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The Capi Group now owns four pit-type nitriding/nitrocarburizing furnaces of the same model type and size – the large heavy-duty NX-1230 furnace with a load capacity of 11,570 lb (5,250 kg), which uses Nitreg® and Nitreg®-C
The new Nitrex furnaces, which comply with the Aerospace Material Specifications (AMS) 2750 for pyrometry and 2759/10 for controlled nitriding, are integrated into the existing production line and connected to a closed-loop water cooling system. The latter is an environmentally friendly feature that recirculates a steady supply of cooling water to cool furnace elements.”
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“A leader in vacuum solutions, throughout the 32 counties of Ireland, reaches a quarter of a century in business and celebrates a prosperous future. Founded in 1997, the Wexford based company, ProVac Ltd, provide a level of support for customers’ vacuum pumps and systems that was previously unavailable in the region.
Deep vacuum knowledge, reliable vacuum solutions, exceptional service. The ProVac name is synonymous with vacuum expertise, exceptional customer service and trusted vacuum solutions. While the core business involves the sales and service of vacuum pumps and related equipment, the company is differentiated in the market by its capability to design and specify customised solutions for customers in performance-critical process industries, including pharmaceutical, medical devices, and semiconductor.
Further strengthening the market position of the Leybold brand. Ian Dorman, General Manager, sees the company on a very good path. “Since the acquisition by Atlas Copco, ProVac is able to serve its customers even better, and further strengthen the market presence of the Leybold brand across Ireland. Being part of the Leybold EMEA North Customer Centre, allows the regional ProVac team to deliver local support, backed by Leybold’s global product and application network when needed. We are committed to selling and servicing Leybold products in the Irish market and see great potential for the future.”
Unique service and support. Quality and customer proximity have always been a tradition at ProVac. Each factory-trained service engineer is qualified to handle the maintenance and repair of virtually any brand and model of vacuum pump. “We have service options available for all customers challenges and budgets,” said John Whelan, Service Manager. “Whether annual preventative maintenance contracts, or rapid response support, our skilled service team are on hand to keep customers up and running, and downtime to a minimum.”
Passionate people with a growth mindset. As a local employer we want to attract, develop and retain motivated and resourceful people, and encourage diversity in all forms. “Although the ProVac celebrates the 25-year business milestone, we are only beginning our people journey,” said Sarah Cogswell, HR Manager. “Our mission is to promote a culture of lifelong learning, continuous feedback and self-development to enable people’s full potential. All employees have a ‘mission’, which includes performance and development goals, and take part in our Performance Enablement cycle. We’re also passionate about encouraging diversity at every level of the business, and nurture an inclusive environment, where everyone has a sense of belonging.”
Founder sees ProVac on the right track. James Delaney, who founded the company in 1997, along with Helen Delany who has since retired, sees exciting times ahead and great opportunities for both customers and employees. “ProVac has always felt like a family business, with a strong culture of innovation in vacuum and commitment to our customers,” said James. “Since joining Leybold in December we have been able to further build on our in-house technical expertise by expanding our team, and we’re now introducing common processes, services and tools which make us more efficient and effective. 25 years is a huge milestone which I’m look forward to celebrating over the coming months, with both the team and customers, as we begin the next chapter of the ProVac story.”
About ProVac. ProVac Ltd (www.provac.ie) specialises in the design, manufacture and installation, of complete vacuum solutions, incorporating vacuum chambers, pumps, gauges, valves and control systems. We serve customers across industries such as pharmaceutical, medical device and semiconductor, traditional industries like food & packaging, engineering and energy, as well as third level research institutes, universities and R&D centre. The ProVac name is synonymous with vacuum expertise, exceptional customer service and trusted vacuum solutions. Based in Wexford, Ireland, ProVac Ltd was established in 1997 and in 2021 joined Leybold, a member of the Atlas Copco Group. Currently with 11 employees serving customers throughout the 32 countries of Ireland.
About Leybold. Established in 1850, Leybold is a pioneer in vacuum innovation. Our inventions have paved the way for many modern-day vacuum technologies, including our range of next-generation vacuum products. We are recognized globally as a leader in the manufacture of vacuum pumps and systems for industrial and scientific vacuum applications, that are supported by our specialized and globally accessible Service solutions.”
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“Well, I started as a Sales representative in 1997 working for AFE Technologies ( Now Cronite) in Benelux and Poland. Serving the dutch speaking customers and due to my travels to eastern Europe also several Polish customers. I worked my way up to Sales Manager and my territory was expanded with East / North Germany and Denmark. I also supported Thierry Pereira (Global Sales. Director) on several large project, mostly in Europe/ East Europe as he was busy with expanding in Asia. In 2009 I was Transferred to USA, became President of North American Cronite, to support the newly build foundry in MX and set up a sales Team. I left Cronite at the end of 2015 and in the years before I have worked with a large number of customers, furnace builders and automation suppliers on various large projects globally with great success and learned a lot about the transition in the heat treat industry which was going on and made a lot of friends in the industry.”
“After that I joined Alcon and worked very close with Richard Chalet, one of the nicest guys I ever met. Unfortunately, did he pass away after being 2 years in a transitioning project of Alcon. The company was not the same anymore without him but I look back with great pleasure about the things we have realized in the period I was there.”
“In 2019 I joined Wirco as V.P Foundry Division and used my experience to help them to put their foundry back on track after the fire and support them where needed in their management Team.”
“In the fall of 2021 I had to stop and I took a large time off to reflect and think about my future.”
“So in a period of almost 25 years I have gained a lot of knowledge, experience, friends in the heat treat industry from smaller heat treat shops to fully automated transmission plants and everything in between.”
“After a period of almost 9 month taking a break and reflecting the past years I came to the conclusion that I wanted to spend the rest of my career doing what I like and what I enjoy the most. Talking and visiting customers and helping them to solve the issues and problems which occur in the always changing HT Market. I got in contact with Lohmann, Thorsten Kutsch which I knew for years and in a later stadium also the owners of Lohmann who knew me already for years. Lohmann was interested to expand but failed to find the right person with knowledge and contact on the north American market. I was interested to work with a modern, professional and well established / balanced Alloy supplier from Europe. So after a couple talk and a meeting we made a long term agreement which will satisfy both parties.”
“Lohmann is a seventh-generation family business founded in 1790 by Johann Friedrich Lohmann. The company has two locations in Witten, Germany. Witten is located in the middle of Germany near Düsseldorf. The company employs approximately 350 people at both locations. The Witten-Herbede site operates a steel mill with forge and rolling mill and produces tool steels. The Witten-Annen site primarily produces heat-resistant castings for heat treatment plants. Furthermore, wear-resistant components for shot-blasting equipment and corrosion-resistant components for the food and chemical industries are manufactured.”
“Lohmann has been in existence for more than 230 years and has a great deal of experience in the field of steel production. Our strengths are especially in the field of heat resistant steels for all applications in heat treatment.”
“It goes without saying that our quality management is certified according to EN ISO 9001.”
“In addition, we also have an environmental management system according to DIN EN ISO 14001 and an energy management system according to DIN EN ISO 50001.”
Traditionally North American foundries have had little success selling their products into the European market and visa versa which leads me to my next question; has Lohman done much business in North America?
“Lohmann has traditionally focused on the European market. In this respect, I can agree with you about the presence of the individual foundries on other continents. However, we have always been active worldwide, which includes both America and Asia. We already deliver to the USA, but Lohmann’s market share is expandable. We will work on this in the future here in the USA and Mexico and become market player in North America.”
“Basically, Lohmann manufactures all components for heat treatment. These can be castings as well as components made of semi-finished products as welded composite structures. However, our strengths clearly lie in castings. We manufacture baskets, base trays, fixtures, pit furnace fixtures, cast link belts, furnace rollers, radiant heating tubes and furnace parts such as rollers or fans. We are particularly strong when it comes to individually designed fixtures and for pit furnace fixtures and cast link belts.”
The last question leads directly into this one, what advantages does Lohman have that suggests you will be successful in becoming a supplier of note in the North American market?
“Lohmann has an enormously high level of experience and an excellent design department as well as state-of-the-art production facilities. We can meet all the requirements of the heat treatment industry and map almost all processes in-house. The customer gives us a task and we develop a concept and design, including materials consulting, FEM calculation, casting simulation, molding, casting, fettling, machining, after sales, scrap recycling and much more – all from one source. From prototype to pre-series to series production, we produce the components ourselves “Made by Lohmann in Germany”.”
Foundries have not changed much over the years-or have they? I know you are very proud of your new production facilities, what differences/improvements are end users liable to see that they might not have seen a few years ago?
“Our new production line “Modulcast” is an absolutely unique feature. The line is far above the standard of the foundry industry and exists only once in the world. Particularly noteworthy is the automation and resource efficiency. We mold and cast fully automatically and record every process step and production parameter. Resource efficiency includes energy consumption as well as material consumption and space requirements. The Modulcast production line also sets standards in terms of ergonomics, occupational safety and environmental protection. We could conduct a separate interview for the details. However, we are not only proud of our high technical standard but also of the fact that we are the first CO2-neutral foundry according to the GHG protocol in Germany and probably also in Europe. In Europe this topic is gaining more and more importance and probably the rest of the world will slowly develop in this direction as well. But that is also a separate topic which would go beyond the scope of this interview.”
“Traders with an Asian supply background always try to penetrate an existing market. In most cases, this is done exclusively on the basis of price. The established foundries, including Lohmann, have to face the competition and offer added value through design, quality, know-how, innovation, reliability and service. We notice this especially when the projects become more complex and a good concept and design is required.”
What sort of changes do you see on the horizon when it comes to alloy components and fixturing?
“I think that we will see more and more customers of the heat-treat companies and in house heat treaters to go to dedicated fixtures for the guarantee of continuous quality of the heat treated parts. The quality requirements of the heat treated parts will keep increasing and scrap will need to be eliminated as much as possible. A process which is already going on for over a decade but will be intensified even more to also the lower end of the market. I also think we will see that there will be a big change in the way companies will do business, respect – appreciation and commitment for a long-term partnership will be key words and as we have seen in the last year with the delivery shortage.”
“Also are market prices for raw materials such as nickel are very volatile. Especially the price explosion of the last months and the crash at the LME have shown how difficult it is to make a prediction about the situation in the next month’s / year ahead. In addition, there are effects related to the war in Ukraine which makes it impossible to make a prediction to where the market is going.”
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“The Monty Heat Treat News” prides itself on having the most up to date heat treatment news of any source in the world. We start off this update in Germany where we see that Haertha Hardening, one of the largest commercial heat treaters in Europe has yet again expanded their facility in Weißenburg, Germany. In this case the company just added a tandem plasma nitriding system to the plant, this is now the 7th that the company has making it one of the largest commercial heat treats in Germany in terms of Plasma nitriding systems. System sizes range from Ø 800 mm x 1,200 mm to Ø 1,000 mm x 2,300 mm with a weight capacity of 3,000 kg per furnace chamber. The photo below shows part of the “The Monty Heat Treat News” team visiting this plant. To find out how Haertha compares in size other commercial heat treats we would recommend this link; https://themonty.com/project/
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From time to time “The Monty Heat Treat News” reaches back into our photo archives in search of interesting captive and commercial heat treaters we have visited over the years. Today we look at one of the largest commercial heat treats in Mexico, Crio, Queretaro.
Crio Queretaro, Mexico; When commercial heat treater Crio set up shop in Queretaro, Mexico in 2004 it was like most start ups a relatively modest operation. Over the years we have had the opportunity to see the company grow and in 2020 we see quite an impressive company with 2 locations in operation with a third on the way. The main facility is located in Queretaro which has now expanded three times with the result that it now has 58 employees and boasts several 36″ X 48″ X 36″ batch IQ’s, a mesh belt line along with two very large carbottom furnaces.
The Saltillo plant also has large batch IQ furnaces along with 2 rotary hearth furnaces aligned with press quench systems and a total of 43 employees. The third location is in San Luis Potosi and currently the building is completed with the furnaces arriving later on this year. Combined Crio currently has 11 large batch IQ furnaces, 2 carbottoms, 2 rotary hearth furnaces and two press quench systems. While the company does do a reasonable amount of aerospace work the backbone of the company is automotive work which means that the company achieved CQI-9 certification a number of years back.
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Now this press release makes for very interesting reading. Solar Atmospheres is one of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America as ranked by “The Monty Heat Treat News” https://themonty.com/articles/the-monty-heat-treat-news-50-largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-2022/. Read on for all the details;
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August 22/2022 we had the news item below about powdered metal company “Metal Ceramics Company” in the USA selling off their assets, assets which included the entire heat treat department. Surprisingly enough the entire heat treatment department was sold off prior to the actual auction. This included (3) Belt Sintering Furnaces (2, 12” Sinterite and 1 18” Abbott), a Saergent and Wilbur Ammonia Dissociator and a Leeds and Northrup Steam Treat Furnace.
AUGUST 22, 2022; Powdered Metal Company Sending Sintering Furnaces to Auction; All of the equipment at what was formerly “Metal Ceramics Company” of Bensenville, Illinois, USA will shortly be going to auction-this includes the entire heat treating department. In addition to the continuous furnaces the auction will also include machinery, customer lists and intellectual property. The auction will be held September 21. 2022 and amongst the heat treating equipment included is aa Abbott 18″ Electric Furnace (converted from gas), a Sinterite 12” belt sintering furnace and a pusher line. Metal Ceramics Company was founded in 1951 and offered powdered metal parts to a variety of industries including the automotive industry. “The Monty Heat Treat News” would expect to see some interest in the furnaces but not a lot considering the age and condition.
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My 25 years’ experience with CAN-ENG, has shown that systems with capacities greater than 3000 Lbs/hr simply do not go to the open market and in fact if available are transferred inter-company, moved outside of the user’s local geography, or disposed of for competitive reasons. Over the years, CAN-ENG has supported several new mesh users who successfully located these systems for export into new growing markets. In most cases, surplus equipment was made available because the user wanted to upgrade their existing Mesh Belt Heat Treatment System for more Efficient and Higher Capacity lines. In the earlier days, CAN-ENG Furnaces Large Capacity Mesh Belt lines were 3000-4000 lbs/hr. Today large capacity lines are 6000-7300 lbs./hr. As you can imagine if the volumes warrant, users can significantly reduce their costs via economies of scale processing one line versus multiple smaller lines.
As the equipment designs matured so did the advancements in designs and capacities. CAN-ENG has always been a company with engineers at its core. Customers’ needs drove designs forward. Feedback from customers, enhanced servicing in the field with improved access and combustion designs. CAN-ENG’s Continuous Mesh Belt Atmosphere Furnace became more robust, more energy efficient and easier to maintain. The struggle for industry dominance was being won and CAN-ENG became the North American leader for this industrial furnace. The following thirty years has provided CAN-ENG the opportunity to continue to modify the CAN-ENG Mesh Belt (CEMB) design, building larger equipment for commercial fastener manufacturers, automotive and stamping industries and Austemper and Martempering processors. I included an advertisement that dates to the early 1990s that I thought you would find interesting.” Tim Donofrio, Vice President Sales at Can-Eng Furnaces International, Ltd
Terence Profughi, Chair of HTG’s Board of Directors stated, “After thorough succession planning and a comprehensive search process, the board is pleased to have found the best individual to assume leadership of our organization. Mano has a track record of strong leadership in the many roles that he has filled. This combined with his deep industry knowledge and tenure makes Manos uniquely qualified to lead HTG successfully into the future.”
“Manos is a visionary and innovator with an unrelenting drive, who brings unmatched ability in operations and with a broad international experience base, made him the best choice from a deep pool of interested and highly qualified candidates. He has been a successful executive during his extensive career. More importantly, Manos is a great fit with each of the four ‘critical leadership competencies’ we evaluated as part of our selection process: strategic agility, business acumen, vision, and mission-driven orientation. We’re delighted that he has accepted the position.”
In a statement from Manos, “I am honored and humbled to accept the privilege to work with HTG and its growing family of people and customers. Together, we can undoubtedly accomplish anything we set our heart and minds on. In that renewed spirit, HTG will now embark on a path of revitalization of its rich history and expertise to grow in serving customers in aerospace, food, automotive, marine, and industrial products needing heat treating and brazing.
As testament to that renewed spirit, HTG recently and quickly acquired Universal Heat Treating (UHT) due to an unfortunate event crippling UHT’s ability to serve.”
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