To start off 2022 “The Monty Heat Treat News” has set ourselves the task of updating our list of the 10 largest captive heat treat locations in North America. This will be based upon total number of furnaces (as opposed to total throughput), this is heat treating only (as opposed to a steel mill as an example) and this will be single locations only. Our goal is have out list completed by the end of January 2022. While the final list has not been completed a few to consider include;
- Timken, Mexico who has been making some very large investments in new heat treat equipment.
- Ford, Sharonville, Ohio, USA
- John Deere, Waterloo, Iowa, USA
- American Axle, Mexico
- Caterpillar, Illinois, USA
- Pratt & Whitney, CT, USA
- Schaeffler, Joplin, MO, USA
- Linamar, Guelph, Ontario, Canada-we are including these photos of their in house heat treat department.
Stay tuned and as always we look forward to your suggestions.
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The link below will take you to the January 2022 issue of “The Monty Heat Treat News”, 64 pages of the most up to date news in the global heat treatment industry. In this issue you will read;
- Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions starting to dictate how furnaces in North America are heated?
- A commercial heat treater in Upstate NY, USA is continuing to prosper in spite of current challenges.
- Sites Medical in the US continues to grow their in house heat treatment department
- We finish our series on heat treating in Portugal
- Watlow Electric in Mexico adds vacuum furnace
- SECO Lands an order for 11 count them 11 Furnaces from one customer
And lots more heat treat news from the largest source of heat treat news in the world “The Monty Heat Treat News”. Gord, Jordan and Dale Montgomery
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Our very first news item of 2022 consists of an interview with Mr. Andreas Fritz, Managing Director of HEMO GmbH which offers some of the most advanced cleaning systems in the world. In his interview Andreas speaks about why vacuum cleaning systems should be considered, the relative merits of aqueous vs solvent systems, and where HEMO and the parts cleaning industry are headed.
We are honored today to be speaking with Mr. Andreas Fritz, Managing Director of HEMO Cleaing systems, one of the foremost manufacturers in the world for advanced cleaning systems. Andreas thanks for the time today, to start off I am going to ask the first question which I ask of all or our inerviewees-how did you get started in this industry?
In 1999 I joined the company as a temporary help after school. I did whatever was necessary in any department, was fascinated by the size and technology of the machines and finally agreed to do an apprenticeship. After that I did a 6-year distance study in order not to loose the daily business and also spend 3 years at a machine manufacturing company near Nuremberg.
Since 2012 I am Managing Director and pretty much involved into the heat treatment industry.
To be honest, customers in this industry are different than in others. The direct, honest way of talking – negative and positive – is and was very helpful for me to guide me especially in my first years. It is like a big family and I really like to meet these people whenever and whereever possible.
I am really getting ahead of myself here but I have to say HEMO produces the most elaborate, beautifully designed and built cleaning equipment I have ever seen in my life. As I say I am getting ahead of myself so why don’t you tell us a bit about the company-the size, the history, where you are located and the products it has to offer?
The company was established in 1979 building open-top atmospheric degreasing system using chlorinated hydrocarbons as solvent which was state of the art at that time.
Due to changes in environmental and health legislation we invented and patented the first cleaning machine which was working under vacuum in 1995.
This new technology had a huge impact and finally all competitors were our licensees. Nowadays we build solvent and water-based cleaning machines as well as mixtures like our HYBRID and BEYOND technologies.
In 2017 the two companies Hoesel GmbH, manufacturer of fine cleaning machines, and EMO Oberflaechentechnik GmbH manufacturer of large cleaning systems merged and changed the name to HEMO. Additionally we built a new state–of–the-art factory to increase our capacity in a small town called Oetisheim which is not far away from Stuttgart.
HEMO GmbH currently has roughly 140 emloyees and a turnover of 35 Mio. Euro being generated at two manufacturing locations.
We are shareholder of the the companies LPW Reinigungssysteme building water-based cleaning systems and BERTOMA which is a job-cleaning company.
Additional foreign joint-ventures are Mecanolav-Ridel in France, NGCT Cleansys in India and the latest one Washtech in Queretaro, Mexico which all offer sales, service and manufacturing capacity for HEMO products but also build their own kind of cleaning systems.
Finally we have a licence manufacturing and service partner in China being done by Shanghai Advanced Metallurgical Technology Corporation.
In any of these locations our custom-tailored solvent-based or hybrid cleaning machines are build or used. Roughly 25% of our turnover is generated in heat treatment industry (hardening and brazing) followed by coating, automotive and aerospace industry.
What different technologies do you use in your systems? For instance is ultrasonics commonly employed?
In 1996 HEMO delivered the first vacuum cleaning machine using hydrocarbon far above its flash point for perfect cleaning and drying results to a commercial heat treatment shop.
Very important is that the whole system is running under full vacuum throughout the whole cleaning cycle – not only for the drying process.
The cleaning process is supported by high temperatures above the solvent’s flash point, pressure flooding, rotation or oscillation of the parts, ultrasonic or Organic cNp which is a kind of cyclical nucleation process – very good for blind holes e.g.
Would it be fair to say that you concentrate on higher end cleaning systems as opposed to down and dirty cleaning solutions?
No, this is absolutely correct. We are supplying high end cleaning machines which are customized. Our machines fit into any application, any place in your heat treatment line and communicates with any operative computer system.
And our machines run 24/7 like the furnaces do. Hence the quality is of the cleanliness and the machine itself are of highest importance.
Mainly aqueous or solvent based systems? This of course leads into another aligned question–is it changing? As an example do you see any trends about solvents as opposed to water?
Still roughly 70% of the system sold are water-based but this number is decreasing for decades now. We mainly focus on the solvent systems because we want to sell stable cleanliness. This is not possible by using water-based systems where the concentration of the detergent changes all the time and the quality is getting worse until you change the whole bath. In our machines you never have to change the solvent and it provides continuous quality.
Sometimes we combine solvent and water in case it makes sense to reach perfect cleanliness. In this case we use our HYBRID and BEYOND machines.
In 2001 we invented our hybrid cleaning machines. This gives companies more flexibility and maximum clean parts because you can clean them in the same machine using a solvent and/or a water-based media.
In 2018 we invented a new technology called BEYOND. In this case you also have a water-based and a solvent-based cleaning cycle but in difference to the hybrid system, the two medias are not separated but mixed. This help getting a shorter cycle time with similar cleaning results compared to the hybrid system.
In a past life I sold vapor degreasers for a US company. While it was quite some time ago I remember that the technology did an incredible job of cleaning and drying, however even back then it was being phased out because of concerns over the solvents. I am rather curious, does anybody build or use vapor degreasers any longer?
Yes, we also do but only closed systems under vacuum, no more open top tanks. There is a demand especially in the aircraft industry e.g. cleaning the honeycombs.
There they also still use chlorinated hydrocarbons for the cleaning process. We offer a regeneration module which prevents that the exhaust is harmful to employees and environment. Two beds of activated carbon catch the exhaust and keep the atmosphere in the production site clean. Finally no problem to use these solvents also in the future in case you do it the right machine.
The last time you and I met in person was at at trade show in Mexico, and I recall at the time you were planning on having a more substantial precense in that country. Has that project moved ahead? This suggests another question-geographically where do you sell most of your equipment?
Yes the project moved ahead. In December we went down to Queretaro again and signed the contracts. Now HEMO is a shareholder of the company Washtech SA de CV. We immediately employed a new salesman who will start in January 2022 and additionally we will build a demo shop including a demo machine with a lab for cleaning trials and other tests. As soon as this being done and works well, we will start building some type of machines in licence down there. The spare and wear parts stock is already located and the service is running well. Another two guys will be educated in Germany beginning of 2022.
Combined with the founded sales office in the US, we are definetly ready for the Northamerican market.
Most of our equipemnt is still sold in Germany followed by Europe and China. The biggest increase 2021 in terms of percentage was in Northamerica and we hope that we can keep on going like this in 2022.
Typically where do you sell your systems by industry? Aerospace? Automotive? Electronics?
Roughly 30% of our turnover is generated in heat treatment industry (hardening and brazing) followed by coating, automotive and aerospace industry. We see a large increase in PVD coating applications as well as LPC technology.
Currently we sold two machines to Nature Historic Museums in Berlin and Bern where we clean decade old bones of animals to keep them alive. Very interesting story though.
And we are building a lab machine for cleaning of swarfs. This is quite difficult because a bucket of swarfs has such a huge surface and amount of residues that it is really hard to clean ecenomically. But the trend is going to cradle-to-cradle and want to be a part of this system where raw materials are being recovered.
Lets talk about supply chain issues, a hot topic for everybody these days. What issues have you been finding and what are your solutions?
We had many issues. Sometimes issues we never expected. There was a lack of galvanized metal sheets which we usually use for our maintenance doors on the machines. The delivery times was called 2 years minimum and we to switch over to stainless steel.
We didn’t get any pipe sealings anymore from one day to another. Lucky we had a huge stock of a special rubber and were able to cut them from the roll by ourselves.
Electrical components are the worst as we all know. Frequency converters, sockets, contactors. Delivery times of a year and more. I bought what I found on Ebay or from our global partners or we took parts out of our demo machines. It still did not affect our delivery times but we have five instead of two people working in the supply chain process right now.
And how is business for you these days?
Business is different than it was before Covid-19. No exhibitions, many video conferences, no hand shakes. I like working with people personally and I really have to state that I miss it. Let’s see how the world will be after the pandemic situation is over.
Our order book is 80% full for 2022 which is good on the one hand side because we also see competitors which sell their business or show high losses in their books.
On the other hand we still have so many interesting projects and may not be able to build all these machines which means we will have to refuse orders with short delivery times. Not in heat treatment because furnace manufacturers still have a longer delivery time, but in automotive section we will loose orders.
10 years from now what do you think HEMO will look like? A substantial change in markets due to possible signinficiant growth in electric vehicles? Will the technology have radically changed? How about markets do you think you will be focusing more on Asia than Europe or North America? I realize neither of us has a crystal ball but you have spent some much time in the industrial cleaning industry I feel you have insights which many of us do not have.
The business with automotive suppliers will decrease but we already supplying the Top 5 manufacturers in the electrical vehicles business which helps. Additionally we will be focusing on the recycling business.
The cleaning technology will not dramatically change because there is no alternative to water-based and solvent-based cleaning.
Globally I think we have a good market share and brand name on the North American market. This will equalize the losses we will have in Asia because travelling will still be hard and China will flood the Asia market with low-cost cleaning machines. Europe and Germany will stay the same.
And in 10 years we will meet at the ASM for sure.
Andreas I thank you for your time and your very candid thoughts.
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It is with great regret that we mention the passing of Robert Kowalski, founder of Kowalski Heat Treat Company in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
His passing was the coming home of an odyssey that lasted 83 years, spanned multiple continents, several states, hundreds of adventures big and small, and always centered on one thing: His family.
Born on May 11, 1938 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Frank and Camille Kowalski, Robert Kowalski was what you would call a “strong man” in a classic way. A large and imposing person in his prime, and gregarious always, his strength wasn’t purely physical – though that was true — but in his sense of purpose. His resolve. He had star quality. Heads turned when he entered a room not because of a booming voice or countenance, but in the subtle understanding that when everyone there was sized up, he’d emerge the leader. The captain of the ship. He knew it. He embraced it his whole life. Those who knew him knew it too.
A devout Roman Catholic, he’d bow his head every Sunday without fail at the aisle side of a pew filled end-to-end with his children, most observing his solemnity with sideways glances while they fidgeted.
Robert Kowalski was fond of boasting, frequently, passionately, unashamedly. But never about himself. Always about his wife and children. His pride was unbridled, both in his large family, and in the gifts of each of his daughters and sons. Friends who knew him noted the way he’d pick each child out for praise. He boasted of his daughter who helped run the family business, then with her husband began her own. He boasted of his son who took over the family business and expanded it into a small empire. He boasted of his daughters who became nurses and physical and occupational therapists, a son who went to medical school, a son who started many business ventures, a son who was a pharmacist and devoted much of his adult life caring for his aging parents. He boasted that more than 50 of his children and grandchildren earned college degrees, something he did himself at night and on weekends.
From his marriage to Carole M. Stack in February 1958, Robert Kowalski might have gone on to be a Navy officer. He was already among the most elite of sailors, piloting submarines. The U.S. Navy wanted him to lead, and offered him a spot in Officer Candidate School. He knew this would mean rarely seeing his wife, and declined. The lesson of this decision resonates with his sons and daughters to this day.
What he chose instead took courage. With an already large and growing family, a dream, and little more, he and his wife Carole leased a small building in what is now Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, purchased industrial equipment from an aging cash register company, moved it in rental trucks, and single-handedly began a steel treating business that has survived nearly five decades. Drivers along Detroit Avenue toward downtown Cleveland have seen the Kowalski Heat Treating sign above the building all these many years. To start the business he bought supplies from a hardware store owned by his uncle. Family.
Robert Kowalski was fiercely patriotic and never owned anything but an American car. Those he bought later in life were always from his nephew’s auto dealership in Ohio. His brother’s son. Family. And yet Robert and Carole welcomed summer guests from North Korea, Switzerland and England to live with their young family in Ohio. They adopted a daughter from Korea, a daughter of Filipina descent, two African American sons. Family travel was often North and South of the U.S. borders.
Robert Kowalski was at heart a teacher. In completing two additions to the family house in Westlake, Ohio to accommodate a growing family, he taught his sons and daughters everything about building a house. From pouring concrete to plumbing, wiring, structural and fine woodwork — he taught it all. He and Carole filled that house with books. Bags of books, from the local library.
He is survived by his wife Carole, 83, and by all of their children: Elizabeth, Cathy, Robert, Stephen, Lauren, Nancy, Daniel, Ellen, Matthew, Kerstin, Alexander, Timothy, Peter, Margret, Andrew, Susan and Dominic. He also is survived by 57 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren.
Throughout his life, Robert Kowalski’s sense of wonder was equal parts insatiable and contagious. From skin diving for abalone in Hawaii, to caving in West Virginia when he was young; to a family trip throughout the West in a van he and his children modified for the purpose decades before anyone heard of the “van life,” when he was approaching early middle age; to fishing in far North Canada and Alaska, to taxi rides in Manhattan at frightening speeds in late-middle age; to returning to the West with his wife in older age, he relished excitement of new experiences and this never ceased. He recorded all of this through a love of photography, methodically documenting hundreds of thousands of photos of trips he took to wild places with his wife and family. He was meticulously cataloguing hundreds of photos for yet a new project in November of this year when he was hospitalized for heart failure.
On December 24, 2021 Robert S. Kowalski returned from the hospital to his home of 26 years in Marco Island, Florida, greeted by a room filled with his sons, daughters and their spouses and own children. On the lawn outside, dozens of white ibis gathered, as they do this time of year. In the waterway alongside the house, open-ocean fish surfaced. Fifty six minutes after midnight, as Christmas Day arrived, he drew his last breath, and gently moved on.
An extraordinary life.
Funeral Mass Tues. Jan 4 at 10:30 a.m. at St. Raphael Church, 525 Dover Center Rd. Interment St. Joseph Cemetery. FRIENDS RECEIVED AT THE BERRY-McGREEVEY FUNERAL HOME, 26691 DETROIT RD. FROM 4-8 P.M. MONDAY.”
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Well that is a wrap for “The Monty Heat Treat News” for 2021. We wish everybody a Happy New Year and a great 2022. Gord, Dale, Jordan, Anne & Charlene.
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What makes this most interesting in our eyes is that the pictures below which were taken just 3 months ago show exactly the furnaces that “Dougie Lampkin” road over in his famous video. Look closely and you will see in our photo and in the video one of the vacuum furnaces which is identified as “V2”.
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Since 1999 “The Monty” has been publishing annually a list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America based upon annual sales, our 2021 list can be found at https://themonty.com/articles/50-largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-2021-2/ This year readers will see we became much more ambitious and expanded the list to the 50 largest. In our 41st spot we have Metal Finishing Company, Wichita, Kansas.
Making our list of the “Largest Commercial Heat Treaters in North America” for the first time is “Metal Finishing Company” based in Wichita, Kansas, USD who bill themselves as the largest family-owned aerospace processing company in North America. This third generation company, formed in 1940 has a total of 9 locations in the US and Mexico, two of which are dedicated to heat treating, one for aluminum parts and the second for “hard metals”. Processes offered include Hot Forming, Straightening, Tempering, Normalizing, Annealing, Carburizing, and Carbo-Nitriding as well as Aluminum Solution Furnaces and aging ovens. This is in addition to the company’s plating, coating and NDT offerings.
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The system is an i-nitcold-1200 Plasma Nitriding Furnace with working dimensions of 1300 x 1200 mm and a load capacity of 1200 kg. The Serbian customer will be using the system to support their automotive customers. By following these steps, Istanbul Heat Treatment’s target is to deliver i-nit® brand Plasma Nitriding Furnaces to more customers, both in Turkey and in the global market, and to increase brand awareness and market share.
Istanbul Heat Treatment Inc. offers its 25 years of knowledge and experience in the field of Plasma Nitriding/ Nitrocarburizing with furnaces produced under the i-nit® brand. i-nit® Plasma Nitriding Furnaces operate with PLC control with easy user interface, and it has the opportunity to make standard productions depending on customer or product by means of the ready to use recipes.”
The company’s banner ad can be found on the right hand side of this page i-nit Plasma Nitriding Furnaces
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“Honda is recalling a number of 2021 Acura RDX and 2022 Honda CR-V Hybrid models in the United States over a driveshaft issue. A recall issue notice published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveals that a component in the right of left front drive shaft may have received improper heat treatment. This could result in premature wear and if the front driveshaft fails prematurely, the engine will not provide power and the SUVs could roll away if the electronic parking brake has not been set. Involved in the recall are a total of 41 Acura RDX models produced on September 28, 2021 and 238 examples of the Honda CR-V Hybrid built between September 28, 2021 and October 1, 2021. The automaker first received word about the issue from a supplier in late September after suspect parts were assembled with insufficiently heat-treated steel balls for the front driveshaft outboard joint sub-assembly. Reproduction testing reveals that the steel balls could deform from the heat generated by the driveshaft.”
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Merry Christmas! We will resume regular news updates Monday December 28th.
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