Commercial heat treater Nitrion do Brasil – the largest nitriding service provider in the region – has purchased another SECO/WARWICK Vector vacuum furnace. The solution will operate in a new production hall and will handle their increasing order volume. Nitrion do Brasil is another commercial heat treater from South America that has chosen SECO/WARWICK’s solutions. This latest project is the result of the excellent synergy with the Group’s strategic partner in the region – Combustol. 

In Brazil, commercial heat treaters are particularly fond of Vector single-chamber vacuum furnaces. This line of furnaces was used by Supertrat, who wanted to improve and increase their hardening process power and boost the process economics. Dynamic sales growth and good forecasts on this market are the result of close cooperation between SECO/WARWICK and strategic partner – Combustol.

“Combustol supports SECO/WARWICK not only in sales, but also in service activities and the supply of spare parts. Such a partner in such a remote location is a huge advantage, helping us to beat the competition. In the case of cooperation with Nitrion do Brasil, another factor determined the success. The customer bought a furnace that we could  deliver quickly,” – said Maciej Korecki, Vice-President of the Vacuum Furnaces Segment in the SECO/WARWICK Group.

The Vector vacuum furnace on order will solve Nitron do Brasil’s problem of hardening larger elements, because the furnace is equipped with a large working space. This will affect the process economics (energy savings and the graphite chamber’s increased efficiency) as well as the process cleanliness and speed. The furnace is equipped with convection heating – a system which improves the heat transfer efficiency when heating at lower temperatures, as well as directional cooling, which allows the system to efficiently cool parts with problematic shapes in various ways

“We were looking for a solution which would help not only increase our metal processing capabilities, but also efficiency and effectiveness. Vector is the first choice furnace and will operate in a completely new production hall. We know that it works in many commercial heat treating plants in Brazil, and works perfectly everywhere in the country. The fact that SECO/WARWICK cooperates with a Brazilian company operating locally is important,” says Peter Lutz, President of Nitrion do Brasil.

Commercial heat treaters are one of the SECO/WARWICK Group’s main partners. Every day, commercial heat treaters deal with many types of materials, a wide range of processes and technologies. What all customers in this industry have in common is the key parameter- operational efficiency, i.e. short production cycles and low production costs. “We know the South American market; we have supplied vacuum furnaces to the largest commercial heat treating plants on this continent. Again, we executed the fastest vacuum furnace delivery on the Brazilian market.”– adds Łukasz Chwiałkowski, Sales Manager, SECO/WARWICK.”

To go with the news item we have this photo of part of the Nitrion facility. 

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Ipsen welcomes Max Stormo as the new Ipsen Customer Service (ICS) Operations Manager as the company streamlines its aftermarket services in Souderton, PA. Stormo comes to Ipsen after an extensive career working as a manufacturing operations leader in Texas, and a recent role as Vice President of Operations at a manufacturer in the Philadelphia region.

In this position, Stormo will be a hands-on leader that directs and coordinates activities of Ipsen’s aftermarket business for the Souderton plant. This includes overseeing manufacturing activities, developing and implementing production plans, training and developing staff, and ensuring the delivery of high-quality aftermarket parts to Ipsen’s customers.

“Leading organizations through a series of step changes leads to organizational transformation. I’m a big believer in step change – which drives sustainability,” Stormo explained. “These changes lead to bigger things and set new standards.”

Born and raised in Spokane, WA, Stormo received his Bachelor of Science degree in Operations Management from Arizona State University. In 2006, he followed a career opportunity to Houston, TX where he spent the next 17 years in leadership roles with two different companies.

Stormo reports to Jake Hamid, Ipsen USA’s Director and Chief Operating Officer, and is excited to work with a team of exceptional leaders who share common values: “Ipsen has genuine leaders who represent the type of people that I enjoy working with and the culture that I was looking to join,” said Stormo.

He also looks forward to working with an experienced and growing team. Ipsen’s Souderton location has over 60 employees and is currently recruiting for ten additional positions: “People are an investment and the most valued asset in the company. Everyone I’ve met at Ipsen has the same attitude – enthusiasm,” said Stormo.

Stormo has lived in Pennsylvania since October of 2022. He shares his home with his wife of 24 years, his 16-year-old son, and a collection of three cats and two dogs. In his spare time, he loves to golf, fish, and cook award-winning barbecue.

Anyone interested in joining Ipsen’s Souderton team can view job opportunities here: https://recruiting.paylocity.com/recruiting/jobs/All/5bb721ef-b458-4a18-834f-26612b119f93/Ipsen-International-Inc?location=Souderton%2C%20PA&department=All%20Departments

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In 2023 MT Heat Treat in Mentor, Ohio, USA was forced to close with the assets ceased by the bank and sent to auction just last week (our original stories are below). With the auction now concluded we can give you an update. 
 
As expected all of the ancillary equipment which included a number of Surface Combustion “UniDraw” tempers, washers and generators did sell for quite respectable prices. We understand that the 12,000 CFH generator sold in the range of $40,000 USD and even an old style Surface generator sold for $8,000. 
 
The story on the Surface “Super 30” batch IQ furnaces was different with only two being sold. All were electric which is not the first choice of most heat treaters in North America but more importantly a number of the furnaces had been “cannibalized” for parts, most notably the electric heating elements.
 
All in all no real surprise on what sold and what didn’t. The fact that most of the equipment sold is proof that even though the used furnace market in North America is a bit slower these days there is still demand for good used equipment. 
 
“APRIL 20, 2024. Ohio Heat Treater Goes to Auction; Earlier this year we mentioned how commercial heat treater MT Heat Treat Inc. in Ohio was closing their doors, at the time “The Monty Heat Treat News” also promised updates. We have now learned that the firm has been closed since that time and that all the equipment will be going to auction in May of this year. The equipment consists of a number of Surface Combustion “Super 30 Allcase furnaces and ancillary equipment all of it purchased roughly 2004. We will have further details for you shortly.
 
“Ohio Commercial Heat Treater Closes Doors; The understanding of “The Monty Heat Treat News” is that MT Heat Treat Inc., in Mentor, Ohio, USA closed their doors September 1 of this year. MT was a family owned business operating out of a 65,000 square foot facility 30 miles from Cleveland, Ohio. This is not a company that we know much about, all we can say is that at one point in time annual sales were estimated to be up to $5 million USD and that the company had a number of batch IQ furnaces. As more information becomes available we will update you.”
 
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Applications of stainless steel (SS) have been known for over a hundred years. Enhancing tribological properties of these alloys can be achieved by using nitriding [1, 2]. However, the standard nitriding process has limited abilities to improve corrosion resistance of SS unless it is used at very low temperatures to produce the expanded austenite phase [2]. This phase is very hard and it has a better corrosion resistance than austenite SS but because it can only be formed at very low temperatures, typically its thickness does not exceed 0.010 mm (0.004”).

The physical properties of titanium are unique and they include low density, low modulus of elasticity, low coefficient of expansion and paramagnetic properties [3]. Titanium offers engineers lower density than steel, higher strength than aluminum and magnesium at all temperatures, and the fatigue, creep, and fracture toughness properties required for aerospace service [3]. In addition to these attractive mechanical and physical properties, titanium and its alloys exhibit resistance to corrosion and erosion from a wide range of industrial chemicals, natural waters, and gases [3]. However, friction/tribological properties of titanium alloys compared to SS are rather poor, and therefore, nitriding is very often used as the main surface treatment for enhancing those properties [4]. To what degree nitrided titanium can replace nitrided SS is a fundamental question, which I will try to answer.

Tribological and Corrosion Properties of Nitrided Titanium Alloys versus Nitrided Stainless Steels

Comparison of the tribological performance of nitrided austenitic and martensitic SS with nitrided titanium alloy is very important, when alternatively, both materials could be used. Linear wear of plasma-nitrided WT3-1 titanium alloy and two plasma-nitrided stainless steels is shown in Fig. 1.

The linear wear becomes accelerated after approximately 50 min for the H17N2 martensitic stainless steel and after approximately 70 min for the 1H18N9T austenitic stainless steel. The wear of the titanium alloy shows a linear evolution during the whole duration of the test, its value being lower than those of both steels.

Nitrided Titanium Alloy Has Higher Corrosion Resistance than Nitrided Steels

Anodic polarization curves of both steels and titanium alloy are shown in Fig. 2. These curves indicate a markedly higher corrosion resistance of the nitrided titanium alloy relative to that of nitrided steels. It should be noted that the corrosion resistance of stainless steels nitrided at higher temperatures to produce a thick layer diminishes after nitriding [1,2] while titanium alloys do not lose their anticorrosion properties after this treatment.

Nitriding Titanium Produces A Gold Color

It could be noticed that despite preferential treatment of stainless steel at low temperatures, its corrosion resistance is still much lower than that of nitrided titanium alloy. The structure of the nitrided layer in titanium and its alloys always contains TiN nitride at the surface in the first subzone of the layer [4]. Therefore, nitrided titanium products have a very attractive gold color.

Titanium also has excellent acoustic properties and therefore is a prime material for making sonotrodes used in ultrasonic joining as tools for super precise welding and cutting. Nitriding helps to increase the life of such tools [6].

Conclusion: Nitrided Titanium Can Be a Great Substitute for Stainless Steels 

Comparative investigations of the properties of plasma-nitrided titanium alloys and alloy steels, shown above, have demonstrated that nitrided titanium alloys can be a substitute for acid-resistant steels in cases where high-contact abrasive wear resistance is required [4, 6-8].

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A recent visit by “The Monty Heat Treat News” to AVION Europa GmbH & Co., based in Hagen, Germany revealed to us a firm which is thriving as a provider of heat treating sales and services to the German heat treatment industry-both captive and commercial. Our hosts, co owners Mr. Roland Caminades and Mr. Sebastian Köchling were courteous, helpful and very informative and provided us with the details for this article. https://avion-europe.de/en/

1994 saw the founding of AVION Europa GmbH & Co. KG in Sprockhövel, Westphalia which at founding was primarily a reseller firm supplying the heat treatment industry.

In 2000 one of the current owners Roland Caminades acquired the company and relocated it to its present location in Hagen, Westphalia. At that point in time Avion focused on spare parts especially for Ipsen furnaces while at the same time acting as independent reseller company for a number of well known suppliers to the heat treatment industry. Roland’s background in the metals surface treatment industry proved to be invaluable to the firm’s growth.

Since those relatively humble beginnings Avion has become the largest full service heat treatment firm in Europe offering spare parts, complete systems and installs. Currently it has 3 locations in Europe; Swiebodzin, Poland, Hagen, Germany and Kleve, Germany (interestingly enough Avion is the second largest furnace builder in Poland-a little known fact).

In 2024 the company has 20 full time employees and a further 80 individuals who are involved on a regular basis. The year is proving to be a good one for the company with sales estimated to be close to 6 million euros. Besides Roland the management team includes Sebastian Köchling co-owner of the company and Mr. Damian Szarapanowski as Technical Director. Damian studied partially in Germany and worked a couple of years for former Furnace Manufacturer ELTERMA (later Seco/Warwick) before joining AVION.

In the last two years Mr. George Cluse, Sales Manager New Equipment and Ralf Winkels, Sales manager Spare Parts joined the company and lifted AVION Europa to a new level in Sales. Both Managers bring 28 years of experience in the heat treatment industry in Europe including many years at two of the largest furnace builders on the continent.

While Avion is able to offer many services to the heat treat industry a large portion of the firm’s overall business is acting as independent sales company for some of the best known suppliers to the industry. These include controls company SSi Europe of Birmingham, England, SBS Corp., of Sarasota, Florida, USA a provider of systems and solutions for fluids, Vacuum furnace builder Adencon Industrial Furnaces, furnace builder Sistem Makina of Turkey, burner company Noxmat of Germany and ITC Coatings from the USA. All this is coordinated in the background by the HEAT ALLIANCE GmbH, who is the liability company of AVION Europa.

2023 marked a turning point for the company when they entered into a co operation agreement with Turkish furnace builder Sistem Makina in an agreement where Avion functions as a sales company for Sistem Makina in Germany while also being able to install their furnaces. One of the first fruits of this agreement “The Monty” witnessed recently at fastener manufacturer Nedschroef in Altena, Germany. Avion was responsible for selling the 1.200 Kg/hour mesh belt furnace line and also responsible for installing it, a project which has been on time and on budget. “The key for selling furnaces is, that our customer have only one contact for sales, layout, production , installation and after sales service as well as integration with existing SCADA and production management systems and software in Germany and that is AVION Europa” Roland Caminades explains.

A very interesting part of Avion’s consulting and sales, business includes their work with Texas, USA based ITC Coatings who offer a product called “Ceracoat”, a ceramic reflective coating product which amongst its many advantages can reduce furnace cycle time by 25% due to reduced heat loss and faster heat up time. Roland was positively eloquent when speaking about the advantages of this product.

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Carlos Tröder, Roland Caminades (managing Director), Ralf Winkels (Sales Manager Spare Parts), Sebastina Köchling (managing Director), Georg Cluse (Sales manager New Equipment), Vanessa Höfer (Order Processing)

2024 has also proven to be very eventful for the company, February 8th, Avion entered into an agreement with Italian furnace builder Cieffe in what is widely anticipated to be a win/win/win situation for both companies and, most important- for the customers -this is the official press release;

“Italian Furnace equipment manufacturer Cieffe Thermal Systems S.r.l. and Germany based AVION Europe GmbH & Co. KG just announced a formal strategic cooperation for services, spare parts as well as new equipment sale for the German heat treatment market. “Starting from March 1st, 2024, AVION Europe will be engaged with our German customers, suppling original Cieffe spare parts and all services around our furnace lines. This includes brick work, maintenance and revamping or upgrading productive assets to industry 4.0/5.0 of almost 600 furnaces in the German market” explains Peter Schweighofer, CEO of Cieffe International based in Zug, Switzerland.

As part of our growth strategy, we are happy to announce this single most important expansion into the German market, by engaging with one of the most experienced, and locally rooted German service companies as a partner. Addressing our customer’s needs while equally expanding our franchise for international customer groups alike, is a value chain addition on both sides of the equation”, Schweighofer concluded. “For AVION Europe this cooperation is a milestone in its company history, and we are happy to support one of the major players in the European furnace market” Roland Caminades, Managing Director of AVION Europe comments the development.”

There is little that Avion is not able to offer to the heat treat market and this includes products for salt quenching applications. It is interesting that salt quenching in Europe has seen the same changes in attitudes as have been seen in North America; from a widely accepted form of quenching, to a reluctance to use it because of environmental concerns all the way back to being considered a safe, effective form of quenching some benefits over oil and polymer quenching. George Cluse has these comments;

“We are currently experiencing a renaissance in the field of salt bath curing. While this technology has been dismantled in many places over the past 30 years, the specialists who have held on to it have now often occupied a very interesting niche that offers many advantages, and not just in terms of technology. Avion has also established itself as a reliable partner in the market in this area with various innovative solutions. Avion is known as a competent partner in the heat treatment industry for complex issues such as monitoring moisture, continuous scale removal, overall filtration, optimum temperature control/uniformity and cooling capacity, etc.

Our salt bath technology can therefore be found in chamber furnaces, classic shaft furnace applications and fully automatic baths, which are subject to the highest demands and must achieve high-quality results in continuous 24/7 operation in many sectors of industry. Avion sees itself as a provider of complete solutions for the customer that meet the requirement of “all components from a single source”. In the end, the customer should not be bothered with interface problems, but has a competent partner in Avion, who combines the individual requirements with precisely tailored & reliable solutions. Our experienced team is what sets us apart. 

Further more in the last twelve years AVION was one of the first companies in Europe that sold control systems for Endogas Generators. The control system stopped the inefficient and expensive burn-off procedure, which was not seen as a problem back then. Today almost all Generator suppliers offer their own modernized control system for new generators. “Since there are more used generators than new ones, AVION Europa concentrates on retrofitting old generators and supplies an add-on kit, so that older systems do not need to burn-off excess Endogas. Our AVIOGen System enables all Generator operators to do their share in CO² reduction, independent from the original Generator manufacturer” explains Damian Szarapanowski, Technical Director and responsible for this technology at AVION Europa. We should add that we not only retrofit generators but also brand new systems. And there is more to come. “The Monty” will follow the development of AVION Europa and will update you from time to time.

Yesterday we had a press release from Austrian furnace builder Aichelin Group about the firm forming a joint venture with Turkish furnace builder Sistem Teknik to “produce and distribute industrial vacuum heat treatment technologies and services in Europe” (https://themonty.com/furnace-builder-aichelin-to-offer-vacuum-furnaces/). The press release made for very interesting reading and prompted a number of thoughts from “The Monty”.
 
First and foremost this is no surprise as the CEO of Aichelin, Mr. Christian Grosspointer had hinted at exactly this in an interview he did with “The Monty” in 2023-the interview can be found at https://themonty.com/interviews/mr-christian-grosspointner-ceo-aichelin/. We at “The Monty Heat Treat News” have always considered Aichelin to be one of the two largest furnaces builders in the world with Aichelin and Ipsen generally swapping the title of the largest furnace builder in the world depending upon the year. For Aichelin to expand into this very  substantial market makes complete sense.
 
We look forward to further details about this joint venture as we can see several interesting points. For instance the press release mentions that this is a joint venture for Europe-will this expand to other geographic areas such as North America? Sistem Teknik currently has little presence on the continent, it will be interesting to see whether this JV expands to include areas other than Europe.
 
Sistem Teknik we know as the largest new furnace builder in Turkey and a company which produces most types of furnaces including atmosphere systems. This means some of their product offerings can potentially be in direct competition with Aichelin, again it will be interesting to see how this issue is handled. We look forward to all the details.
 

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“The AICHELIN Group and Sistem Teknik have signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in Austria. This joint venture will produce and distribute industrial vacuum heat treatment technologies and services in Europe. The AICHELIN Group is thus adding a promising segment to its existing product portfolio.

“As one of the global market leaders in the production of industrial furnaces for industrial heat treatment, we want to become an even stronger partner in the supply of vacuum furnaces for industry. The joint venture combines the best of two worlds: With the products developed by Sistem Teknik and our global after-sales and service network, we create maximum customer focus – a perfect combination to better meet the increasing demand for vacuum solutions in the future,” states Christian Grosspointner, CEO of the AICHELIN Group.

“The motivation of our joint venture is to offer the best possible technology that fits our time, which inevitably demands environmental efficiency and sustainability. We have noticed that there is a strong market for megatrends such as carbon footprint, electromobility and lean production. With our vacuum furnaces, we aim to provide solutions that ensure low carbon emissions and maximum process quality. I am very confident that this collaboration will not only bring innovation, but also benefit our industry,” says Mehmet Özdeşlik, CEO of Sistem Teknik.

About the AICHELIN Group. The AICHELIN Group, which belongs to Berndorf AG and is based in Mödling near Vienna, is one of the world’s leading providers of heat treatment solutions. These include industrial furnaces, industrial heating systems, control and automation systems, Industry 4.0 solutions and services. The company’s roots go back to 1868. In addition to the traditional AICHELIN brand, AFC-Holcroft, SAFED, BOSIO and NOXMAT belong to the Group, which is one of the top 3 heat treatment companies in the world with over 1,000 employees. In Europe, AICHELIN is represented by subsidiaries in Austria, Germany, Slovenia and France, while its global presence includes subsidiaries and branches in China, India and the USA, as well as a sales network in a further 22 countries. www.aichelin.com

About Sistem Teknik. As a leading manufacturer of industrial furnaces in Turkey, celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, Sistem Teknik offers its customers the best heat treatment solutions with innovative design and effective technology for the steel and composite industries. Thanks to Sistem Teknik’s research and development center and innovative approach, the company provides know-how and experience to its customers and offers high-tech heat treatment equipment as well as supervision of equipment installation, commissioning, and training. www.sistemteknik.com”

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According to this press release a German company by the name of BorTec will be setting up a commercial heat treat facility in Johnson City, TN. Once completed the facility will offer “boronizing”; “Boriding, or Boronizing, is a thermo-chemical surface hardening process used to improve the life and performance of metal components. The process is used to strengthen resistance to corrosion and abrasive wear, decrease coefficient of friction, and, of course, greatly increase surface hardness. What is the difference between boriding and nitriding? While boriding can increase the hardness of material up to 2600 HV, nitriding can only achieve 950 HV for certain types of steel. Nitriding is most effective on nitriding steels, whereas boriding is also used on steel grades containing nickel, nickel superalloys, and cobalt superalloys.”

Want to know more about boronizing? In a few short weeks boronizing expert Craig Zimmerman of commercial heat treater Bluewater Thermal will be speaking about the process in a new episode of “The Heat Treat Podcast”. 

“A new manufacturing facility in Johnson City will be the first U.S. location for a German-based company. State officials announced Thursday BorTec USA’s plans to invest $3.1 million and create 35 new jobs at its plant at 3618 Bristol Highway. The heat treatment plant will mainly produce wear- and corrosion-resistant pipes for the oil and gas industries.

Drew Hogan, BorTec’s Managing Director, said employees were almost finished setting up the company’s equipment. He expects to run test batches of products in the next two weeks to make sure everything is in order. “We’ve been really happy with the process,” Hogan said. Once the facility is up and running, he said the company will finish hiring its production workforce.

The BorTec Group was founded in Germany, and specializes in treating metal components to reduce wear and improve corrosion protection. It has one established facility in Calgary, Canada. In Johnson City, BorTec opened an office in East Tennessee State University’s Innovation Laboratory while searching for suitable manufacturing space. The Lab’s incubator space is designed to help companies gain a foothold in hopes of promoting their future success and investment.

In an emailed statement provided by the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, BorTec USA CEO Ralph Hunger said Tennessee’s favorable business climate made it the best location for the company’s newest plant. “Tennessee offers a highly favorable business environment, with low tax burdens, reasonable operating costs, and an abundant skilled workforce,” he said in the statement. “The state’s excellent transportation infrastructure enables efficient distribution of BorTec’s products across the U.S. Additionally, Tennessee’s low energy prices, including some of the nation’s lowest electricity rates, translate to significant cost savings for BorTec’s energy-intensive operations.”

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As we work towards our 2024 list of the “15 Largest Single Location Captive Heat Treats in North America” we have another new listing, one that has not appeared on our previous lists and a very unusual one at that. Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma is one of the largest US Air Force bases in the USA, to give you a perspective on the size with 9,000 employees it is the largest single location employer in the state. This site at last count had 27 vacuum furnaces in various configurations which includes horizontal, bottom loading and oil quenching. Few locations anywhere in the world have this many vacuum furnaces meaning Tinker will be appearing on our upcoming list.

11 Largest Captive Heat Treats, North America – An Industry Exclusive

In 2022 “The Monty Heat Treat News” published a heat treatment industry exclusive, a list of the “10 Largest Single Location Captive Heat Treats” in North America. Since that time changes have occurred and we are now pleased to offer our 2023 list of the largest Single Location Captive Heat Treats in North America-a list which has now grown to the 11 largest. Read on to find out who are the largest captive heat treaters in North America.

Number 11 Caterpillar, East Peoria, Illinois. In years gone by we have rated Caterpillar, the world’s large construction-equipment manufacturer as one of the largest captive heat treaters in North America based on their various facilities throughout the USA many of whom have in house heat treating. Our criteria this year is slightly different in that we are looking at single location captive heat treatment facilities. However having said that we would rank the Caterpillar facility in East Peoria, Illinois as the 10 largest captive heat treat facility in North America.

Number 10 Amsted Rail – BRENCO Bearings, Petersburg, Virginia. A newcomer to our list of the 10 largest single location captive heat treaters is a bearing company, BRENCO Bearings a division of Amstead Rail, located in Petersburg, Virginia. Amsted Rail’s Brenco® Bearings was founded in 1949 to manufacture bronze journal bearings for railroad freight cars. In 1959, Brenco received conditional AAR approval for the product it is known for today throughout the worldwide railroad industry,the tapered roller bearing-in short the company makes bearings for the railroad industry. The company has locations around the world, at least two of which have in house heat treatment departments. While the heat treatment department in Petersburg is not as large as it once one it still includes multiple pit carburizing furnaces and rotary hearth units.

Number 9 Dana Corp., Queretaro, Mexico. Number 9 on our list is yet another large auto parts maker, Dana Corporation, Queretaro, Mexico. While Dana has numerous facilities around the globe that include heat treating the largest is an enormous complex in the Mexican city of Queretaro with several large, separate in house heat treating departments. There are 3 separate facilities here, Dana Forja which has a heat treating department doing annealing in continuous furnaces, Dana Cardanes which has 7 batch IQ furnaces, roughly 40 induction lines and 11 tempers and Dana, ENCO which has 2 AFC-Holcroft UBQ furnaces along with 4 pusher furnaces (as of 2020).

Number 8 Stellantis, Kokomo, Indiana. In 1956 Chrysler invested in a transmission facility in Kokomo, Indiana, a facility which now covers 3.1 million square feet (please note that there are several facilities in Kokomo, our interest is in the transmission facility). For many years now this plant which originally was called Chrysler, and subsequently FCA Kokomo before being renamed Stellantis had what was probably the largest captive heat treat in North America. At one time it included 7-Three row Holcroft Pusher Furnaces, 6-Lindberg 36 X 72 X 36 Batch IQ furnaces, 3-Holcroft single row pushers, 2- Surface rotary furnaces, 2-Seco Rotary Furnaces, 4-ECM vacuum nitriding furnaces, 30-tempering furnaces and several ECM vacuum carburizing systems. While the heat treat department is smaller than it once was it is still one of the larger in house heat treat departments in North America.

Number 7 American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings (AAM), Silao, Mexico. In 2012 auto parts supplier American Axle & Manufacturting (AAM) formally opened a new location in the city of Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico. The Silao facility was AAM’s second manufacturing facility in Mexico, joining the Guanajuato Manufacturing Complex. The opening of these facilities marked a real change in the firms philosophy as previous to this most manufacturing was in the USA including a large facility in Buffalo, New York which featured 5 single row pusher lines. Each AAM facility (including Poland) has a varied mix of heat treating equipment which includes pusher furnaces, batch IQ’s and Induction to name a few. Each of the AAM heat treating departments is very impressive, mainly because they are relatively new and obviously no expense was spared. AAAM globally can be considered one of the larger captive heat treaters in existence.

Number 6 ZF Transmission, Grey Court, South Carolina. ZF is a German company which ranks amongst the largest suppliers of automotive transmission components in the world. The location in Grey Court, SC opened in 2012 and became a hub for ZF’s work in large-scale transmission production, including eight- and nine-speed automatic transmissions. Almost exactly one year ago the company issued this press release about an expansion of the facility (an expansion which did not include more heat treating by the way), “Germany’s ZF Friedrichshafen said it will invest $200 million to build another production line at its commercial vehicle transmission plant in Gray Court, S.C. The new line is expected to begin production in 2023. More than 500 jobs will be created, the company said. The supplier on Thursday said it plans to expand production of the PowerLine, an eight-speed automatic transmission for medium-duty commercial trucks, heavy pickups and buses.” ZF is another company which made the decision to go with vacuum carburizing and the end result is that this facility has two ALD “Modultherm” systems in place with a total of 16 carburizing cells and 2 Pusher lines for annealing supplied by Ipsen.

Number 5 Linamar, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. In our fifth position we find a Canadian company, auto parts supplier Linamar. Linamar is a global company with many locations around the world doing heat treating however their largest heat treat department is in Guelph, Ontario. Roughly 15 years ago the firm made the decision to bring heat treating in house while at the same time deciding that going forward they would concentrate on batch processing as opposed to continuous. In 2022 we see that this plant now has twenty five 36” X 48” X 36” batch IQ furnaces in place combined with several vacuum nitriders and a rotary hearth furnace. Current plans include future additions to the heat treating department.

Number 4 John Deere Waterloo, Iowa. As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains used in heavy equipment, and lawn care equipment we are sure the company needs no introduction. Their location in Waterloo, Iowa would appear to be the second largest captive heat treat in all of North America with a total of 31 furnaces (we will qualify this statement slightly by saying that 10 of these furnaces are dual chamber which we are counting as two furnaces each). The equipment comes from a variety of furnace suppliers including Surface Combustion as can be seen in this photo.

Number 3 Allison Transmission, Speedway, Indiana. In our third position we find the Allison Transmission Campus in Speedway, Indiana. This facility is the world’s largest manufacturer of fully automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles. Their very extensive in house heat treating department boasts the largest number of 36” X 48” X 36” batch IQ furnaces under one roof in North America-26 to be exact, just ahead of auto parts supplier Linamar in Guelph, Ontario, Canada who has 25 furnaces of the same size. In total the heat treat department at Allison includes this equipment;

  • (26) IQ Furnaces -36”x48”x36”
  • (36) Temper Furnaces
  • (6) Pit Nitride Furnaces
  • (2) Rotary Furnaces
  • (12) Induction hardeners

Number 2 GKN Driveline, Newton, North Carolina. In our second position we find another automotive parts supplier, GKN in Newton, NC. While not one of the first to invest in vacuum carburizing systems they certainly jumped on the bandwagon after vacuum carburizing proved it’s value. The company now has 39 LPC cells provided by ECM with 20 bar nitrogen quenching.

Number 1 Ford Motor Company Sharonville Transmission Facility. We are quite comfortable in suggesting that the Ford Sharonville, Ohio Transmission facility is the single largest captive heat treat facility in North America. Ford was one of the first automotive companies to embrace vacuum carburizing and the end result is that this plant now has 64 ECM LPC cells with 20 bar nitrogen gas quench systems. It is worth noting that this facility has almost 2.5 million cubic feet under roof with almost 2,000 employees;

“The Ford Motor Company Sharonville Transmission plant is a transmission manufacturing facility located in Sharonville, Ohio, United States. Established in 1958, Sharonville has long been the backup site for overflowing work at the Ford Motor Company Livonia Transmission plant. It is also where the Ford Crown Victoria’s transmission was once assembled for over three decades. With the Crown Victoria now discontinued, the Sharonville transmission plant currently overseas production of the 64140 6-speed automatic transmission – also known as the Torqshift – destined for the Ford Super Duty line of heavy duty trucks. Sharonville is where the Ford/GM 10R80 10-speed transmission is assembled. The facility also manufacturers individual gears for the 6R80, 6R140, 6F35, 6F50/55, 8F57 transmissions. These gears are then shipped to other Ford manufacturing plants like the Ford Motor Company Van Dyke Transmission plant and the Ford Motor Company Livonia Transmission plant.”

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“The Monty Heat Treat News” has for a number of years been publishing a list of the largest single location captive heat treaters in North America-our 2023 industry exclusive list can be found at https://themonty.com/articles/11-largest-captive-heat-treats-north-america-an-industry-exclusive/ This page will also provide our criteria for determining which are the largest in North America.
 
For 2024 our list will be expanded to; “15 Largest Single Location Captive Heat Treats in North America” and this list will be coming out within the next week and include 4 brand new names including that of “Dana Fairfield”.
 
Our 2023 list prompted a number of large manufacturers with substantial heat treatment departments to reach out to “The Monty” to see how they ranked on our list-one that reached out was Dana Fairfield Manufacturing in Lafayette, Indiana, USA https://www.fairfieldmfg.com/fairfield-experience-for-gears-and-drive-systems/ a supplier  customer gears and drive systems. While we have long been familiar with this location, we were not aware of the size of their heat treat facility, based upon what we learned recently we would suggest that this location certainly deserves to be ranked as one of the “15 Largest Single Location Captive Heat Treats in North America”. 
 
The heat treat department of this facility covers over 65,000 square feet (6,000 square meters) and in it we find 9 pusher lines, 2 nitriding systems, 2 large annealers, several pit carburizing systems, multiple batch IQ lines and a very substantial induction hardening footprint. Incidentally while this is a very impressive heat treat facility it represents only a fraction of the over 700 heat treating systems which Dana operates around the globe.
 
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View our recent magazines and podcasts by clicking the following link. https://themonty.com/magazine/