In order to cater to these essential industries that require this type of processing, Vacu Braze has acquired a higher capacity Ipsen oil quench furnace on stream. This addition is now the largest atmospheric oil quench/carburizing furnace in their facility. From fasteners to internal weapon components, Vacu Braze is able to meet the needs of their customers with increased speed, capacity, and without compromising quality.
Contact us to learn more about our atmospheric heat treatment capabilities and how we can optimize your manufacturing cycle. Vacu Braze is a precision heat treatment facility located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. At the forefront of thermal processing, their work has been trusted by industry leading manufacturers in the medical, aerospace, defense, and power generation fields. With a commitment to quality and proven track record for speed and reliability, Vacu Braze is a partner you can count on. Learn more at vacubraze.net.
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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 49th spot we have Euclid Heat Treating, Euclid, Ohio.
As are so many commercial heat treaters in North America, Euclid Heat Treat is another family owned business in this case the Vanas family. “The Monty Team” has had the opportunity to visit this facility a number of times over the years and have always been impressed with the variety of processes the company offers. “The Euclid Heat Treating Company was established in 1946 in a garage building at 1408 E. 222nd St. with salt furnaces and open fired furnaces. Since our inception we have expanded to include endothermic atmosphere furnaces, an entire building devoted to induction hardening, an array of vacuum furnaces including a vacuum oil quench and two 10 bar vacuum furnaces, pit furnaces, nitriding equipment and much more.”
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In this weeks action packed edition of “The Heat Treat Podcast” our host Mr. Carlos Torres talks furnace engineering with Mr. Ron Waligora, of furnace builder AFC-Holcroft.
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The highly specialized furnace features an upper chamber convection system, 18” wide x 12” high x 48” deep, capable of Class 1 (+/-5°F) from 200°F to 1200°F and a lower chamber radiant heat system, 12” wide x 12” high x 36” deep, capable of Class 3 (+/-15°F) from 1000°F to 2000°F with air or argon atmosphere. A roll-away quench tank features dual baths for water and oil quenchant. The controls and data acquisition provide detailed batch records of heat treated parts, including quench delay, as well as automatic tracking of thermocouple usage and calibration intervals. Numerous US and Allied Armed Forces facilities around the world rely on these systems by DELTA H® for aircraft maintenance heat treating.
The training was interrupted by an unexpected visitor to RAF Mildenhall. The hangar next to the Metals Tech Shop, where the furnace was being commissioned and the training was being conducted, was the epicenter for the arrival of a top-secret VIP. When the Air Force Band began practicing “Hail to the Chief,” it became obvious that US President Joe Biden would be making an unexpected visit to the base. While the President’s visit was not related to the furnace commissioning, it was a singular privilege for DELTA H® founder and Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Richard Conway and wife Mary, to experience this presidential visit and get a few candid photographs of Air Force One.
The commission and training took place during a time when COVID-19 restrictions were at their peak in the United Kingdom. Mr. and Mrs. Conway received a “essential defense activities” quarantine waiver, signed by the base commander, and were restricted to one taxi ride each way between RAF Mildenhall and Heathrow as well as COVID-19 testing prior to their return to the US. Any additional on-base or off-base travel could have resulted in a heavy fine and a 10-day forced quarantine.
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It has been rather challenging the past almost two years in the heat treatment industry and “The Monty Heat Treat News” is looking at what those challenges are in a continuing series entitled “Supply Chain Issues & The Heat Treatment Industry”. To date we have been looking at issues in the supply chain resulting in longer deliveries and increased pricing. Today we look at another component of the industry, that being labor and for that we went directly to industry expert Josh Hale, President, International Search Partners, one of the top recruiting firms in the industry.
Josh responded with these thoughts and comments about labor shortages, increasing costs and how to find and retain good people.
“As many other experts and industry thought leaders have already opined, this is truly a market like nothing that has ever come before. However, while the experience is unique, the contributing factors are the same fundamentals that have govern all economics: supply and demand.
When it comes to labor specifically, the demand is for workers and there is a palpable shortage of supply. In other words, it’s an employee-driven market and employers are no longer calling the shots. This is true for most industries, but especially in heat treat due to a confluence of factors, including COVID-19, the “great resignation,” an aging workforce and broader robustness in the economy.
The result has had many businesses thrust into an all-out war for talent. To be able to compete, companies are left with little choice than to offer higher wages, flexible schedules, expanded benefits and a slew of other “carrots” to attract and (hopefully) retain workers. Illustrative of this fact, ISP has seen an increase of 20-50% in salary on offers across the board, as well as a much higher percentage of counteroffers and bidding wars in just the past 6-9 months.
Interestingly, heat treaters aren’t only vying for resources amongst themselves, but with companies in other industries as well. This is especially true for hourly, production workers. A job as a heat treat operator used to provide a nice career path with fair wages and overtime for a hardworking laborer, but these days those same candidates can earn just as much, and sometimes more, in the service industry. As a result, compensation for hourly workers is also on the rise with some seeing as much as a 20-30% increase (whereas someone in the $18-20/hr range is now demanding and getting closer to $20-24/hr).
Advice for employers to succeed in acquiring necessary resources in this current climate is threefold:
- Accept the reality of the current situation and don’t get stuck in past baselines. Just because the last hire made for a certain position was $X, these days that number likely $X + 30%.
- Be flexible. If a candidate has 6 or 7 out of 10 requirements for a job, maybe training on the remaining 3 or 4 is a viable option. Also, don’t be afraid to get creative. Can a job be partially work from home? Can someone who has experience in another industry transfer their skills? Asking these questions can open to door to a wider slate of prospective candidates for hire.
- Be aggressive and proactive with both retention and recruitment efforts. Turnover is always costly and even more so now. Keeping current employees engaged by providing clear expectations, purpose, training, advancement opportunities and incentives (bonuses are nice, but could be gifts, contests, extra PTO, etc.) is critical to minimizing employee churn. As far as recruiting, this is not a time to “post and pray” (advertising an opening online and hoping for the best applicants), rather the company that obtains the best hires will be proactive and directly reaching out to the passive job market through networking/referrals or the use of an experienced and knowledgeable industry niche specific recruiter.
A company’s biggest asset is its people. Therefore, having the right strategy and focus on talent acquisition and retention may be the single most important determinant for success. Accepting the reality of market conditions, being flexible and looking for ways to be proactive will help.
Josh Hale, President, International Search Partners
[email protected] // 619-828-1040
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One area of strength for the Metal Treating Institute over the years has always been its line of leadership, and 2022 is no different. At the final night awards dinner during MTI’s October Fall Meeting in San Antonio, TX, 2021 President Jim Oakes from Super Systems passed the gavel to the new 2022 President, Don Hendry from Pinson Valley Heat Treating out of Pinson, AL.
With Pinson Valley Heat Treating being a member since 1988, Don Hendry brings a wealth of knowledge, vision, and history to the table as President. Don is a 3rd generation heat treater with his grandfather starting the business in 1970. This is Don’s second stint on the MTI Board of Trustees. During Don’s first tenure, he was very active on the MTI Safety Committee. Don was elected again in 2014 to MTI’s Board and has played a major role in MTI’s growth since rejoining the Board.
MTI also announced the new slate of 2022 officers who will join Don, as well as 2 newly elected Board Members for 3-year terms:
2022 OFFICERS
President
Don Hendry – Pinson Valley Heat Treating – Pinson, AL
President-Elect
Jim Orr – Penna Flame Industries – Zelienople, PA
Treasurer
Glen Ottinger – ThermoFusion – Hayward, CA
Immediate Past President
Jim Oakes – Super Systems – Cincinnati, OH
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This heat treater chose the NANO platform for its unique capability to maintain, via small batch processing, facility takt time and streamlined process workflow. Eliminating the need for large workload queuing before and after heat treat or underutilization of larger equipment, this reduces their WIP and increases production velocity. The desire to bring carburizing inhouse while reducing their carbon footprint is also a prime reason to move to LPC/HPGQ and away from the traditional atmosphere carburizing process. This system includes functions such as: preventive maintenance planning, remote system status access and facility information systems integration. Along with complete workload process history traceability, the system is capable to provide alloy tracking to help accurately gauge heat treat fixture life with cycle awareness. Both alloy and CFC fixtures will be used in this installation. It remains clear that ECM’s commitment to customer satisfaction & application solutions drives hard across various heat treat markets and well into 2022. Decades of experience continue to be a driving force behind the NANO excellence.
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Bodycote, the world’s largest thermal processing services provider, is expanding its Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) capability in Greenville, South Carolina, USA. The new HIP capacity, which will be online in the first half of 2022, will focus on developments in additive manufacturing and advanced materials. The two additional vessels further extend the company’s comprehensive range of installed capacity across the world. Bodycote’s Greenville, SC site is a Nadcap accredited site and holds several core OEM approvals. The site consists of numerous vacuum furnaces and other capabilities well suited to support our additive manufacturing customers. The Greenville site will serve the aerospace, defence, medical and general industrial customers throughout the Southeastern region.
Commenting on the increased capacity, Stephen Harris, Bodycote Group Chief Executive, said: “We are pleased to address our customer needs by bringing HIP services closer to their facilities. With the largest HIP operational capacity in the world, our continued investment demonstrates Bodycote’s commitment to align resources to serve our customers across North America.” Bodycote operates the world’s largest network of HIP equipment. Having established industry expertise over decades, Bodycote has more than 50 HIP vessels of varying sizes in multiple locations. Processing capability can accommodate components that are nominally up to 6.5ft diameter by 12ft high; and weighing over 30,000kg
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As long-time members of the Metal Treating Institute (MTI), Solar Atmospheres employees are actively involved with the Institute. At the recent 2021 Fall meeting held in San Antonio TX, MTI recognized Ed Engelhard, Vice President Corporate Quality, with the MTI Award of Industry Merit. This award is given in recognition of current/ongoing commitment to the betterment of the commercial heat treating industry with one or more significant accomplishments.
Ed currently co-chairs the Technical Standards Committee for the MTI. Additionally, Ed is extremely active with PRI, SAE and at ASTM. Bob Hill President of Solar Atmospheres of Western PA states, “Being a previous business owner coupled with 40 years of metallurgical processing knowledge, Ed knows what it takes to get the job done and to get it finished right the first time. He has the unique ability to separate the utopian desires of auditing agencies versus what is practical on the shop floors because he has been there. We are extremely proud that the MTI honored Ed for openly sharing his knowledge to our heat treating industry.”
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With annual sales of over $5 Billion USD, almost 30,000 employees and 60 manufacturing facilities around the world Canada based Linamar is a very substantial player in the automotive parts industry. As always our interest in the firm lies in the fact that they do a great deal of heat treating in house, so much so that we have no problem naming them as one of the largest captive heat treaters in North America when you take into account their heat treating capabilities in Mexico (mainly vacuum carburizing), North Carolina, and Guelph, Canada (batch IQ furnaces and nitriding).
Today “The Monty Heat Treat News” can tell you that the Guelph facility continues to grow with the ongoing addition of more batch IQ furnace and vacuum nitriding furnaces from ALD. As a matter of fact we continue to say that with over 25 batch IQ furnaces this location most likely has the most 36″ X 48″ X 36″ batch IQ furnaces of any company in North America.
We were privileged to be able to visit this location just this past Friday and have these photos to show you.
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