Last week“The Monty Heat Treat News” was invited to visit“BATI Heat Treatment” in Ciénega de Flores, N.L., Mexico during the recent“ASM Heat Treat Mexico”event held in Monterrey, Mexico-needless to say“Gord Montgomery” of “The Monty” jumped at the chance.
“BATI Heat Treatment” is part of“BATI ISIL”, a Turkey-based commercial heat treater based in Izmir, Turkey with a 36 year history in commercial heat treating. In June of 2018 the company opened the facility in Mexico originally to service Turkey based manufacturing firms setting up in Mexico, the company has never looked back.
Over the subsequent 8 years the plant has grown to include 5 gas fired batch IQ lines utilizing endothermic atmosphere(all built by “BATI” Turkey by the way)along with associated equipment such as tempers and washers and an endothermic generator.
In 2021 a“KGO”(manufactured in Germany) nitriding system with a capacity of 2,000 Kg(approximately 4500 pounds)was added.
Ricardo Castro, the very competent general manager (who has been with the firm since day 1) told us that 2025 had been a record breaking year for the company, so much so that they are currently expanding the location by 60% with an eye to adding new processes such as vacuum, aluminum and induction, processes which are currently offered by their parent company in Turkey.
Ricardo went on to say that while they serve a number of different industries, automotive is a very important sector for them and with their CQI-9 certification they are well positioned to handle this work.
We would describe this facility as clean and up to date with a very committed and enthusiastic workforce-well worth a visit if you have an interest in seeing commercial heat treaters in Mexico.
Ricardo Castro, General Manager
Left to Right; Salvador Alvarado, GM, SSi Mexico, Damian Bratcher, SSi, Ricardo Castro, GM Bati HT, Kevin Rubio, Operations Manager,Oscar Comacho, SSi Mexico
If“The Monty Heat Treat News”ever puts together a list of the largest in-house heat treaters in the world auto and truck component supplier “Dana Corp.”will undoubtedly be on the list. Their captive heat treating facilities in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa rival any other company in the world-and “The Monty” speaks from experience having seen many of “Dana’s” locations around the world.
This past week“Gord Montgomery”of“The Monty Heat Treat News”visited the“Dana”,Apodaca plant in Nuevo Leon, Mexico and what we saw was a new, clean brazing facility producing over 1 million automotive heat exchangers per year.
This location has been in existence since 2011 but only became a Dana location 2 years ago. It has well over 100,000 square feet under roof with 300 employees.
The brazing department consists of 12 mesh belt brazing lines, all built by“BTU Furnace Company”,all operating at 700C, with a nitrogen atmosphere.
To find out more about heat treating at“Dana Corp.”, we would suggest these exclusive stories from“The Monty”;
From Left to Right; Damian Bratcher, SSI, Oscar Comacho, SSi Mexico, Mario Galaviz, Dana Process Engineer, Salvador Alvarado, GM, SSi Mexico
Who is the world’s acknowledged expert on Boronizing? Why“Mr. Craig Zimmerman”, Technical Director at“Bluewater Thermal Solutions” and today we dug through our“Heat Treat Podcast”archives and found this really excellent discussion with Craig. Read on and learn everything(almost) that there is to know about this relatively unknown heat treating process.
The feedback has prompted us to say that yes, there is definitely a shortage of North American heat treat capacity for very large gears and shafts with two readers saying they had on occasion been forced to send parts to European heat treaters due to North American size constraints.
As mentioned previously our belief is that the largest commercially available pit carburizing furnaces are located at“Worldwide Heat Treat” in Houston, Texas, whose largest capacity furnaces have working dimensions of 100″ diameter X 144″ deep and capable of 60,000 pound loads.
Based upon this capacity and the sales generated“The Monty”will be adding“Worldwide” to our list of the“52 Largest North American Commercial Heat Treaters-2026” which will be published May of this year.
We leave you with these two recent photos of Worldwide showing some typical parts the company runs and the owner,“Mr. Robert Gutierrez”
“OWL GmbH”of Germany a provider of “Hot Isostatic Pressing” Services” (Hipping) will be adding a second Hip unit. The new system will have working dimensions of 500 mm (Diameter) X 1500 mm high. Max. Temp will be1350 degrees C with a maximum pressure of 140 MPa and will be NADCAP ready. This system will be operational by the end of 2027. This photo shows the first installed system;
Why another HIP machine?
• Meet growing demand
• Ensure the highest quality standards
• Drive technological development
• Strengthen competitiveness
• Achieve (even) faster turnaround times
• NADCAP qualification for the aerospace industry
“About OWL GmbH; We are your HIP – Hot Isostatic Pressing service provider. Hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is a manufacturing process that eliminates the porosity of metals and increases the density of many materials. This improves the material’s mechanical properties (fatigue strength, ductility, impact resistance) and machinability; in other words, the component’s reliability is significantly enhanced by the HIP process.
When components are treated with the HIP process, internal cavities and micro-porosities are eliminated through a combination of plastic deformation, flow, and diffusion bonding of the material by simultaneously applying heat and pressure.
The HIP process is used to significantly improve the technical properties of, for example, cast products, additively manufactured products, tools, motorsport components, and aerospace components.”
The Ipsen USA Vacuum Technology Excellence Center announces a record-setting milestone, shipping 14 new vacuum furnaces between February 26 and March 31, 2026. This achievement comes as Ipsen reports a strong first quarter for new orders, with Q1 bookings for vacuum furnaces and related services exceeding $52 million.
“Orders in 2026 have been exceptional for Ipsen, both in volume and in the diversity of customers we are supporting,” said Matt Clinite, Vice President of Sales. “We have made substantial investments in our facilities, equipment, and people, and we are seeing those investments pay off in our ability to serve customers effectively.”
Recent shipments demonstrate broad demand across key markets, including aerospace, energy, and commercial heat treating. The furnaces shipped included a mix of Ipsen’s TITAN platform, MetalMaster, TurboTreater, and vacuum aluminum brazing technologies. The company’s first quarter activity included shipments across North America, Latin America, and Asia, supporting a wide range of industrial applications.
“Across industries, customers continue to rely on Ipsen for high-performance equipment backed by responsive, dependable service,” said Clinite. “Strong bookings for both new furnace systems and aftermarket support are a testament to that trust.” With continued investment in engineering, service, and manufacturing capabilities, Ipsen remains focused on delivering solutions that meet the evolving needs of its customers. Ipsen expects ongoing demand in the energy and aerospace markets to carry this momentum through the remainder of 2026.
“WATERLOO, IA – April 16, 2026 – Advanced Heat Treat Corp.® (AHT), a recognized leader in heat treat services, announced today an 18,000 sq. ft. building expansion at its facility located at 2839 Burton Ave., Waterloo, Iowa. Groundbreaking for the project took place on April 6, with construction anticipated to be complete by Fall 2026.
The expansion will house a new custom-built furnace. The equipment will increase AHT’s size capabilities in length, height and weight for heat treatments such as carburizing, through hardening, normalizing and more.
“This expansion is about giving our customers more – more capacity, more capability, and more confidence in turnaround,” said Adam Kane, Plant Manager at AHT’s Burton Ave. facility. “With added production space and additional equipment, we’ll be able to process larger and heavier components, and we’ll have room to add even more equipment and services in the future.”
The facility is one of two locations in Waterloo, Iowa. The Burton Ave. location has been in operation since 1981 and currently provides heat treat services such as induction hardening, annealing, cryogenic treatment, carbonitriding, stress relieving and other furnace-related heat treat services. The other location in Waterloo on MidPort Blvd. – the corporate office – offers nitriding and nitrocarburizing services.
“Between the two Iowa locations, customers have access to multiple heat treatments within a short drive, allowing them to consolidate their vendors and potentially reduce freight costs,” added Mike Woods, AHT President.
Aside from its two locations in Waterloo, Iowa, AHT is also located in Monroe, Michigan and Cullman, Alabama. For more information about Advanced Heat Treat Corp. or its services, please visit www.ahtcorp.com or call 319-232-5221.
About Advanced Heat Treat Corp. Established in 1981, Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) is a recognized leader in providing heat treat services and superior metallurgical solutions to companies across the globe, with locations in Alabama, Iowa and Michigan. Their UltraGlow® family of processes includes plasma ion nitriding, ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC), gas nitriding, UltraOx®, through hardening, carburizing, carbonitriding, induction hardening, vacuum heat treating and many more.”
As we speak the ASM“Heat Treat Mexico” show is taking place in Monterrey, Mexico from April 14-16th.
The show started Tuesday, April 14th from 6-7:30 PM with today, April 15th being a full day. Gord Montgomery of“The Monty Heat Treat News”was in attendance yesterday and our initial impression is that this is a typical ASM show, well organized and well publicized.
It would appear that the 20 or so exhibitors represent a very good cross section of industry suppliers which includes atmosphere furnace builders,“alloy”suppliers, controls companies, vacuum furnace manufacturers alongside induction heating vendors. These photos will provide you with a “feel for the conference/exhibition.
Gord Montgomery, Victor Calderon, Head of Heat Treating, Caterpillar, Mexico
Alloy Supplier Cronite
Marco Moser and the ECM Team
Furnace Builder“Mattsa” with Neal Conway of“AFC-Holcroft”-their Partner
“Damian Bratcher”of controls company“SSi”on the right.
Prior to the“ASM” Heat Treat Conference being held in Monterrey, Mexico April 14-16th, 2026 Gord Montgomery of“The Monty Heat Treat News” had the opportunity to visit auto and truck component supplier“Amsted Automotive” in Monterrey, Mexico.
The plant which occupies over 100,000 square feet with roughly 140 employes manufacturers piston components for a variety of different industries including auto and truck manufacturing as well as power generation applications.
Interestingly enough while each of these sectors is strong for the company, it is the power generation sector which is really boosting this facility-remember that“The Monty” has mentioned this recurring theme several times recently. Power Generation Is Booming!
Demand is strong enough and stable enough to support three, two row Holcroft pusher furnaces-a furnace style which is becoming less and less common. Each furnace has a capacity of roughly 2,000 pounds/hour with an endothermic atmosphere provided by two“endo” generators.
Our plant tour was hosted by“Mr. Eduardo Resendiz”, Heat Treat Process Engineer who provided us with this rather interesting article about his background, role in the company and comments on the challenges and successes of an in-house heat treating department.
“Eduardo Resendiz, Metallurgical and Materials Engineer graduated from the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in Mexico City. He currently works as a Heat Treatment Process Engineer at Amsted Automotive, part of the international Amsted Industries group, where he is responsible for the carburizing and tempering processes of steel fasteners.
Throughout his career at the company, he has successfully implemented significant improvements in process control, as well as in tooling design. These efforts have enabled increased furnace loading capacity, improved part quality, and ensured an optimal microstructure in compliance with customer requirements.
Additionally, he has developed and implemented automation processes in furnaces, reducing operator involvement in physically demanding or high-temperature risk tasks, thereby improving operational safety.
Collaboration with strategic suppliers such as SSi has contributed to expanding technical knowledge and process vision, driving continuous improvement in heat treatment operations.
These initiatives have resulted in enhanced process efficiency, increased safety, reduced operational costs, and significant savings, including lower gas consumption, reduced carbon footprint, and optimized energy usage.
Among the main challenges faced in the past year are adapting to stricter requirements from new customers, as well as executing new projects that demand continuous process improvement, stronger control systems, in-depth failure analysis, and the implementation of effective solutions.”
Left to Right; Gord Montgomery, Oscar Camacho, SSi Mexico, Salvador Alvarado, General Manager SSi Mexico, Expedito Barocio, Director of North American Piston Pin Operations, Eduardo Resendiz, Amsted Heat Treat Engineer
Left to Right; Salvador Alvarado, General Manager SSi, Mexico, Eduardo Resendiz, Heat Treat Engineer, Amsted, Oscar Camacho, SSi Mexico
“Jim Buntjer” is a very familiar face in the US Midwest commercial heat treating industry having worked with firms such as“Bluewater Thermal”in the Rockford, IL area,“Service Heat Treating” in Milwaukee and“Thermal Process Holdings” also in Rockford.
Mr. Buntjer recently made a change and is now VP of Quality & Operations at“Hestia Heat Treat”in Racine, WI. Over the years“Hestia”has been mentioned by“The Monty”several times-we would suggest these links to find out why;
“Jim Buntjer” is a very familiar face in the US Midwest commercial heat treating industry having worked with firms such as “Bluewater Thermal” in the Rockford, IL area, “Service Heat Treating” in Milwaukee and “Thermal Process Holdings” also in Rockford.