nothing, the Solar Hermitage plant now generates over $20m in sales per year and is growing. Bob is a past President of the MTI (2014) and former ASM Board of Trustees member (2010). Respectfully submitted by William R. Jones, Owner of the Solar Family of Companies”
 
John Hubbard, Thermal Process Holdings. You could certainly make the argument that the most successful commercial heat treater in North America is John Hubbard. From humble beginnings he formed a small commercial heat treating group by the name of Hinderliter which became part of Bodycote which lead to him becoming CEO of the company. After retiring for a few years he re entered the industry and is now part of Thermal Process Holdings which has 5 locations around the US with more to come.
 
Bill Jones, CEO of Solar Atmospheres, Souderton, PA. (Commercial vacuum heat treating) and Solar Manufacturing (new vacuum furnaces). Bill is a true innovator whose research into vacuum heat treating furnaces has had a very definite impact on vacuum heat treating. My personal opinion is that there are very few in the vacuum industry that can rival Bill’s knowledge. In an uncertain world it is always nice that some things never change and one is Bill Jones of Solar.
 
Michel Korwin, President of Nitrex Metal Inc., Montreal, Quebec. Michel is probably more responsible than any other individual in North America for the growth of Gas Nitriding. In addition Michel created one of the largest furnace controls company’s in North America, United Process Controls. Michel was on our original list many years ago and while perhaps he has slowed down a bit we still see him at various trade shows and he continues to have an impact on the industry.
 
Scott MacKenzie, Houghton International. Scott is Technical Consultant of Houghton International, one of the largest manufacturers of quench products in the world. Scott is in turn one of their technical experts who is regularly invited to lecture. Scott is truly a staple of the heat treatment industry and can be found at various trade shows all over the world quite often as part of IFHTSE (International Federations of Heat Treating & Surface Engineering).
 
Bill Mayer, Industrial Heating. Bill was in the top five for the number of nominations we received. Bill is Managing Editor of Industrial Heating, the largest and oldest publication in the heat treatment industry in North America. He has had more than 9 years at IH and the general consensus was that his decisions on what to print have a day to day effect on heat treaters.
 
Pat McKenna, Ipsen. Pat is now President of Ipsen North America which is one of the largest furnace builders on the continent. He like many (most) on this list became involved in the heat treatment industry at quite a young age and has worked his way up through companies such as Nevada Heat Treating. We predict that his star is going to continue to rise in this business for quite a few years to come.
 
Jeff McLaughlin, McLaughlin Furnace Group. Interesting fellow Jeff. He started in the heat treating industry at a very young age and up until just a few years ago his name was not one commonly recognized. Over the past few years his company McLaughlin Furnace Group has grown by leaps and bounds and is now quite a recognized name all around North America both for atmosphere and vacuum furnaces.
 
Jim Oakes, SSi. We had several suggestions about Jim Oakes, Vice President of Business Development at controls company SSi. Interestingly enough the suggestions concentrated more on his involvement in organizations such MTI and Nadcap than his efforts at SSi. Jim is President Elect of Metal Treating Institute and will become the President this fall.
 
Rich Ott, Linamar. Global auto parts supplier Linamar is an amazing success story moving from a 1 man operation 50 years ago to a multi billion dollar per year, global supplier. Based in Canada Linamar offers captive heat treating on 3 continents and this includes vacuum carburizing, nitriding, nitro carburizing-you name it and Linamar probably does it. And the man in charge of their heat treating-Rich Ott with over 40 years experience.
 
Ben Rassieur, CEO Paulo Products. No way can we ignore the President of the largest privately owned heat treat group in North America. Paulo remains the largest privately owned heat treat group in North America and Ben remains CEO of the company. Paulo has seen tremendous growth over the past few years and continues to invest in new technologies.
 
Gary Sharp, Owner and President of Advanced Heat Treat Corp. in Waterloo, Iowa. Many years ago when Ion Nitriding was introduced to the North American heat treating market the technology got off to a very rocky start and languished for many years in the wilderness of heat treating. Gary saw an opportunity and has grown Advanced into the largest commercial Ion Nitrider in North America. Gary made our original lists but has not slowed down in the slightest and continues to grow the company which we consistently rate as one of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America.
 
Jeff Smith, SBS Corp. We have to confess that Jeff’s was not a name which occurred to us, however because of his efforts water cooling of quench oils is largely a thing of the past. We had several people suggest his name including Dean Russell who said this; “I would like to nominate Jeff O. Smith the founder of SBS Corp. Jeff truly changed the Heat Treat Industry by solely focusing on one objective, To convert existing integral quench furnaces, and convince new customers that the only way to cool quench oil is with air coolers. No small task for a small start up company. But one by one, and year by year he stayed focused, and accomplished his objective. I played a part in the early years, and I can thank Jeff for introducing me to a fabulous 40 year career, in an industry I love. Sincerely, Dean L Russell. Industrial Thermal Systems”.
 
Geoffrey Somary, Ipsen Inc. My how Geoffrey’s star has risen over the years. From beginnings outside of the heat treating industry he has slowly but gradually moved up the ranks at Ipsen, very recently becoming CEO of Ipsen Group one of the largest furnace builders in the world. In this position Geoffrey has ultimate authority over product development, marketing and new technologies.
 
Pat Torok, United Process Controls. What an excellent suggestion this was by several readers and one which would not have occurred to us much to our embarrassment. Pat has always been involved in the controls side of the business and many of his ideas have been truly ground breaking such as “The Furnace Doctor” (a portable 3 gas analyzer) which he brought to market quite a few years ago. Since that time he has worked with one of the larger control companies in the industry, United Process Controls and continues to come up with innovative ideas.
 
Valery Rudnev, Inductoheat. Inductoheat is the largest induction supplier in the world and the good doctor is Director of Science & Technology at the company’s office in Michigan. His name regularly pops up in connection with Induction heat treating technology and in particular for various awards, all based upon a lifetime spent in the industry. Valery by the way is the only Induction “fellow” to make our list.

From heat treat industry expert Thomas Wingens (whose profile can be viewed at the bottom of this page) we have this summary of the 10 largest commercial heat treaters in Europe based on annual sales volume. To this list we have added some comments of our own.

“Thomas Wingens is the President of WINGENS LLC International Industry Consultancy in Pittsburgh, PA and Stuttgart, Germany. He has a graduated engineering degree (Dipl.Ing.) in material science from the University of Applied Science in Dortmund/Germany and holds a MBA from the University of Economy and Management in Stuttgart/Germany. Mr. Wingens started his professional career in 1987 as metallurgist and heat treater in the Thyssen Specialty Steel mill in Germany and has worked in Management and Executive positions with leading companies in the metal and heat treat industry, such as Bodycote, Ipsen, Tenova Group, Seco/Warwick, VTN (IHI Group) and executed research projects with ThyssenKrupp Germany, Volvo Corporate Research Sweden and Böhler Voestalpine Steel Austria. He is a member of ASM (American Society of Materials), AIST (American Iron and Steel Technology) in the US and their equivalent societies in Germany  (VDI Germany Engineering Society, VDEH – German Society of Iron and Steel, AWT – German heat treat society). In August 2016 he got elected as board member to the North American Heat Treat Society (HTS). Mr. Wingens has published several papers and held presentations at international conferences on general heat treating, nitriding and vacuum furnace processes. He lives with his wife Andrea and their two children In Sewickley, PA (Pittsburgh). Thomas can be reached at [email protected] 

It is now almost 20 years since “The Monty” put together our first list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America. This is roughly the 6thupdate to our original ranking and like most things it gets better with age. It’s a difficult task ranking what are largely privately held companies with little desire to share sales figures however after all these years we are quite proud of the accuracy of this list. (note; we are not going to guarantee 100% but, in our conceit, we feel it is possible).  The basic criteria:

-this ranking is based upon sales figures for 2018

-sales would include plants in the USA, Canada and Mexico (although Bodycote’s figures do not include their operations in Mexico)

-we are only considering companies whose core business is commercial heat treating. As an example, our understanding is that Commercial Steel Treating in Madison Heights, Michigan and their associated companies such as Curtis Metal Treating have sales in the area of $100 million USD per year. However, most of their sales are finishing as opposed to heat treating and for that reason we have excluded them.

-as a publicly traded company we have no issue sharing Bodycote’s sales figures, however we have refrained with all the others on this list.

-while we started off with a “Top 10” list it grew to a “Top 15” list as you can see. The reason being that some of these companies are so close in size that it is difficult to include one and exclude another.

-as always we appreciate comments and corrections and indeed look forward to them

 

-Bodycote https://www.bodycote.com/It is absolutely no surprise that UK based Bodycote dwarfs all others in North America, as a matter of fact they dominate in almost every single area of the world. Total North American sales in 2017 were $325 million USD (excluding Mexico). The US and Canada account for 34% of the group’s total sales.

-Paulo https://www.paulo.com/We feel quite comfortable putting family owned commercial heat treater Paulo in second spot based upon their 5 facilities in the USA. Note that this does not included their recently launched Mexican facility.

-Premier ThermalSolutions https://www.premierthermal.com/In the US Midwest Premier Thermal are the big boys on the block when it comes to annealing of castings. With the acquisition of aluminum heat treater Alfe Heat Treating https://www.al-fe.com/ the combined company becomes the third largest commercial heat treating group in North America. Both companies are controlled by Z Capital Group who is also parent company to “NitroSteel”

-Woodworth Heat Treating http://www.woodworthheattreating.com/ Woodworth is another family owned company which has been tremendously successful over the years. The company has a total of 3 plants in Michigan and one in Puebla, Mexico all concentrating on the automotive sector

-Bluewater Thermal Solutions https://bluewaterthermal.com/Owned by Alterian Investment Partners Bluewater is an impressive organization which has facilities in the US and Canada working with a multitude of industries.

-Solar Atmospheres https://solaratm.com/One of the most high-profile heat treaters on our list is Solar Atmospheres which has become a giant in the industry by focusing on one type of heat treating-vacuum. The company has 4 locations around the US all absolutely state of the art. We can’t say enough good things about the company. 

-Braddock Metallurgical http://braddockmt.com/Braddock is now a third generation, family owned company which dominates in the US Southeast. The company has 8 plants including Puerto Rico. You name the process and Braddock can probably offer it.

-Aalberts Industries https://aalberts.com/ Based in the Netherlands conglomerate Aalberts is making our list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America for the first time after their recent acquisition of Applied Process. In North America Aalberts now has the three AP locations (Michigan,  Wisconsin and Arkansas) in addition to their Accurate Brazing facilities in South Carolina and New Hampshire and their partnership in Ionic Technologies in South Carolina.

-FPM Heat Treating http://fpmht.com/With three plants in the US Mid-West FPM Heat Treating is the largest commercial heat treater in the area.

-Advanced Heat Treat Corp. https://www.ahtcorp.com/We have a real fondness for Advanced Heat Treat Corp., based in Waterloo, Iowa. The company was founded by Gary Sharp a number of years ago based upon his vision of Plasma (Ion) Nitriding. Since that time the company has grown to include most processes, but Gary is still the man most responsible for making Plasma nitriding a mainstream process in North America.

-Nitrex http://www.nitrex.com/heat-treating-services/If Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (in the #10 position) was built on Plasma Nitriding, Nitrex was built on gas nitriding. No other company in the world has done more to develop and promote this very impressive technology.

–Thermal Process Holdings. Thermal Process Holdings was formed by Calvert Street Capital Partners and John Hubbard (former CEO of Bodycote, PLC) to pursue a buy-and-build strategy in the thermal processing industry. The team has a stated goal to build a diversified, professionally-managed thermal processing business generating over $100 million of revenue. TPH owns and operates: P & L Heat Treating in Youngstown, Ohio, Diamond Heat Treat, based in Rockford, IL; Certified Heat Treating, based in Springfield, OH; and Hudapack Metal Treating, based in Elkhorn and Franklin, Wisconsin.

– ALD Thermal Treatment https://www.ald-vt.com/portfolio/service/heat-treatment-services/Based in Germany ALD Thermal Treatment has a facility in Port Huron, Michigan and Mexico. The company’s focus is on vacuum carburizing of automotive transmission components and they have excelled at it.

-ThermTech Inc. https://www.thermtech.net/It is quite unusual in our experience to see a single shop location make our list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America but such is the case with family owned ThermTech in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

-Rex https://www.rexht.com/In the Eastern USA family owned Rex heat treat has been a major player for as long as we can remember. While we say the eastern US the company also has a large operation in Alabama.

Before we get into the 10 Largest Captive North American Heat Treaters lets have a look at the size of the overall market. It is generally accepted that the total size of the heat treating market in the US for both captive and commercial heat treaters is in the neighbourhood of $20 Billion USD per year with commercial heat treating accounting for about 10% or $2 Billion per year. This compares to a worldwide estimate of $89 Billion USD by 2020 (Source Technavio research) with an estimated breakdown of 32% aerospace, 30% automotive, 15% industrial and others 21%. We stress that all of these numbers are at best educated guesses given the fact that most studies can’t even seem  to agree on what actually constitutes heat treating and at worst they are nothing more than a dart thrown against a wall.

However lets take these numbers as a given and look at the total size of the North American market. If the US market is $20 Billion per year the Canadian market is approximately 6% of this value or $1.2 Billion per year (and shrinking) and the Mexican market approximately 15% or $3 Billion per year for a total of $24.2 Billion USD per year (source WG Montgomery Ltd.). Given this background and Technavio’s estimated market breakdown we can say that the largest captive heat treaters in North America will be found in the aerospace, automotive, heavy equipment or agricultural industries (before we go any further we should say that when we say heat treating this will include vacuum, atmosphere, induction and aluminum heat treating. It will also include all of a company’s locations in North America which have in house heat treating). 

GM, Ford and Chrysler would have generally been considered to be in this group but we do not believe this to still be the case. Granted GM has over 40 vacuum carburizing cells in their North American plants, Ford has a mammoth VC installation at their Sharonville, Ohio, Transmission plant and Chrysler’s transmission plants in Kokomo, Indiana are amongst the largest in-house heat treats under one roof in the world but by and large a large amount of the “Big Three’s” heat treating has been out sourced over the past 10 years. The heat treating was of course outsourced when their parts were outsourced, American Axle & Manufacturing, Magna, Linamar and Dana are all good examples of companies which has benefited from this outsourcing and correspondingly increased their heat treating capacity.

After considering a total of some 30 suggestions, the list of 10 below are those whom we would consider to have the largest in house heat treating capacity in North America.  (please note that while we give a brief indication of what type of heat treating each company does but this certainly does not mean that they are restricted to this type only). The first 9 are alphabetical with our suggestion for the largest in North America, heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar based in Deerfield, Illinois  in the final position.

American Axle & Manufacturing-atmosphere heat treating

Dana Incorporated-atmosphere, vacuum carburizing

FCA-vacuum carburizing, atmosphere, salt

John Deere-nitriding, atmosphere heat treating

Linamar-vacuum carburizing, induction, atmosphere

Pratt & Whitney-vacuum heat treating

Precision Cast Products Corp. (PCC)-vacuum heat treating, atmosphere

The Timken Company-atmosphere, induction

Schaeffler Group-vacuum, austempering, atmosphere

ZF Company-atmosphere, vacuum carburizing, austempering

Caterpillar– the worldwide manufacturer of heavy equipment is in our opinion the largest captive heat treater in North America with most types of heat treating processes being available in house.

Although job descriptions can vary quite a bit between companies and salaries are subject to regional adjustments, this should give a fairly accurate representation of the current market-value for most commercial heat treating positions. An important note: compensation packages in the heat treat industry have advanced rapidly over the past few years. As the labor market has tightened, companies have had to increase wages to attract the resources necessary to run a successful operation. In many cases, the employer is offering non-cash incentives as well, such as more vacation time, the ability to work from home and profit sharing or bonus programs.

General Manager: Some GMs have Plant Manager responsibilities as well, but for our purposes, we’ll assume not. The GM is more the outward “face” of the company and typically does not get overly concerned with tactical day-to-day issues in the plant. Rather, the GM focuses on dealing with customers, addressing any emergency issues that arise and is ultimately responsible for managing the P&L of the plant. A good GM is worth his proverbial weight in gold. Salaries for experienced GMs start at $110k minimum and can exceed $160k+. Sometimes, GMs are also incentivized with equity and/or performance bonuses.

Plant Manager: PMs are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the plant and oversee all employees, either directly or indirectly. The PM will usually not have P&L responsibility, but will manage and oversee all other functions of the plant. PM salaries range from $90k up to $125k or more and typically also offer performance bonuses.

Plant Metallurgist: Metallurgists will sometimes also act as the Quality Manager and/or Lab Manager. The Plant Metallurgist’s main responsibility is over the various processes within the plant. Compensation for metallurgists varies wildly depending on experience, but for a non-manager, salaries will usually fall in the $75-95k +/- range.

Quality Manager: Sometimes a Metallurgist will fill this role, but more often it is a non-degreed person with hands-on experience who has risen through the ranks. They will typically supervise a staff of quality technicians and will run the quality department and usually oversee audits. Sometimes, they will also have lab responsibilities. Salaries for experienced Quality Managers are between $70 and $90k, but can easily creep into six-figures if they will be supervising a large staff or have extensive audit knowledge.

Sales Engineer: Two types of compensation plans are prevalent for sales. One type of plan is salary only, commensurate with experience. The other is salary plus commission or bonus. As is the case for OEMs, compensation depends on how collaborative a sales effort the company uses, if independent reps are involved and the philosophy and preference of the company. For a salaried Sales Engineer, you can expect base pay of $75-100k, plus car allowance/company car/mileage. For a commissioned Sales Engineer, the base may be closer to $55-75k + whatever commission is earned and car allowance/company car/mileage. Compensation plans for sales can be complex and we will provide an in-depth analysis of how sales professionals are incentivized in a future article.

Maintenance Supervisor: A case could be made that Maintenance is the most important role within any heat treat organization. Without a good preventative maintenance plan and good repair capability when furnaces do go down, a commercial heat treater is out of business. Most of the time, Maintenance Supervisors are non-degreed professionals who have worked their way up from an hourly position on the floor. Over the past 2-3 years, there has been an uptick in demand for qualified Maintenance Supervisors and salaries have risen as a result. Whereas 7-8 years ago, many Maintenance Supervisors were earning $40-50k, we now see salaries nearing six-figures, especially when overtime is considered.

VP/Furnace Operator/Other: This is obviously not an exhaustive list of positions within a commercial heat treater, but covers most of the middle management roles. VPs were intentionally left out because compensation can differ so much at the higher levels depending on the company, region and equity or bonus packages. Hourly Furnace Operators are always in demand, and while they sometimes don’t require much experience and are trained in-house, we often see knowledgeable furnace operators not only running equipment, but also providing quality control checks and resolving minor maintenance issues. Wages for furnace operators can be around $13-17/hour with overtime, but can stretch to $25/hour for someone with extensive experience and lead responsibilities. If you have questions about any specific position, please feel free to contact us at [email protected].

For over 20 years, ISP has been the premier recruiting solution for the Heat Treat industry. The salary information provided is based on information gathered over that time and from interviewing 500+ industry professionals per year. If you’re hiring now, or exploring new opportunities for yourself, we are uniquely positioned to be your partner for success and would love to work with you. Please contact us at [email protected] or 619-465-9621.

Recently we provided a salary guide laying out compensation ranges for most functions within the commercial heat treat industry. Here, we will provide the same information as it relates to OEMs and specifically furnace and oven manufacturers. Although job descriptions can vary quite a bit between companies, and salaries are subject to regional adjustments, this should give you a reasonably accurate representation of the current market-value for most OEM positions. An important note: compensation packages in the heat treat industry have advanced rapidly over the past few years. As the labor market has tightened, companies have had to increase wages to attract the resources necessary to run a successful operation. In many cases, the employer is offering non-cash incentives as well, such as more vacation time, the ability to work from home and profit sharing or bonus programs.

Mechanical, Electrical and Project Engineers: These are typically degreed individuals who handle project management and will often act as the project lead regarding equipment design. Electrical engineers will generally not be the lead on a single project but will spread themselves out over several projects. Typical salary ranges for engineers can vary quite a bit depending on total number years of experience, but usually falls anywhere from $85k up to around $110k.

Designers, Draftsman, Detailers (both Mechanical and Electrical): These are typically non-degreed individuals who are the backbone of every Furnace/Oven Manufacturer. They are typically paid hourly and can earn anywhere from the mid – $20’s to $40/hour + OT.

Application Engineers: These positions can also be called proposal engineers, estimators, inside sales engineers, etc. Whatever you call them, these are the people who put together the quotes that get sent to prospective customers. Sometimes, the business development person will also handle quotes, but companies will benefit from having this function done in-house and thus allowing the sales engineer to be out in the field doing what they do best, SELLING.  Application engineers are usually compensated at around $65k on the low end, but they can earn up to six figures or more for those who have niche technical expertise and who also work closely with outside sales to close deals.

Field Service Engineers: FSEs are a unique breed of technical “road warriors,” who love to travel and spend days, weeks or months away from home. These hands-on engineers and technicians work on installations and start-ups of equipment all over the world. They are almost always non-exempt employees and a significant percentage of their income can come from OT and per diem. Good ones can often make over $100K in any given year, but they are usually earning a base rate in the $25-35/hour range. As this type of skills set and availability to travel is highly in demand, more and more companies are offering remote-work and other flexible schedule options to entice and retain experienced FSEs.

Sales Engineers: Two types of compensation plans are prevalent for sales. One type of plan is salary only, commensurate with experience. The other is salary plus commission or bonus. Generally, OEMs who have a very technical, custom designed product and a long sales cycle will incentivize their sales engineers mainly with base salary and perhaps a small incentive bonus. This works well for both parties since it can be hard to determine a commission percentage for a sale that might be years in the making. OEMs with a more standard product line, and therefore a shorter sales cycle, will often opt for a smaller base salary and more incentive in the form of commission or bonuses. Whatever mix of base and commission, most sales engineers are earning somewhere in the low to mid $100k’s, plus car allowance/company car/mileage. Compensation plans for sales can be complex and we will provide an in-depth analysis of how sales professionals are incentivized in a future article.

VP/Production/Other: This is obviously not an exhaustive list of positions within an OEM but covers most of the middle management roles. VPs were intentionally left out because compensation can differ so much at the higher levels depending on the company, region and equity or bonus packages. Hourly production workers are always in demand as well. However, typically companies don’t require much experience and are willing to hire at a lower rate and provide in-house training. 

If you have questions about any specific position, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]. For over 20 years, ISP has been the premier recruiting solution for the Heat Treat industry. The salary information provided is based on information gathered over that time and from interviewing 500+ industry professionals per year. If you’re hiring now, or exploring new opportunities for yourself, we are uniquely positioned to be your partner for success and would love to work with you. Please contact us at [email protected] or 619-465-9621.