In 2019 one of the more interesting commercial heat treaters in North America, Applied Process was acquired by Aalberts Industries of the Netherlands (the press release announcing the acquisition is below). Applied Process (which was started by the Keough family of AFC-Holcroft fame) is a very unique operation in that the company almost exclusively offers salt quenching and boasts the world’s largest integral quench batch austempering furnace with working dimensions of 84″W x 96″L x 54″T. It was built in 2011 by furnace builder AFC-Holcroft of Wixom, Michigan and has a gross capacity of 20,000 pounds and a quench tank which holds 400,000 pounds of salt. This photo shows Gord Montgomery standing in front of “The Monster” as it is appropriately nicknamed.
All of the Aalberts locations in North America are being “rebranded” under the name “Aalberts Surface Technologies” which means the name “Applied Process” name and their very iconic “Hostile Duck” logo are being retired. Rather a shame after such a long, distinguished history but such is change-we will though miss the “Hostile Duck”.
Richard Wright, COO of the US Division of Aalberts Material Technology stated “Aalberts is very excited that Applied Process is joining our team of world-class service providers. Applied Process is the world-wide leader in austempering heat treatment, and we look forward to supporting their efforts to expand their technology and service offerings.” Harold Karp, Applied Process President and CEO stated, “We are very excited to be part of the Aalberts family. We especially look forward to the synergistic opportunities of providing a broader and stronger service offering to our customers that will come from the technical expertise and other businesses within Aalberts.”
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The August 2022 digital edition of “The Monty Heat Treat News” magazine is now available on line at https://fliphtml5.com/gvbzt/ve
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The #1 issue in the global heat treatment industry these days is finding and retaining good people. In an effort to find out how this was affecting the industry we went to an expert, Mr. Josh Hale of International Search Partners, the foremost recruiting firm in the heat treat field. This is what Josh has to tell us;
International Search Partners has been providing recruiting solutions exclusively to the thermal processing industry since 1998 and I’ve been in the human capital business almost as long (focused primarily on finance prior to getting into heat treat with ISP almost a decade ago), and this market is CRAZY! The demand for talent has never been as strong as it is now, with literally every company vying to hire and keep good employees. In our business, we sometimes use the term “a candidate’s market” to describe times where unemployment is low and there are more available jobs than there are potential employees… well, what we’re experience now is a candidate’s market x 100!
What factors do you attribute to these current market conditions?
There are several broader socio-economic factors at play that are affecting all business right now, but specifically for the heat treat industry, two key issues stand out: 1) This is an older industry and many of the experienced workers from the Boomer generation with institutional, homegrown knowledge are retiring early. This is partially due to a multi-year bull run in the stock market and real estate that has afforded them this option, and, of course, there’s still COVID scares or other lifestyle factors that are removing many 50+ year–olds from the pool of potential candidates. 2) This is related, but the older workers aren’t being replaced by the younger generation at a rapid enough clip. 20-somethings just aren’t getting enticed into factory jobs anymore, and college students are less likely to study metallurgy or materials science. Plainly speaking, the industry suffers from a marketing problem. We need to find a way to attract young people into this business earlier in their careers.
With the shortage of people are salaries and wages rising?
YES! They’re rising and rising fast! We’ve seen upticks on starting salaries for all positions this year versus last and it seems to be going up every month... whereas previously a “good” offer was 10-15% above a candidate’s current salary, we’re now seeing 20-25% and up to 40% in some cases for niche skill sets. As mentioned before, this is truly the definition of a “candidate’s market.”
Do you see firms hiring individuals with no experience on the basis that they will train them?
This not something we get involved in much, because, if a company is going to pay our fee for a hire, they usually want experience. However, I have heard of companies being willing to lower their requirements for hourly production jobs and hiring with little-to-no experience and/or being more willing to take a flyer on someone with a “jumpy” job history or even those who might interview poorly but are otherwise capable and willing to be trained.
Are retired individuals being dragged back into the industry kicking and screaming?
No – they’re all too rich! Seriously, though, we have seen some companies pay consulting rates equivalent to 1.5-2x salaries to former employees, just to get them through certain key projects. This is obviously unsustainable long-term but can provide a temporary band-aid for the company and prove very lucrative for the former employee in specific instances. Overall, though, this is not a trend we see taking hold.
If a company is unable to find somebody to fill a position, what innovative ideas have you seen to handle this?
We advise companies to think outside the box and look for ways to duplicate previously successful hires. This is especially true for hourly production workers who can come in with light experience but get up and running quickly with the right training. For example, if the best mechanical technicians tend to have a hobby of tinkering on motorcycles, maybe advertising open jobs in the local dirt bike newsletter instead of an online job porta would be better.
Also, this market demands flexibility. If a job can potentially be work-from-home or offer flexible hours, even part of the time, that’s a huge selling point. The best candidates have options and it’s not always money that’s going to be the main lure, so companies need to get creative on what else they can offer to attract talent.
And then, there’s always the direct recruiting approach, which this is where we come in. A business is like a sports team, and the champions are the ones that aggressively go after recruiting the all-stars. Our specialty is engaging with companies who want to WIN and helping them build out the right team by selectively going after the best possible resources for every key position on the team.
Josh Hale has been collaborating with companies to identify, engage, and hire top performers as a professional “headhunter” and human capital consultant since the early 2000’s. He’s focused exclusively on the thermal processing industry since acquiring International Search Partners in 2015. ISP was originally founded in 1998 and is the only search and placement firm to specialize exclusively in heat treat.
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Furnace builder ECM based in Grenoble, France is in the process of installing a new vacuum carburizing system at a commercial heat treater in Verdello, Italy. HAERTHA Hardening Industries Locations – Härterei HÄRTHA GROUP (haertha.de) has 10 locations around Europe which include facilities in Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. “The Monty Heat Treat News” has been lucky enough to visit several of their facilities and each that we have seen has been clean and modern with new thermal treatment technologies including nitriding and vacuum hardening. As far as we know this is the company’s first foray into vacuum carburizing. In 2019 “The Monty Heat Treat News” included the firm as one of the largest commercial heat treaters in Europe Largest European Commercial Heat Treaters | The Monty
As a bonus we are including this picture of the HAERTHA facility in Weissenburg, Germany.
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“The cause of Saturday’s major fire at a metal processing plant in Remscheid is still unclear. Fire investigators are looking at the possibility that the cause was arson although that will not be known for some time. The fire was so bad that the building, which is in danger of collapsing will have to be demolished. What is known is that the fire did start in a quench oil tank which would appear to largely rule out arson. The owner of the company already estimates the property damage at more than 10 million euros (roughly $10 million USD). 150 emergency personnel were busy extinguishing the fire.
Large quantities of quench oils had also leaked out. A large proportion of these oils had entered the sewage system together with the extinguishing water, but could later be intercepted and disposed of at the wastewater treatment plant. On the site, a specialist company has begun to vacuum up the residue. The Environmental Agency is now investigating the extent to which the oils have seeped into the soil and need to be removed.”
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UK based Bodycote, the largest commercial heat treater has just released their 2022 Interim financial results-the full report can be found at https://www.bodycote.com/
“Bodycote PLC said Friday that its pretax profit rose slightly in the first half as revenue rose 15%, and that it expects to make further progress in the second half. The provider of heat-treatment and thermal-processing services reported a pretax profit of 41.6 million pounds ($50.7 million), compared with GBP40.5 million a year earlier.
The company said headline operating profit–a key measure that strips out exceptional and other one-off items–was GBP50.5 million, compared with GBP48.7 million for the year-prior period. The company said that it experienced a lag in being able to pass cost inflation to customers over the period and that it saw unprecedented daily demand volatility in April and May–factors that each hit its first-half headline operating profit, but have now stabilized.
Revenue rose to GBP358.5 million from GBP312.9 million, benefiting from price increases and energy surcharges successfully passed on to customers. The board declared an interim dividend of 6.4 pence, up from 6.2 pence a year before.
“While there are obvious geopolitical uncertainties, as matters stand today, we see the prospect of volume growth in each of our key market sectors and geographies and we anticipate making progress in the second half,” Bodycote said.”
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The NITREX installation base continues to grow and expand at the world’s largest aluminum extrusion profile company HYDRO. While all of the NITREX nitriding systems at HYDRO’s worldwide facilities are pit-type furnaces, the latest delivery is a horizontal furnace.
The decision for this furnace configuration was made because HYDRO EXTRUSION NORWAY had to replace an old decommissioned furnace at its Magnor plant, and the new nitriding equipment had to integrate with the existing infrastructure of the plant as well as fit in the specific floor space allocation. NITREX has had a long lasting relationship with global HYDRO since 1999, having installed over twenty nitriding systems in plants worldwide.
The horizontal-type furnace, a model NXH-6612, can handle loads up to 800 kg (1760 lb.). The delivered solution also includes the NITREG® technology to optimize process parameters for optimal die quality and a neutralizer for a clean process and pro-ecological solution.
About Hydro Extrusions. HYDRO is a leading aluminum and energy company whose business and partnerships are oriented towards a sustainable future. Since 1905, HYDRO has been transforming natural resources into valuable products for societies and businesses. In Hydro Extrusions, Hydro has the largest global aluminium extrusion-based solutions operation in the world, counting 100 production sites in more than 40 countries. Major international provider of small and large commercial and military jet engines, components, and integrated systems.
About Nitrex. Nitrex (www.nitrex.com) is the only fully integrated global provider in the surface and heat treatment market. The company was founded in 1984 in Montreal, Canada, and operates three business units – Nitrex Turnkey Systems (NTS), with turnkey nitriding, nitrocarburizing, and vacuum furnace systems; Heat Treating Services (HTS), a worldwide network of commercial heat-treating service centers; and UPC-Marathon, a leading provider of controls upgrade and automation solutions for the heat treating and combustion industries.
With more than 450 employees and a market presence in over 55 countries, Nitrex serves its customers globally from 14 locations across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, China, Japan, and through a global network of representatives and licensees. Over the past 37 years, the company’s ability to diversify its product and business portfolios as well as unlocking employee potential has made it one of the best-known players in the heat treatment market.
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“Paulo recently earned Honeywell approval for Hot Isostatic Pressing at the Cleveland Division. The approval which has no restrictions and covers all HIP processing was earned after completion of an onsite audit of the Cleveland plant. The Cleveland Division provides state-of-the art HIP services, including pressures up to 30,000 psi. The plant is also home to over 30 vacuum heat treatment furnaces which creates a one-stop-shop for parts that require both HIP and heat treatment. The rapid cooling of our HIP vessel even enables combined cycle HIP and heat treatment for some materials.
Hot Isostatic Pressing has been used to densify investment castings for decades and has recently gained popularity as a post-processing step for additively manufactured parts. Additively manufactured components for Aerospace and Space often require HIP and a subsequent solution treating step to achieve the material properties necessary for their performance.
Will Rassieur, VP Sales, commented, “Customer specific approvals are the ultimate sign of trust. They demonstrate the abilities of our equipment, team, and processes. We’re excited to add Honeywell HIP to our list of approvals and look forward to working both Honeywell directly and with their suppliers.”
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 strategically-located divisions across the U.S. and Mexico. We deliver quality results with datagineering: blending the best in automation, data, and human expertise.”
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BMT Aerospace of Belgium has just acquired Engineered Heat Treat in Madison Heights, Michigan, USA in a rather surprising turn of events. Engineered Heat Treat is a family owned commercial heat treat run by Ron and Greg Philbosian. Read on for all the details.
“BMT AEROSPACE JULY 26, 2022; We are proud to announce that Engineered Heat Treat, LLC (EHT) will join the BMT Aerospace division. EHT is a successful business which executes heat treatment for several industries (e.g. Aerospace, Agriculture, Automotive, and military). EHT is a family business to its core and origins back to 1959. Brothers, Ron and Greg Pilibosian, are currently leading the company and will continue to do so with a direct reporting line to Benoit Reynders.
A logical step; EHT is already a well-known supplier to BMT Aerospace US and has been for many years. Due to this new cooperation, we will be able to perform our heat treatment in-house. This means that BMT Aerospace US will have a vertically integrated production process just like BMT Aerospace in Belgium and Romania. A big added value for us and our customers!
This acquisition brings together BMT Aerospace’s high-end gear manufacturing capabilities in Fraser, Michigan, with one of the leading heat treatment providers in the Detroit area. For BMT Aerospace, this is an important step into the future and supports the strategic transformation we are going through. We believe this acquisition provides a great opportunity to accelerate the value we bring to our customers.
Fully vertically integrated; A big part of this deal is accelerating BMT Aerospace’s operational performance through supply chain integration. Operational excellence has always been our strategic mindset. Integrating EHT’s capabilities with BMT Aerospace’s services will allow us to manage lead time and drastically improve response time.
Based on our experience with BMT Aerospace’s vertically integrated plants in Belgium and Romania, we strongly believe that supply chain integration is key to operational and financial independence.
In addition, this transaction advances BMT Aerospace’s plans to grow as a consolidated supplier and accelerate our global strategy to become a ‘single-source’ partner to our customers. Vertical integration provides the insurance against supply chain disruptions and improves flexibility. We’re excited to welcome our new colleagues in the BMT Group and the BMT Aerospace division in particular!”
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