Our light hearted, human interest story for this month features furnace builder Rohde Schutzgasöfen GmbH of Hanau, Germany. It would appear that the company has founded a children’s daycare center by the name of “ViKo Kids“, the press release below tells us how they were honored to recieve a visit by some very important people in Hanau. Rohde is best known for retort style furnaces and salt reclamations systems.

Lord Mayor, Mayor and Head of Child Care Department of Hanau visit new daycare facility ViKo Kids

The newly founded day care center for children ‘ViKo Kids’ in Hanau was the target of a visit by Lord Mayor Claus Kaminsky, Mayor Axel Weiss-Thiel and the head of the Child Care Department Astrid Weiermann. “At the moment, every new childcare place is needed and the private commitment of the Rohde family is very much to be supported,” the city representatives agreed during the visit.

When a planned company daycare center in the own premises of the company “Rohde Schutzgasöfen GmbH in the industrial park Am Lamboywald could not be realized, alternatives were sought together with the business development department of the city of Hanau and initially also found in the district of Lamboy.

Unfortunately, the project then stalled during the Corona pandemic, so Jörn and Natasha Rohde looked around for other properties. They found a suitable house in Richard-Wagner-Strasse and immediately began implementing the project, which was completed in just under four months. “This was only possible thanks to the support of all the municipal offices involved and many dedicated craftsmen’s companies,” emphasizes the Rohde couple. “That’s actually a record time,” confirms Astrid Weiermann, “because it usually takes much longer to convert a daycare center.”

The independent non-profit organization Rohde-Kids gUG operates the “ViKo Kids” facility, which is named after the two sons Vincent and Konstantin. In the one-group facility, 12 children aged one to three years can be cared for all day from 7 am to 5 pm.  The Rohde family has oriented itself to the opening hours of the municipal daycare centers in order to be able to offer working parents and single parents in particular a reliable childcare alternative. The facility is, of course, available to Hanau children citywide. “Now we just need to fill the rooms with children just as quickly,” says the mayor appreciatively. “The pre-registration lists are already full, so that shouldn’t be a problem,” adds the mayor.

As owners of the medium-sized family business Rohde Schutzgasöfen GmbH, Natasha and Jörn Rohde want to use the daycare center to make their contribution to reconciling family and career. In the picture next to us we see Lord Mayor of Hanau Claus Kaminsky, on the right Astrid Weiermann Head of Child Care Department Hanau, right front Axel Weiss-Thiel Mayor of Hanau.“

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Earlier this week the October, 2021 issue of “The Monty Heat Treat News Magazine” was digitally sent to over 11,000 subscribers around the world. The majority of our readers are captive (in house) heat treaters. The ratio has remained fairly steady over the years with 80% of our subscribers being captive heat treaters, 15% commercial heat treaters with the balance being industry suppliers, trade organizations and consultants. There really is no surprise in these numbers as they pretty much reflect the ratio of captive vs commercial heat treaters.

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Over the years “The Monty Heat Treat News” has crossed paths a number of time with a commercial heat treater in West Bromwich, UK by the name of Heat Treatment 2000 Home :: Heat Treat 2000 (ht2000.co.uk) This past week our paths crossed yet again as can be seen in these photos. We have been rather lucky in that we have been able to witness first hand how the firm has grown and prospered over the years. For instance we made their acquaintance when they installed a large 6,000 pound per hour mesh belt furnace line from Can Eng back in 2013, and we again ran across them in early 2020 when they made a major investment in an aluminum processing facility. Our previous postings about the company can be found here.

JANUARY 2020 PRESS RELEASE; “Heat Treatment 2000 Ltd./UK. We are about to announce the opening of a new  £3 million heat treatment facility for aluminium processing. It is sited adjacent to our existing facility and complements our current aluminium capability and the 300 tons per week of fasteners and presswork we currently heat treat. The investment consists of a suite of automatic computer controlled rapid quench furnaces capable of taking up to a 3 ton charge which can be quenched in temperature controlled cold water, hot water or polymer. The latter is followed by and agitated rinse and hot power wash to ensure product cleanliness. This is supported by new precipitation ovens with automatic door opening. Furnaces are a combination of gas and electrically heated opening up new opportunities as well as meeting increased demand for our services. Our investment doubles capacity giving us one of the largest processing capabilities in the UK. Bar code tracking and scanning have also been introduced providing live data which can be accessed remotely.”

MARCH 2013 PRESS RELEASE Heat Treatment 2000 Ltd./UK. We’re learning a thing or two about heat treating in the UK, namely that generally the volumes aren’t as large as in areas such as the US, Germany, China or Taiwan. Large volume cast or mesh belt continuous furnace lines for heat treating fasteners in all of the areas just mentioned are not uncommon but in the UK they are relatively uncommon and to date the only commercial heat treater we have seen or heard of that specializes in big volume fastener heat treating is a company by the name of Heat Treatment 2000 located West Midlands, England. In 1998 the company invested in a 6,000 pound/hour mesh belt line bought from Can Eng in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada for an investment of roughly $2 million USD and just last year purchased another very large mesh belt line from a supplier in Taiwan. While it would appear that continuous heat treating of fasteners is a very strong area for the company not to be missed is the fact that the company also has a very large aluminum processing department. We would describe this as a medium to large size commercial heat treater that looks to have captured an area of heat treating not generally covered by other heat treaters in the UK and consequently the company looks to be doing very well.

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 Left to Right; Adrian Ordidge (HT 2000), Rob Wilcox (SSE), Paul Barber (Managing Director HT 2000)

Left to Right; Paul Barber, Rob Wilcox, Adrian Ordidge

In this week’s super exciting episode of “The Heat Treat Podcast” our always cheerful host, Mr. Carlos Torres talks “SCADA” systems with our expert Mr. Bill Heckman. Remember if you have an interesting topic you would like to discuss please let us know and we will try and make it happen [email protected] SCADA Systems | Bill Heckman | THE HEAT TREAT PODCAST #32 – YouTube

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Solar Atmospheres announces that its Greenville, SC facility has been awarded Nadcap 24-month merit status for heat treating, brazing and carburizing. We are extremely pleased PRI has recognized Solar’s adherence to strict specification requirements, flawless process execution, and a daily commitment to quality processing which is evident among all employees at Solar Atmospheres.  All Solar Atmospheres facilities, Souderton, PA; Hermitage, PA; Fontana, CA and Greenville, SC have now earned Nadcap 24–month merit status demonstrating Solar’s corporate commitment to quality.

“This is the goal that all Nadcap suppliers strive for, and it’s not an easy task,” states Steve Prout, President of the Solar Atmospheres Greenville, SC facility. “It truly is a team effort from the employees handling our customers’ products while conducting the thermal processes and testing, to the post process compliance and review. Everything must be in order and completed without issue. Our team in Greenville, as well as all our other locations, are committed to top–tier heat treating services. This 24-month Nadcap accreditation award is evidence of our unwavering commitment.”

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In Wellingborough, UK we find the home of  Krohne Ltd.,  a world-leading manufacturer and supplier of industrial process instrumentation solutions. In May of 2020 the company announced that they had installed the largest horizontal vacuum furnace in the UK-the original press release can be found below. Prior to this the company had always outsourced their heat treating requirements to local contract heat treaters, during a recent visit by “The Monty Heat Treat News” we posed the question-why was the decision made to bring heat treatment in house? The answer came as no surprise to us in that there were several reasons why they chose to go down this path.  

Our visit showed us a company which having made the decision to bring heat treatment in house has now declared it to be an unqualified success. The team that made this possible can be seen in the photo below along with Gord Montgomery “The Monty Heat Treat News” and Aaron Long “Vacuum & Atmosphere Services”. Gord Montgomery (Monty Heat Treat News), Rahul Kanwar, Darren Hawes, Tom Harrison, Wayne Higham and Aaron Long (Vacuum & Atmosphere Services). In this short U-Tube video produced by Krohne you can see the furnace being loaded at the 51 second mark.  https://www.linkedin.com/posts/krohne-united-kingdom_krohneuk-measurethefacts-flow-activity-6839512802814672896-aWIq

“May 28, 2020; Krohne UK Installs Largest Horizontal Vacuum Furnace in the UK; Captive heat treater and supplier of industrial process instrumentation Krohne has just installed the largest horizontal vacuum furnace in the UK. The furnace which was supplied by Ipsen, has working dimensions of 1200mm x 1200mm x 2400mm with an all moly hot zone and 6 bar quaenching. It was installed by Vacuum & Atmosphere Services who have just completed the installation with commissioning planned for next week.

Mike Long of VAS has these comments; We are proud to announce the delivery, install & build up of the UK’s largest horizontal vacuum furnace! VAS furnace engineers have completed the build up within 6 days & now ready for commissioning. We would like to thank all of our engineers for their hard work completing the build up & install during these challenging times. For all furnace requirements, both vacuum & atmosphere, please feel free to enquire by email at [email protected] or via telephone on +44 (0) 121 544 4385. Alternatively check out our website for all services & products provided including refurbished vacuum furnace, furnace spares & furnace servicing. https://www.vacat.co.uk/

Darren Hawes,  Production Engineering Manager at Krohne has this to say; Excellent work from VAS to get the furnace installed during the Pandemic after being asked to take over full control due to travel restrictions by Ipsen. Getting the largest lorry into the factory was something to behold. Looking forward to seeing VAS fully commission the furnace and to continue working with them for years to come. Mike has ensured a very smooth process between Krohne and Ipsen from the offset.”

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As the former owner of Park Thermal, a North American supplier of new and used furnaces and quenching salts Brian is known to many in the heat treatment industry. Not that long ago Brian parted ways with the company and as many know earlier this year Park Thermal closed the doors for good. So what is Brian up to these days? While a recent health issue put him out of commission for a short period of time he has continued on in the industry. If you would like to get in touch with him please let us know [email protected] and we would be glad to put you in touch. In the photo below we see Brian on the right, the Beingessner family (former owners of B & W Heat Treating) and on the left Gord Montgomery.

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A very interesting rumor and one which we believe to be true has to do with vacuum carburizing (low pressure carburizing) . We have been lead to believe that as early as this December, possibly January 2022 latest a very large vacuum carburizing furnace will be in service in the US. It’s a little too soon to mention the company by name but the rumor goes on to suggest that it would most likely be used for large gears. We are very confident that we will be able to confirm or deny this rumor in the fairly near future. Incidentally while it is very common to see VC units handling large volume automotive transmission gears they are not commonly seen in use for large gears.

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Welcome to the Super Systems Europe team based in Birmingham, UK. Global furnace controls company SSi is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA and has operations in Mexico, China and the UK-the UK team (SSE) is shown in this photo. Headed by Matt Cross the company has been offering sales, service and support to the European heat treatment industry for many years now. While SSE is in the UK the company has a far reaching team of direct sales people and independent reps covering all of Europe. During our visit the SSE team showed us incredible hospitality, in particular Mr. Robert Wilcox, Sales Manager who made us feel very much at home.

From Left to Right; Gord Montgomery Dani, Karina, Matt Cross, Martyn, Brett, Robert Wilcox

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Mr. Steve Cropper has had a long, distinguished career in the heat treatment industry in a variety of different sales positions. VP of Sales for furnace manufacturer, Can-Eng International of Niagara Falls, Canada, sales positions at Bodycote, salt supplier Park Thermal-Steve is an experienced guy. He just started a new position as Sales Manager at H & S Heat Treating in Port Robinson, Ontario. He will be replacing Mr. Mike Larson who recently retired.

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