Expanite, the Danish pioneer and growth company within hardening and heat treatment of stainless steel and titanium, receives its largest capital increase to date. Approximately 12 years after the company was created out of a research project at the Technical University of Denmark, having built a solid business in Europe and having established a strong foothold in the US and Asia, the company will further expand its activities in the US as well as strengthen its presence and offerings in Europe and Asia.
The technology of the company is based on a series of patented processes for high performance, gas phase based hardening/heat treatment of stainless steel and titanium with a reduced environmental impact. Expanite offers a fully digitalized approach to surface hardening, production management and quality control, with a business model that involves a chain of its own service centers as well as technology licensees.
In addition to being able to deliver services that significantly extend the life of components – offering sustainability in its purest form – Expanite’s way to achieve the extended lifetime of materials is the green alternative to environmentally challenged processes such as hard chrome plating and standard stainless steel hardening involving aggressive chemicals and long process times with associated high energy consumption. Expanite’s patented solutions are gas-based, shortening processing time, reducing the overall energy consumption, and eliminating the need for harsh chemical cleaning before/after processing.
About Expanite; Expanite was founded in 2010 by leading experts in material and surface hardening from the Technical University of Denmark. The company has its head office in Hillerød near Copenhagen and service centers and licensees in the USA, Germany, Korea, and China. Expanite’s DNA is based on sustainable solutions to extend the life of components made of stainless steel, titanium, and other high-value alloys – and the business model allows for license agreements whereby customers may implement the technology in their own production lines.
The customers for Expanite’s services are found within several industrial sectors, including process equipment for the food and pharma industry, pumps, valves, medical devices, the automotive industry, watch production and many others – everything from large global groups to specialists with a niche focus. www.expanite.com
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This interesting story covers one of the 50 largest commercial heat treaters in North America as ranked by “The Monty Heat Treat News”, Century LLC in Traverse City, Michigan, USA. The Monty Heat Treat News – 50 Largest North American Commercial Heat Treats 2022 | The Monty
“Feb. 10—TRAVERSE CITY — Two longtime manufacturing companies in the Traverse City Airport Industrial Park are now one. Century, LLC acquired Clark Manufacturing in a merger agreement finalized on Feb. 1.
Century, LLC — a vertically integrated metal manufacturing and thermal processing company that specializes in aerospace and industrial tooling products — is housed in two buildings on either side of the end of West Aero-Park Court. Century Sun Metal Treating at 2411 W. Aero-Park Court is also part of the company, which has two distribution centers downstate, in Wixom and Coloma. Clark Manufacturing, a metal machining company specializing in oil and gas, fluid and compression and medical components, is located at 2485 Aero-Park Drive.
Century, LLC president Tim Healy, who will be chief executive of the newly-combined companies, said the merger will create “a true ‘one-stop shop’ for advanced machining and heat treatment for a wide array of complex metal parts,” according to the release announcing the acquisition. The merger comes after a series of moves by Century, LLC.
Run by George and later Bill Janis for 55 years, the Dauch family purchased Century, Inc. in June of 2021. The LLC replaced the Inc. in Century to reflect the new investors and new approach to the company at the end of August 2021.
Century LLC Chairman Richard F. Dauch said the acquisition should be another positive step for the company. “We could not be more excited about the future of both Century and Clark as we continue to grow and diversify our manufacturing capability here in northern Michigan,” Dauch said in a release. “Our family has been committed to building successful manufacturing operations across the Midwest for decades and we are excited to see these two great companies come together to continue that tradition.”
The late Richard E. Dauch co-founded American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. in 1994 after retiring as an executive with Chrysler. His son, David C. Dauch, is chairman of the board and CEO of American Axle. David Dauch attended the Century, LLC event in 2021 on behalf of the family, which includes his mother, Sandra, and Richard F. Dauch, the CEO of Workhorse.
Healy said combing Century, LLC and Clark Manufacturing is a great fit. “The acquisition of Clark is in line with our long-term vision for Century and brings a new set of customers, portfolio of products and significantly expanded milling capability to our current product offerings,” he said in the release. “This fits perfectly with the turning and grinding capability already resident in our Century Specialties business unit. In addition, our Century Sun Heat Treating business will provide additional capability and operating efficiency to Clark Manufacturing.”
Century, LLC had 160 employees when it hosted the August 2021 ceremony to reveal the company’s slightly-different new name and logo. Established in 1975, Clark Manufacturing reported it had 103 employees when it hosted the Manufacturing and Machining Talent Tours, a pilot program from MiSTEM Network, in late November. Clark Manufacturing built its current facility in 2018.
Clark Manufacturing President Brian Walter will continue in that role and also assume partial ownership of the combined companies, according to the release. “It is the next great chapter in the history of Clark Manufacturing, one that I am proud to be a part of and I look forward to continuing to lead Clark as we leverage the strengths of our great new partners at Century, LLC and the Dauch Family,” Walter said in the release.”
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This week Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” will be profiling several captive and commercial heat treaters in the USA including this one. Know this company? You certainly will by the end of this week.
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Worldwide Heat Treat was started a number of years back by Mr. Robert Gutierrez who has a long history in the heat treating industry in Texas. It has grown over the years and now has over 20 employees, we expect to have several interesting announcements about the firm in the relatively near future.
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In 2022 furnace builder AFC-Holcroft of Wixom, MI announced that they had received an order from a manufacturer of mining and construction components in the US Midwest for a relatively unusual item, a batch austemper line. The salt quenching line is now installed as you can see in this photo. A very neat looking installation would sum it up.
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From time to time “The Monty Heat Treat News” reaches back in our photo archives to review fascinating heat treats we have visited over the years. One that would fit the bill is a very large supplier of transmission components by the name of Tremec in Mexico. Their Pedro Escobedo location in Mexico features what we would consider to be a fairly typical, larger than average heat treat department concentrating on carburizing and neutral hardening of a variety of transmission components destined for a number of industries. Our description below briefly summarizes the facility but no written description can ever match pictures which we most certainly have. Incidentally the tall fellow in these photos is a good friend of “The Monty Heat Treat News”, Mr. Salvador Murillo, General Manager of controls company SSi Mexico. Salvador’s entire working career has been tied to heat treating in Mexico and we would consider him to be one of the foremost experts on heat treating in the entire country.
“In House Heat Treating-TREMEC, Mexico; Founded in 1964 TREMEC is a manufacturer of transmissions and transmission components for a number of industries including automotive, heavy truck, agriculture and defense. Based in Mexico the firm has locations in the US, Mexico and Belgium with 3 of the facilities boasting in house heat treating capacity. Last week we at “The Monty” had the chance to visit the Pedro Escobedo location near Queretaro, Mexico, a facility which produces transmissions for heavy trucks. The heat treat department consists of a few batch IQ furnaces alongside two single row pusher lines. While none of the equipment is brand new it is very clean, certainly cleaner than most heat treats and it does have state of the art controls along with one of the coolest control rooms we have seen. By the way this facility is dwarfed by their larger sister company, TREMEC in Queretaro which produces automotive transmissions. Their heat treat department is similar in the types of furnaces but much larger in size. Enough of our talking-lets get to the good part which is the pictures.”
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Nordic Traction Finland, a manufacturer of traction chains and tracks for forestry and agricultural machinery, recently upgraded their heat treatment operations by installing a new EndoFlex™ S endothermic gas generator system. Nordic Traction relies on endogas to carburize its traction chains.
The EndoFlex™ S replaced an outdated generator that could not effectively control volume or atmosphere quality and was incapable of scaling up when the demand increased. The new system is also less expensive to operate and mixes to more precise ratios, which helps to maintain a constant furnace atmosphere and consistent gas quality at all times – improving process reliability and the quality of the finished product.
ABOUT NITREX; NITREX is the only fully integrated global player in the surface treatment industry. With a presence in more than 20 countries, our portfolio of innovative solutions and unrivaled expertise are helping customers daily to achieve greater tolerances, meet the highest standards, and become more profitable along the way. With over 35 years of experience under our belt, we are the preferred choice of blue-chip customers around the globe for turnkey heat-treat systems, reliable technologies with over 4,000 proven formulas, proprietary high-end instrumentation, failsafe digital controls, and surface treatment services.
ABOUT NORDIC TRACTION; Nordic Traction Group develops, manufactures and sells traction products for professional use to suit all vehicles from ATVs to the largest forestry machines, offering customers a full range of forestry chains and bogie tracks. The company’s two state of the art manufacturing sites in Finland and Scotland produce chains and tracks of highest quality with almost a century worth of experience.
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“The Monty Heat Teat News” is very pleased to offer this interview with Mr. Dave Farmery, President of vacuum furnace builder and commercial heat treater Vac Aero. Dave’s background includes almost 30 years in the aerospace industry and in this interview he brings up some very interesting points about heat treatment and the aerospace industry.
Dave first off congratulations on the new position, to be appointed as President of one of the larger vacuum furnace builders in North America is very impressive. How did this come about-I suppose what I am asking is what is your background and what road took you to where you now are?
Over the past 28 years I have been in the aerospace industry. Whether it was working for and OEM, repairing engines or landing gear or cutting chips and processing parts engaging the people to delight the customer has always been my vision. To be asked to take the leadership role in a company that has always been at the forefront of these values was one that came as an ideal fit.
It has always appeared to me that Vac Aero is 2 separate businesses, the commercial heat treating side and the furnace manufacturing division. Let’s start with the heat treating side of the equation, when did this start, how large is it and what do you specialize in?
We have been in the heat treating business for many decades. Over this time we have specialized in several discrete markets. Vacuum Oil quench where we operate 3 of the worlds largest furnaces in support of our landing gear customers. Additionally, our capabilities at the two heat treatment service units include, vacuum heat treatment, Vacuum Brazing including Honeycomb, aluminum aging, nitriding and pack aluminide coatings.
I should at this point, point out that you have a third core competency also, that of coating. Lest it be forgotten perhaps you could share with us what Vac Aero has to offer.
Vac Aero has a true Center of Excellence for surface coatings in Boucherville, Quebec. This facility has the full spectrum of coating capabilities. These range from air plasma, HVOF, HVAF, combustion spray, post coating grinding and peening as well as developing cold spray. The team delivers best in class lead time with a customer service.
The other main part of your business is the Vac Aero Furnace Manufacturing Division which builds vacuum furnaces. I am sure our readers are very interested in the history of this division, what types of furnaces you offer and the number you have built and installed over the years.
In 1971 we started to supply to a wide range and diverse range of industries and capabilities. We focussed on Vacuum furnace vs air furnaces. This continues to allow us to focus on higher technological needs as well as enabling material solutions for our end customers.
Vac Aero is part of a very small, select group of furnace builders who also heat treats. I have always thought this must offer you a tremendous advantage in that you operate the furnaces you design and build-is this the case?
Without question I feel that by running on our own equipment we have a competitive advantage. Our internal learnings ensure real time refinement of the complete vacuum furnace ecosystem, which subsequently facilitates building robust and capable furnaces in support of all industries.
You shared something with me the other day during a phone call about how you have some very ambitious plans for the furnace building division. How much can you share with us today?
As we discussed the plans for growth of this division in terms of manufacturing new furnaces, hot zone replacements and spares are significant. We are on pace to have the best year in the company’s history with significant new orders secured for 2024 as well. Our custom furnace philosophy in conjunction with some planned technological innovations will continue this trajectory going forward.
Any plans on adding new technologies to your product mix? LPC? Vacuum Nitriding? Or even something radically different from what you are now offering?
Our R&D Materials and Processes Team have just presented a long list of potential technologies and applications where we may move into. Given I am 4 months into the journey, the decisions to move ahead is a quarter or two ahead of us.
Correct me if I am wrong but a major focus in your career has been the aerospace industry. Are you seeing changes in the way aerospace companies heat treat?
There are a few subtle changes taking place in this space. I see the larger OEM’s and Top Tier Sippliers going less vertically integrated with a preference to partner with service providers via near site support or a shop in shop. This enables the niche skill of thermal and coating treatment to be done with little to no lead time impact without muddying the core business capabilities of machining or fabricating aerospace components.
Does your response indicate a move globally to support the OEM/Top Tier Suppliers.
Very simply yes that is our vision. We look to put the “International” back into Vac Aero International. These are early days but there is real time interest in providing services in several global locations. More to come as they discussions move to completion.
Lets switch gears a bit and take advantage of your very extensive experience. While you started your career in Canada you have worked all around the world, most recently in Europe for quite a number of years. What differences if any do you see between heat treating in Europe, vs; North America or Asia for that matter? Do some areas embrace new technology more than others?
Europe and more specifically the European Union have formed a multitude of committees with solid funding to enable a greener and more technologically advanced aerospace and defense industry that benefits all partner nations. This is the one differentiator I see and one that Canada is starting to move on per some recent announcements.
Vacuum vs; Atmosphere? The “vacuum guys” will tell you vacuum is the only way to go, the “atmosphere guys” will tell atmosphere is far more cost effective in most applications. Care to wade in on this debate?
My experience says the customers specifications in the majority of the instances drive the equipment selection and as such there is little to no debate in the end.
It’s challenging out there these Dave-I am sure you don’t need me to point that out. Labour shortages? Inflation? Long deliveries? Globalization or the potential switch away from it? What would you say the biggest challenge for you is?
There is no question that what feels like generational inflationary costs in conjunction with material delivery constraints remain the largest challenges. How to try and mitigate these costs to the largest extent while dealing with sub-optimal demand flow is at the forefront of our actions and discussions with our customers and partners. Additionally, given the geo-political landscape we see a new trend of some additional near shoring albeit this is in its early stages.
Many thanks for your time. We are excited to keep delighting our customers moving ahead. I look forward to our follow on call in the fall where we can look back at the progress. Cheers Dave
Dave I very much appreciate your time and look forward to speaking with you in about a year to see how your very ambitious plans are coming along. Thank you, Gord
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“The Monty Heat Treat News” is pleased to say that next week we will be visiting the Aalberts Surface Technologies facility in Greenville, SC and doing an in depth profile of the company.
“Aalberts surface technologies – specialized heat treatment US and Aalberts surface technologies – accurate brazing announce today that they have merged into a single business unit. The combined companies now operate as Aalberts surface technologies – HIP | braze | heat treatment. Specialized Heat Treatment US was formed when Premier Thermal, Applied Process, and Ionic Technologies were rebranded as Aalberts surface technologies – specialized heat treatment US in 2022. Accurate Brazing was founded in 1989 in Goffstown, NH and has been part of the Aalberts family since 2006, rebranding as Aalberts surface technologies – accurate brazing in 2022.
The realignment includes the thirteen facilities operating as Specialized Heat Treatment US and the four facilities operating as Aalberts surface technologies – accurate brazing. With its seventeen diverse facilities, Aalberts surface technologies – HIP | braze | heat treatment is one of the largest providers of thermal processing and metal joining technologies in the US. Steve Wyatt leads Aalberts surface technologies – HIP | braze | heat treatment as its President. Brent Davis, formerly President of Accurate Brazing, serves as a Director of Operations with responsibility for all facilities in CT, NH, and SC. Rebranding activities have started and will continue throughout 2023. Day to day plant operations will be largely unaffected.
About Aalberts surface technologies. Aalberts surface technologies is part of the worldwide leading and globally positioned technology company Aalberts N.V. which has 134 locations worldwide and more than 14,000 employees. Aalberts is committed to adaptation and innovation with a clear focus on customers.”
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The link below will take you to the February 2023 edition of “The Monty Heat Treat News”-for over 25 years the largest source of heat treatment news and trends in the world.
The Monty Heat Treat News February 2023 Edition
In this exciting 80 plus page edition you will the absolute latest news from the industry including these stories;
- West Coast USA Heat Treater Sold
- German Furnace Builder enters the LPC Market
- Copper State Bolt & Nut Invests in New McLaughlin Furnace Group Endothermic Generator
- Are Salaries in the Heat Treatment Industry Increasing? Ask the “Heat Treat Recruiter”
- Major Vacuum Furnace Builder Makes Management Changes
- Nihon Parkerizing and the Japanese Heat Treatment Market
- Captive Heat Treater Installs Nitrogen Generating System-Is this a Trend?
As always “The Monty Heat Treat News” Team looks forward to your thoughts and comments. Sincerely, Gord, Jordan, Dale, Charlene & Ann
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