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Most of our readers will be well aware that many parts of the USA and Canada have recently been hit by a major snowstorm. This photo was taken just in front of the offices of “The Monty Heat Treat News” in Ontario, Canada on December 28th, 2022. To give you some perspective this area has received approximately 45″ (114cm) of snow in the past 3 days.
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Paulo, the largest privately held commercial heat treating company in North America recenty posted a history of the company News Archive – Paulo While we have heard it before it always makes for intersting reading as you can see below. To go with this story we would suggest reading an interview “The Monty Heat Treat News” did with the President of the company, Mr. Ben Rassieur a number of years back Ben Rassieur, Paulo Products | The Monty
St. Louis, MO.—Paulo started as a rented storefront in downtown St. Louis in 1943. Eighty years later, Paulo is celebrating a milestone anniversary as the nation’s largest privately-held commercial heat treating company and is under the leadership of the third and fourth generations of the Rassieur family. No matter where you are—on an airplane, sitting in your car, riding a train, or orbiting the Earth—chances are that you’re within arm’s reach of a metal part that was heat treated by Paulo.
Ben and Pauline Rassieur started the company by offering heat treating services using homemade salt baths and second-hand tempering furnaces. Before his passing in 2020, their son Frank Rassieur recalled the early days, “The equipment was entirely different than what we’re used to now. Much cruder. Gas-fired salt pots, open-fired ovens, pit-type air draws. No-atmosphere and vacuum were unknown. It was much more labor intensive. Wire up, steam clean, packing, sifting carburizing compound. Work moved in wheelbarrows. There were no loading docks, no fork trucks, no dumpers.”
The company relocated to its current headquarters at 5711 West Park near Dogtown in 1948 and underwent five expansions to that location throughout the 1950s. The growth continued throughout the following decades, starting with the construction of the Kansas City division and several acquisitions that brought Paulo into the Memphis, Cleveland, Murfreesboro, and Nashville areas. Paulo’s first international division in Monterrey, Mexico opened in 2017 and since then has undergone a 50,000-square-foot expansion, doubling production space.
Paulo’s physical footprint isn’t the only thing that’s grown. Since the early days, the company has embraced new technology—Paulo was the first heat treating company to use a computer to process orders in the 1960s. In 1996, Paulo unveiled PICS, its proprietary software that enables order writing, shipping, and tracking; houses part recipes and specifications; and works with automated precision control systems to safeguard against out-of-spec parts entering the supply chain.
Another key advancement was the commissioning of Paulo’s first Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) vessel in Cleveland and its Nadcap accreditation. Adding HIP to Paulo’s capabilities helps the company support innovation in aerospace and additive manufacturing not only on Earth, but even beyond. As businesses go beyond our atmosphere to provide services to people on the surface and as researchers advance scientific exploration and discovery, Paulo ensures that they have the tools they need to push the edge of impossible.
Today, Paulo’s datagineering—the combination of highly skilled people, advanced systems, and cutting-edge equipment—delivers the highest quality and consistency in thermal processing results.
Despite all its cutting-edge innovation and capabilities, Paulo is still a family-owned and operated business that values its people. With Benjamin Rassier, III at the helm as president, several other members of the Rassieur family serve as key leaders in the organization to ensure that Paulo’s rich history continues.
“We’re nothing without our people. Everything we’ve accomplished in the past eighty years was made possible by the hard work and dedication of our teams,” said Will Rassieur, vice president of sales. “We’re grateful to everyone who has worked with us over the past 80 years.”
Looking to the future, Paulo continues to push the boundaries of thermal processing capabilities to meet the advancing needs of manufacturers worldwide to keep consumers safe and bring new innovations to life.
Founded in 1943, Paulo is one of the largest providers of thermal processing and metal finishing solutions in North America. Headquartered in St. Louis, Paulo operates six divisions servicing the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Southeast regions of the United States and northern Mexico.
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Paulo, Cleveland
Paulo Mexico
Commercial heat treater Siegener Werkzeugfabrik (SWF) https://www.swf-siegen.de/ of Germany has just accepted delivery of a pit nitriding furnace with working dimensions of 69” diameter X 110” deep. This furnace, which was the last one shipped by furnace builder Rohde in Hanau, Germany in 2022 will be used for nitriding of large shafts. A second unit will be delivered early in 2023.
Before this delivery the facility had 2 other pit nitriding furnaces, 2 vacuum nitriding units, and an annealing furnace, all from Rohde and is fully equipped for nitriding, nitro-caburizing and pre-and post-oxidizing. The furnaces can handle loads up to 15,000 kg (33,070 pounds) and all are equipped with the most advanced energy saving devices on the market today.
In these pictures you see Konstantin Rohde preparing to deliver the furnace and in the second one you see Florian Philipp and Benjamin Langer of Siegener along with Jörn Rohde as the furnace was being installed.
This facility last made our news section back in October 2018 when they installed a vacuum nitriding system-the original press release is below;
“OCTOBER 2018; Siegen Tool and Hardening to Add Rohde Vacuum Nitrider; In Siegen, Germany we see that tooling supplier and commercial heat treater Siegen tool and hardening technology GmbH is adding capacity. In the fall of 2018 this will include a ROHDE Schutzgasöfen GmbH vacuum nitriding system similar to this system which is located at commercial heat treat HTU in Mühlhofen, Germany.
Siegen Tool & Hardening currently has a number of furnaces which includes vacuum hardening up to 15 bar and the ability to offer Plasma nitriding and nitrocarburizing.”
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“The Monty Heat Treat News” wishes everybody, friends, customers, competitors and acquaintances a very Merry Christmas. Regular news updates will resume Tuesday December 27th.
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The recent substantial increase in the price of quenching salts has prompted companies around the world to look at ways to reduce this cost. A solution which has been around for a number of years, especially in Europe are systems which will recover virtually all of the salt which accumulates in wash/rinse tanks thus reducing the amount of salt used per year to almost nothing. The system shown in these photos was produced by a German company, ROHDE and it is in the final stages of testing before going to a company in the US who will incorporate it into a brand new mesh belt austempering line. Salt recovery units are just one of a number of technologies being scrutinized these days as solutions to increasing costs and environmental concerns. “The Monty Heat Treat News” is as always interested in hearing about new technologies to improve quality, reduce costs and increase productivity.
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From “HÄRTHA GROUP“, one of the largest European commercial heat treaters as ranked by “The Monty Heat Treat News” https://themonty.com/project/l
Whether in the automotive industry, wind energy business, aerospace sector or in everyday use, components made of hardened steel are needed in many areas. As a leading service provider in the field of hardening and surface technology, the HÄRTHA GROUP improves the load capacity, wear properties and other characteristics of various components. The finishing processes used here are generally very energy-intensive. Since 1 October 2022, the HÄRTHA GROUP GmbH, based in North Rhine-Westphalia, has been purchasing part of the energy required for this purpose from EnBW’s Maßbach solar park. To this end, HÄRTHA and EnBW have signed a 15-year corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) for the supply of 10 megawatts of solar energy.
PPAs are an instrument of the energy transition, guaranteeing price stability even in uncertain times EnBW commissioned the 28-megawatt solar park in Bavaria one year ago. The company realized around two thirds of this – 18.3 megawatts – without funding under the Renewable Energies Act (EEG). The HÄRTHA GROUP GmbH secured part of this solar energy, which is freely available on the market. “PPAs are especially attractive to companies with energy-intensive production processes. They help them to achieve corporate climate goals quickly and efficiently. We are delighted to support the processing of steel at HÄRTHA with our solar energy and thus make a further contribution to the energy transition,” explains Daniel Hacki, Head of Origination at EnBW.
“Our hardening and surface technology services help various players across society to achieve their sustainability goals. For example, we enable our customers to make automotive components more resilient and at the same time lighter. We are proud to play a key role in the field of e-mobility. In the same spirit, it is clear that we also want to be as sustainable as possible when it comes to our own energy consumption. In combination with our own photovoltaic systems at our production sites, this joint project with EnBW supplies an additional and comprehensive source of sustainable energy, which helps us to significantly reduce our carbon footprint,” explains Sven Killmer, CEO of the HÄRTHA GROUP.
About Härtha. The HÄRTHA GROUP is a successful group of companies founded in 1990. Based in Aldenhoven, the company is one of Europe’s leading providers of metal finishing services using heat treatment processes and coating solutions. HÄRTHA employs around 400 people across 10 sites in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. HÄRTHA is committed to production processes that are easy on resources and uses the most efficient and state-of-theart plant technology.
About EnBW. With over 26,000 employees, EnBW is one of the largest energy companies in Germany and Europe. It supplies around 5.5 million customers with electricity, gas, water as well as services and products in the areas of infrastructure and energy. The expansion of renewable energies is a cornerstone of the growth strategy and a focus of investment. EnBW will invest around 4 billion euros in the further expansion of wind and solar energy by 2025. By the end of 2025, more than half of the generation portfolio is set to consist of renewable energies. This is already having a noticeable effect on reducing CO2 emissions, which EnBW aims to halve by 2030. EnBW is aiming for climate neutrality by 2035.
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“Following years of dialogue with NITREX, the young Polish aluminum profiles manufacturer ADT Solutions has finally purchased a turnkey nitriding system. Cultivating customer relationships and securing good business takes time, but with perseverance and the advantage of quality products endorsed by other players in the industry, the effort eventually paid off.
“The cooperation between ADT Solutions and NITREX has lasted since ADT Solutions started its business activity in the aluminum extrusion industry,” says Marcin Stokłosa, Project Manager at NITREX. “We first met with the ADT Solutions team years ago on another industry project, even before the manufacturing plant of ADT Solutions was established. Since then, we have had many conversations and conducted many meetings and tests to identify and address the customer’s needs and expectations.” Typically, newly established start-ups such as ADT Solutions chose to send their parts – in this case, extrusion dies – to a local commercial heat treater for nitriding. But to keep pace with the ever-growing market demand for aluminum profiles has meant a different solution. The company opted instead for an in-house nitriding system to take care of its production needs and cope with the increased volume of work. This order was a part of a bigger project working towards expanding operations, including the construction of a new production plant with a warehouse.
“Before ordering, the ADT Solutions team researched all options and through word-of-mouth recommendations knew that NITREX had delivered several nitriding installations to other aluminum extrusion companies in the country with die performance results that were very good,” states Marcin Stokłosa. The turnkey solution supplied and installed by Nitrex includes an NX-1015 pit-type furnace with a 2-ton (4410-lb) load capacity, NITREGR technologies for nitriding and nitrocarburizing treatments with tested recipes to achieve optimal die performance.”
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Wide range of tasks: As Atmosphere Sales Manager, Cheesman can expect a wide range of tasks – specifically, he will be responsible for the sale of atmosphere systems, but also for spare parts, retrofits and services for existing systems, and will ensure a good exchange of information between the competence centers in the USA and Germany. To get started, Cheesman will spend some time at the German site in Kleve to get to know the company and his colleagues better.”
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“National Mints are institutions of high trust and high expectations not only of the product (furnaces) only but also of a complete service. That’s why the Philadelphia Mint asked for furnace upgrades from SECO/WARWICK, the partner with proven experience and cooperation with national mints.
The Philadelphia Mint was established by the Coinage Act of 1792, when Philadelphia was the nation’s capital. It was the first public building constructed under the direction of the recently formed United States government. The machinery was powered by a horse walking circles in the basement. The minting technology has seen a few upgrades since then. SECO/WARWICK Group’s American subsidiary, located in Meadville PA, recently began the current round of upgrades, a refurbishment of all five of the Mint’s heat-treating furnaces, one furnace per year.
The heat-treating furnaces were installed there by SECO/WARWICK USA from 1994 through 2000. Their function in the minting process is to anneal, clean, and dry the coin blanks to soften the metal prior to striking into coins, extending the service life of the striking dies. All five furnaces are 4000 pound per hour rotary retort furnaces outfitted with SECO/WARWICK’s patented Whirl-A-Way QuenchT system, as well as a hopper feeder, a batch burnish barrel, and a batch/continuous drum drier. The furnaces are showing their age after a quarter century, so rather than nickel and dime the maintenance, the Mint opted for a comprehensive refurbishment.
Energy Upgrades Designed to Save Money; To reduce energy consumption, SECO/WARWICK is replacing insulation, roof panels, and radiant tubes as well as upgrading the loading systems with an improved more user-friendly design. New, more energy efficient burners are being installed, along with recuperators to preheat the combustion air, to improve energy efficiency and use less natural gas.
Mechanical Upgrades; Mechanical improvements include replacing drive motors and two-speed gear boxes. The retort can over-heat and warp if the rotary retort unexpectedly stops before the cool-down cycle. As a failsafe, SECO/WARWICK added a pneumatic backup motor that can run the gear box off
the Mint’s compressed air reservoir during a power outage. The small letter at the nape of Washington’s neck in the coin image above is a mint mark. The “P” indicates that the coin was struck at the Philadelphia Mint. SECO/WARWICK is proud to provide the Mint with the furnaces necessary to continue to strike his likeness, along with those of numerous other notable American faces, into billions of coins a year for the next quarter century.
Like the Philadelphia Mint, many others around the world which operate older heat treating systems can benefit significantly from cost efficient upgrades. Rather than replace the entire furnace infrastructure, commissioning improvements in combustion systems, enhanced insulation and the implementation of modern automation tools can have a great impact on performance at far less cost on the facility as a whole. Beyond upgrades to legacy systems, mints around the world are also upgrading their heat-treating capabilities to improve the strength and longevity of their stamping dies by installing VectorR high pressure gas quench vacuum furnaces. Many of these newer systems include options of high vacuum, convection heating, as well as SECO/WARWICK’s patented PreNITLPCR technology, which makes thin layer nitriding possible.”
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