“L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc. has shipped a floor–standing, high–temperature silicon carbide furnace to a leading worldwide supplier of high–temperature piezo ceramics used in the military, aerospace and medical fields.

The L&L model GLF836 has an effective work zone of 18” wide by 18” high by 36” deep. The furnace has a double pivot horizontal door. It is used for processing glass products to 2,500°F / 1,371°C. This process causes lead to outgas from the process. The furnace interior is constructed from high–alumina refractory with less silica than normal linings, which helps delay the corrosive reaction between the silica present in the refractory and the lead outgassing at elevated temperatures. There is also a removable layer of recrystallized alumina fiber board in the hot zone. This sacrificial high–alumina board can be removed and easily replaced, which helps maintain the furnace chamber integrity.

The furnace is powered by high–density, silicon–carbide elements located above and below the furnace hearth. It is controlled by a SOLO single–set point control with overtemperature protection. A tap transformer is included with multiple taps to adjust the primary element voltage as needed as the heating elements change in resistance. A SCR power control with soft start regulates the output voltage to the elements.

The model GLF836 features a free–standing NEMA12 control panel with fused disconnect, and Type R thermocouple for instrumentation. The furnace is also constructed to NFPA86 guidelines for safety.”

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We are pleased to offer this interview with Mr. Don Longnette, a very well known individual in the North American heat treatment industry and the face of furnace builder KGO in North America. In this interview Don talks about nitriding, the growth of the technology and his experience in the global heat treatment industry.
 
We are very pleased today to be speaking with a fellow we have known for years and an individual who we at “The Monty Heat Treat News” would consider a friend, Mr. Don Longenette. Don for our readers could you please tell us a bit about your background in the heat treat industry?

“I started out in the heat-treating industry with a degree in Heat Processing at Hocking Technical college in Nelsonville, Ohio many years ago. From there I went to work at companies like The Timken Company to Bodycote, all on the global side of the business, and several smaller companies in between. The focus was always on the heat treat equipment side of the business as in purchasing, installing and maintaining new assets. Throughout the last 20 years of my career, I have been involved in the purchase and installation of over 50 KGO gas nitriding furnaces throughout Asia, North and South America.”

Just last year you started your own firm, one which is working closely with two well known European companies, perhaps you could share some background with us?

“My company I started in the Spring of 2020 is A+Heat Treating Services LLC. The main focus is Sales, Service, and Installation of KGO gas nitriding furnaces and Stange control instruments. In 2020 as the Covid shutdown started I found myself at a company working as the V.P. of Operations in a manufacturing facility. I had been doing this for a little over a year. When the Covid shutdown started I looked at what I was doing and decided I was not happy on this side of management. I resigned from my position here and as I was driving home, I called my good friend Harald Roth at KGO and asked if he needed any help at this time.

A year and a half earlier we had discussed in great length about me joining the KGO team with support in North America but had decided to wait to see where the market need was heading. It just so happened at this time that Covid had forced an opportunity to open a support business immediately in North America. KGO had a number of furnaces shipped and sitting at customers facilities throughout North and South America. With the Covid shutdown travel restrictions from Europe to the U.S., KGO needed someone on the ground here that could travel and install/start-up these furnaces.

Perfect opportunity for me to open A+ Heat Treating Services, LLC and have been very successful since opening in addressing the installation/start up needs. We are also building a critical spare parts inventory in the U.S. of KGO and Stange parts.” In between the work for KGO and Stange, I occasionally am asked to go out and supervise installation and startup some OEM furnaces which I do as long as it is not a nitriding furnace.

What can you tell us about KGO and their product offerings?

“KGO is headquartered in Wetter (near Cologne), Germany. KGO has over 70 years experience in engineering and building all types of thermoprocessing equipment. They still build all types today but the gas nitriding is their main focus and the only process that I focus on in sales for North America. Gas nitriding furnaces make up 90 % of their sales at this time. With over 250 units in Europe and now over 50 units in Asia and North America. Within this past year despite the Covid turndown we have entered the Indian and Canadian markets.”

Who are your customers? Obviously I am not asking for names rather who buys new KGO systems? Commercial shops? In house heat treaters? Automotive suppliers?

“The main customer base are commercial heat treaters where automotive and tooling with gas nitriding furnaces make up 90% of the sales.”

What parts are you most likely to see in a KGO nitriding unit? Tooling? Dies? Gears?

“We see a good mixture parts from commercial heat treaters but mainly automotive gears followed by tooling. Recently there has been an increase in aerospace applications which looks to be the next new wave of opportunity for us.”

My personal belief is that the fastest growing heat treat technology in the world these days is nitriding. Would you agree with this statement and if so why?

“I would agree with that statement and that is why I started my business up to focus on the support and sales of KGO and Stange. With the ever-demanding push to lower prices on all manufactured goods these days, suppliers have had to find ways to reduce costs. One way is to use lower grades of steel but still maintain the strength and durability of the higher grades. This is where nitriding comes in and will continue into the next few years.”

What differentiates KGO from other suppliers of nitriding systems?

“KGO has a close “partnership” with Stange controls where together they bring the best quality engineered and built nitriding furnace on the market today. There have been several companies in the last few years that have tried to copy the furnace design but without the years of experience of the design and engineering of the controls and software are failing. From the first KGO furnace I was involved in to the last one I’ve installed and started up, I am constantly amazed at the quality and reliability of their furnaces. After start up and commissioning I can walk away and rarely do I ever receive a call of any problems with the operation or the process.”

KGO developed a couple of unique features for the furnace process control such as lo-flo© and APIN©. These features make the furnace even more energy efficient and easy to operate with reliable and repeatable heat treat results. Given needs and requirements out of the world wide heat treat society ended up in some of those smaller or larger advantages KGO gas nitriders show today.

The world is a trying place these days and challenges seem to abound, what are you faced with these days that gives you sleepless nights?

“Like everyone else in any business these days is the supply chain issues we are facing. From not being able to get the parts needed to build the furnace in a timely manner to trying to ship the finished furnace to its destination. Added to this is trying to keep the cost increases of the shipping and goods down to manageable levels so we can provide the lowest cost option to the customer. This is a challenge to everyone in the market today. Another concern is the lack of experience in the workforce today and it appears to be getting worse. I just taught a heat-treating furnace operations course to 9 people in a facility. Out of the 9, not a one had any furnace experience. I see the 40 under 40 in heat treat today that is out there and think this is great but does not appear to be enough to handle the current employment needs. Where will new talent come from? Maybe we should list a 60 over 60 in heat treat that can be used for mentoring new talent.”

Don lets switch direction as I want to take advantage of your incredible experience in the industry. Almost your entire working life has involved heat treating and it includes both captive and commercial heat treaters. Over the course of your career what changes have you seen? Have you seen technologies dramatically changing? A greater interest in heat treating as part of the manufacturing process? A move from in house to outsourcing?

“Let’s face it, not a lot has changed in the conventional heat treat processes today than say 50 years ago. From pack carburizing (Yes I did this in college) to gas carburizing today it is still the same process. We do have vacuum carburizing that has come along and is steadily holding ground in a few niche markets but I don’t think it will be a major game changer overall. I have seen in the past couple of years a greater interest in pulling the heat treat back in-house. Where a few years back the big push was for outsourcing most heat treat requirements these days I see a lot of inquiries for furnaces to install in manufacturing plants so they can control the whole process. I believe this has had a lot to do with the pandemic creating issues of delivery from their suppliers but never the less it appears to be a current day concern.”

“The latest technology changes in todays market as we have already discussed is gas nitriding. At least here in North America. It seems it has been around several years more in the European market.”

A question I always like to ask is where you see the industry going? Certainly I realize this is in an unfair question but quite often it provokes some very interesting replies. For instance do you see less continuous heat treatment and more batch? Or perhaps even more radical a trend towards more single part processing?

“In the current market, I do not see any continuous equipment inquiries. This does not mean they are not out there but from the facilities I visit I do not see any need. I am seeing more and more multiple unit batch furnaces. These are large capacity furnaces with 6 or more units and plans for more in the next few years. I do not see any single part processing opportunities.”

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It is a sad fact that the heat treatment industry all around the world is losing some good people with experience that cannot be replaced-the reason being that very few young people are aware that heat treatment can be a very rewarding career (albeit a hard one). Thus when we lose an individual with an entire working career in the industry it hurts us all.
 
Sam Boyer is an individual who has spent 30 years in the heat treatment industry in California, USA with companies such as commercial heat treater Bodycote, furnace builder Ipsen, as an owner of “City Steel Heat Treating” and most recently at “Themal-Vac” in CA, one of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America as rated by “The Monty Heat Treat News”, https://themonty.com/project/50-largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-2021-2/ 
 
Tomorrow is Sam’s last day at Thermal Vac and his experience will be missed.
 
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Today “The Monty Heat Treat News” continues with our series about captive and commercial heat treating in Portugal. Yesterday we introduced you to one of the two largest captive/commercial heat treaters in the country, TTO a company which functions as a machine shop, graphite supplier and heat treater. While we focused on the plasma nitriding and atmosphere side of the business yesterday, we have these photos of the vacuum department to show you today.
 
What you are seeing is a line of vacuum nitriding, tempering and hardening furnaces, 12 in total and all relatively new. Interestingly enough all were built by a company unknown to us, ALBA, an Italian furnace builder whose founders came from a now defunct furnace manufacturer, COFFI again an Italian company.
 
While we are not familiar with ALBA, TTO is quite obviously impressed with their capabilities and certainly to our eyes the equipment appeared to be very impressive.
 
The firm’s president, Mr. Hugo Ferreira told us that while business had been up and down due to COVID, currently it was quite good and that the company was making some substantial investments. One of the reasons he gave us for their business growth was one which we have heard from several heat treaters over the years, including Rochester Steel Treating in Rochester, NY, USA of all places. Basically Hugo stated they would always turn a customers work around in 24 hours or less even if it meant running a furnace at far less than capacity. Yes this means a loss to the firm on one particular job but on the other side of the coin it means extremely loyal customers. Interesting that heat treaters as far apart as Portugal and New York State should have the same philosophy.
 
We will continue with our “Heat Treating Portugal” series this week along with some other news items including a very interesting interview with the “Great” Don Longenette.
 
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Joao & Hugo Ferreira, Dale Montgomery
 
Gord Montgomery, Joao & Hugo Ferreira
This week “The Monty Heat Treat News” visits Portugal to look at the captive/commercial heat treating market. We are sure it will surprise no one that the heat treating market in Portugal is relatively small, however what there is, is very sophisticated and technology wise it rivals any market in the world.  Most of the industry revolves around the manufacturing of molds for the plastic industry which is deeply rooted in the history of the country. Portugal for hundreds of years was a hotbed of glass making which required molds, over the years this translated into the manufacturing of molds for the plastic industry. To give you an idea this relatively small country has over 500 manufacturers of molds which are subsequently shipped all over the world. Now as we all know tooling and mold making requires some pretty high end heat treating which means that for a relatively small market there are a number of very advanced vacuum hardening and vacuum nitriding furnaces.
 
Our first visit was to a captive/commercial heat treater by the name of TTO (Tratmentos Termicos do Oeste) in Maceira, Portugal http://tratamentostermicos.com/pt/. This family owned and run company consists of 3 divisions, a machining division dedicated to the mold making industry, a second division which supplies graphite products and a third division which is the focus of our attention-a captive and commercial heat treating facility.
 
In turn the heat treating facility can be divided into three parts; a sealed quench (batch IQ) department, a plasma nitriding facility (Ion nitriding as some would call it) and a vacuum department which includes vacuum hardening furnaces, vacuum nitriding units and vacuum tempering systems.
 
The plasma nitriding operation consists of two Klockner units in imppecable condition which originally came from Bodycote, the atmosphere facility has two sealed quench furnaces with oil quenching and the vacuum line has an impressive 12 furnaces which makes this a very substantial operation-either captive or commercial although it is more a captive operation than a commercial one.
 
Part Two To Come
 
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Gord Montgomery, Joao and Hugo Ferreira

“The Monty Heat Treat News” has published regular articles about how the auto industry slowdown (due to the ongoing chip shortage) has dragged down captive and commercial heat treaters alike for all of 2021. There can be no stronger indication of this than the recent Trading Update from the world’s largest commercial heat treater, UK based Bodycote. Their November 23, 2021 “Trading Update” shows that while the company has been doing well, the slowdown in the North American automotive industry has affected the firm’s bottom line. https://www.bodycote.com/ 

Trading Update

Bodycote, the world’s leading provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services, is issuing the following trading update, covering the four-month period from 1 July to 31 October 2021 (“the period”).

Group revenue for the period was £200.1m, 3% higher than last year (8% higher at constant currency). ADE revenues were £81.3m (up 4% at actual rates, up 9% at constant currency); AGI revenues were £118.8m (up 3% at actual rates, 8% at constant currency). Group revenue for the 10 months to 31 October 2021 was £513.0m, 3% up on last year (7% up at constant currency).

All percentage movements in the following review of the Group’s markets compare to the same period from 1 July to 31 October 2020, at constant currency, unless otherwise stated.

Automotive revenues declined 6%, with the 10% decline in car and light trucks more than offsetting good growth in heavy truck and bus. This decline is a direct result of supply chain bottlenecks in the automotive industry. Whilst the decline is greater than we had anticipated, it has been concentrated almost entirely in our North American and Mexican businesses, driven by automotive OEM supply chain shortages. Our European car and light truck revenues were flat in the period. As set out at the Half Year results, we expected Q3 revenues in this market sector to decline, but had expected Q4 revenues to rebound, resulting in H2 revenues across the Group for automotive being broadly flat against H1. We no longer believe that our Q4 revenues can offset the Q3 decline. Consequently, we now expect that our full year Group revenue will be up to £10m (1.6%) lower than our previous expectations as a result of lower automotive revenues.

Underlying consumer automotive demand remains strong and therefore we believe that this issue is transitory in nature. As a result, we would expect our revenues to recover and return to the previous growth trajectory in due course.

In contrast, civil aerospace revenues were up 25% on the comparable period. While there is still some inventory in the supply chain, activity is picking up as the OEMs ramp up production and flying hours continue to build. This acceleration is in line with our expectations of good growth in aerospace in 2022 and beyond.

General industrial revenues were 17% higher, with most categories registering good growth. Indeed, general industrial revenues were only 1% lower versus the same period in 2019, representing an excellent recovery. Most general industrial supply chains remain short on inventory.

Emerging Markets achieved revenue growth of only 4%. This underperformance was driven predominantly by a fall in revenues in Mexico (which largely supplies the automotive market in the US), which were down almost 50% on last year. General industrial revenues in the Emerging markets grew 27%. And overall, despite the current weakness in automotive, Emerging Markets’ revenues in the period were 7% up on the comparable period in 2019. Specialist Technologies’ revenues grew 10%, continuing to outperform the background market.

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In Gloucester, UK, extrusion die manufacturer Elite Extrusion recently made the decision to install an in-house heat treatment department to handle their heat treat requirements. The family owned business https://www.elitedie.co.uk/  formed in 1986 decided that the time was right to install a vacuum hardening furnace and a companion temper unit. After months of preparation which included a power upgrade, nitrogen and water cooling services the equipment is now fully operational. A number of companies were involved in getting this project up and running, this included Vacuum & Atmosphere Services in the UK who “The Monty Heat Treat News” visited a few short weeks ago
 
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Century Sun Metal Treating in Traverse City, Michigan, USA just appointed Mr. Bryan Jageman  as Heat Treat Sales Manager. Byran has had a long and very distinguished career in the heat treatment industry having worked with companies as diverse as Jasco Heat Treating in NY, Modern Industries in Erie, PA and most recently as VP of Operations at HI TecMetal Group in Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
Century is a very impressive commercial heat treat operation which has made “The Monty Heat Treat News” several times recently, both as one of the largest commercial heat treats in North America and also because ownership of the company changed hands earlier this year. Read all about it below;
 

Top 50 Heat Treater Sold; Century Sun Heat Treat Treat Sold-31st Largest Commercial Heat Treater in North America

Recently “The Monty Heat Treat News” put together our annual list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America-in 31st position on this list is Century Sun Heat Treat in Traverse City, Michigan. According to this press release the firm was recently sold to a Michigan based Investment Group. 50 Largest North American Commercial Heat Treats 2021 | The Monty

“PMCF is pleased to announce that it served as the exclusive financial advisor to Century, LLC (“Century” or “The Company”) in a sale transaction to Hillcrest Investment Partners, LLC, a private investment group. Headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan, Century is a leading supplier of heat treating and machining solutions.

 
Over its history of more than 45 years, Century has evolved into a leading manufacturer of highly complex precision components, serving customers in aerospace, oil and gas, and industrial markets. The Company’s vertically integrated offering of precision machining capabilities, automated welding, and specialized heat treating services streamlines the supply chain and improves quality and turnaround times for customers.  Century’s team of experienced engineers, machinists, and product line specialists take a methodical and comprehensive approach to each project. The Company’s focus on service, quality, and on-time delivery results in strong customer loyalty – 90% of customers have been with Century for 15 years or more.
 
Bill Janis, former Owner and Chairman of Century, remarked, “Century has established a strong reputation in the market over multiple decades based on our focus and dedication to customer satisfaction. The Company has found a great home with Hillcrest Investment Partners. Their ability to leverage industry experience and continued investment in capabilities and technology will accelerate Century’s growth trajectory and result in even better service for our customers.”
 
Century selected PMCF to serve as the exclusive investment banker in the transaction. Bill Janis added, “We couldn’t be happier with our decision to hire PMCF as our M&A advisor. The team was instrumental in achieving a successful outcome and was heavily involved in each phase of the process. PMCF’s industry expertise and ability to effectively communicate our story to the market was impressive, and I would highly recommend PMCF to any company considering a transaction.” The transaction closed in June 2021. Honigman LLP served as the legal advisor to the Company.”
 
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ELVIAL S.A., one of the largest aluminum extrusion companies in Greece, has purchased a second NX-815 E furnace from NITREX to meet the needs created by its plant expansion and increase its manufacturing capacity. “This additional NX-815 E furnace, which was installed and began production in July 2021, will help increase the production of building materials by the company – says Marcin Stokłosa, Project Manager at Nitrex. The first furnace has been operational since 2016”.  An ELVIAL representative cited good equipment, technology and service to explain why ELVIAL chose to do business with NITREX once again, according to Marcin Stokłosa.

The NX-815 E is a retort furnace used for extrusion. It operates with NX Connect software, and uses the NITREG®-C (nitrocarburizing) and NITREG® (gas nitriding) technologies for dies extrusion. The machine is equipped with air conditioning, an INS series exhaust gas neutralizer, and racking of 750 kg made from Inconel 600. The order also included a lifting device. All processes for this furnace are compliant to AMS 2759/10.

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We at “The Monty Heat Treat News” have always found it fascinating to see the start up of a commercial heat treater and how it grows, changes and evolves over the years, this is the story of a fairly typical North American commercial heat treat, Cambridge Heat Treating. We say typical because like many in the industry it is family owned and run and in terms of sales it would be considered average or slightly above average by North American standards. The original founder was Bob Robbins and over the years his sons Don, Peter and daughter Cheryl have all had a role in the business. This is the timeline of the business combined with photos showing the history.

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