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 50th spot we have Commercial heat treater Crio.
Commercial heat treater Crio is the third commercial heat treater in Mexico to make our list. The company founded their first location in Queretaro, Mexico in 2004 and since that time it has never looked back. CRIO now has 3 locations in Mexico which feature batch IQ furnaces, car bottoms, rotary hearth furnaces and press quenching systems. While the company does do a reasonable amount of aerospace work the backbone of the company is automotive work which means that the company achieved CQI-9 certification a number of years back.
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Well we can’t speak for every manufacturer but ZF Wind Power in Coimbatore, India is pretty typical in that they are using large pit, gas carburizing furnaces. In this particular case Aichelin Unitherm of India is providing the company a total of 7 electrically heated pit furnaces each with an operating temperature of 850C to 970C and a load capacity of 12,000 KG. The facility is equipped with advanced automation with customized software for the entire heat treatment process and complies with CE certification standards. While “The Monty Heat Treat News” has seen facilities using large batch IQ furnaces for heat treating of gears and shafts for the windmill industry, pit carburizing furnaces remain the choice of most manufacturers.
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While there is always a strong demand for commercial heat treat companies the pandemic has drastically reduced the number being sold over the past 18 months (the only one which comes to mind is the acquisition of Premier Thermal by Aalberts earlier this year). The reasons are many and varied and include the fact that face to face meetings have been difficult, sales figures for many have dropped making owners reluctant to sell and buyers facing the uncertainty of what future sales will be are equally as cautious.
With that backdrop we mention a small commercial heat treater in the USA which recently went on the market. Located in Southern California the company dates back to 1942 with the current owner purchasing it in 2007. The 15 person firm specializes in small high volume parts which are processed in rotary retort and batch IQ furnaces. While sales have declined slightly over the past 4 years and now stand at $1.755 million in 2020 cash flow is respectable at $459,000 USD. The end result is that the asking price is $1.95 million USD which is about where it should be.
“The Monty Heat Treat News” has no affiliation whatever with this company and is not involved in the sales process. Our interest begins and ends with the fact that this gives a good indication about what a profitable commercial heat treat is worth.
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- JetFirst 200 – industrial semi-conductor manufacturer
- JetFirst 100 – private research laboratory
- JetFirst 100/200 – university R&D research facilities
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A mechanical engineer by trade, Fred followed his father Harry’s example by entering into the heat–treating industry at Abar. Fred began in hot zone design and aftermarket services, before becoming Abar’s Aftermarket Manager, where he led hot zone designers and electrical and mechanical engineers. Fred believed in putting the customers’ needs first.
Fred followed Abar through the transition to Ipsen working in various sales and service roles, before eventually relocating to Illinois. In Cherry Valley, Fred managed the company’s Engineered Components Group, helping customers with retrofit sales and services.
Fred had a sincere love for life that included world travel—he especially liked visiting Japan—and supporting his favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles. Fred is survived by his wife Susan, daughters Laura and Alexa, and grandson Michael. Fred is preceded in death by his daughter Kristen. The world and Ipsen customers were better off with Fred being involved. He will be truly missed.
Fred’s family created a fundraising account to ease the financial burden of funeral expenses, which can be accessed here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-with-funeral-expenses-for-fred. Details on a celebration of life will be shared later.
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Kolene Corp., a very well known name in the field of salt bath equipment is certainly busy these days. This announcement tells us how the company has just acquired Upton Industries. It follows hard on the heels of their announcement in June of this year about the company acquiring the chemical division of Park Thermal; “June 2021 Kolene Corporation has acquired the Chemical Division of Park Thermal International Corporation. The president of Park Thermal, Mr. Jay Mistry, will work with Kolene going forward to assure the transition of all Park Thermal standard and proprietary heat treat chemical blends, as well as providing customer support.”
“Kolene Corporation, a global leader of custom[1]designed and engineered molten salt bath equipment and specialty chemical formulations, announces the acquisition of Upton Industries, located in Roseville, Michigan. “Kolene has always looked for ways to grow revenues, both organically through our R&D efforts and externally by acquisition. When the opportunity presented itself to begin discussions with Upton, the similarities between the two companies and what we provide to the customers in the industries that we serve, made this marriage ideal,” said Roger L. Shoemaker, Chairman & CEO of Kolene. “We are proud to carry on Upton’s strong brand and legacy as a part of Kolene Corporation as we move forward.”
Founded in 1937, Upton Industries are experts in the design and manufacture of thermal processing systems in the Metal Heat Treating industry. Upton’s Engineered Thermal Solutions methodology has allowed the company to become a leader in traditional lines of heat treat equipment including box type, car bottom, lift-off and specialty furnaces utilizing either electric heating or gas-fired systems. Kolene will maintain both the Detroit headquarters location and the Roseville location, which will be home to all Kolene’s manufacturing and fabrication. By bringing the two companies together, the new Kolene will house nearly 50,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing, fabrication, and commercial processing capabilities.
Scott Schilling, Kolene’s President said, “After thoroughly evaluating Upton’s capabilities, it was apparent that there are tremendous synergies between the two companies. Capitalizing on these synergies will allow Kolene to expand into applications and revenue segments where we have not historically been. Kolene will also have the ability to become more vertically integrated due to Upton’s manufacturing and fabrications capabilities, which will allow us to strengthen our overall margins. The two companies are a perfect fit.”
In its 82nd year, Detroit-based Kolene Corporation provides custom-designed and engineered equipment, specialized chemical formulations, and processes for cleaning and conditioning metal surfaces. Kolene’s products are used worldwide for casting cleaning, alloy descaling, coatings removal, engine rebuild and other demanding automotive, industrial, and military applications. For more information visit www.kolene.com”
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In 2016 Pawel Danielewicz who had worked for commercial heat treater TTI Group (now Aalberts) for a number of years realized his dream of starting his own heat treat shop. The result was Titanium Heat Treatment Services in Buckinghamshire, UK which specializes in heat treatment of titanium, aluminium and precipitation hardened alloys for the motorsport industry. In 5 short years the company has grown and prospered with the result that the firm now has 11 furnaces and ovens installed, the photo shows #12. This vacuum carburizing system just arrived (the first VC unit for the company) and Pawel is pretty pleased with the system-apparently he has looked forward to being able to offer low pressure carburizing since the day he started the company.
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Aichelin, one of the largest furnace builders in the world recently appointed Mr. Michael Reisner to be Managing Director of their manufacturing facility in Mödling, Austria. As a sales professional, Michael Reisner was most recently managing director of a refractory group and has been in contact with “hot” topics for years. In this capacity he will be on a par with Mr. Bill Disler who is CEO of the Aichelin facility in North America, AFC-Holcroft in Wixom, Michigan.
In this photo Michael can be seen on the right, Mr. Thomas Peinkofer who is Managing Director of German Aichelin Service GmbH can be seen on the left.
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The announcement that specialy chain manufacturer Webster Industris in Tiffin, Ohio, USA was closing their foundry division caught the attention of “The Monty Heat Treat News” because twice over the years we have spoken about the company and their in house heat treatment department (further down you will find a 2020 posting about how the company was investing in their heat treat facilities). This week the company issued a press release about how they were closing their foundry division which will effect a small portion of their heat treat department but only those heat treat operations associated with the foundry.
“Tiffin, Ohio — Webster Industries announced this week that they will be discontinuing foundry operations at their Tiffin facility. The company said in a news release that the move is designed to “build capacity and focus on our growing chain and sprocket business.” “Over the next six months, we will be phasing out products, customers, processes and equipment that are in the specialty castings category,” the release states. “Our #1 goal is for every employee to stay with Webster and help build capacity to meet our growing demand.”
According to the news release, employees currently working in the foundry will be given the opportunity to “support the other products [Webster] manufactures.” “We need them and more to support our chain, sprocket and vibratory equipment business,” the release states. “Our desire is to communicate as openly as possible and respect the fact that change is not easy. Thank you for your continued grit and dedication to making a difference.”
“July 2020 Posting; Webster Industries, Tiffin, Ohio Investing in Heat Treat Department; In Tiffin, Ohio, USA we find Webster Industries, a 140 year old, employee owned manufacturer of chain. Webster makes our news section today due to the fact that they just announced several million dollars worth of investments in the facility-this includes automated loading systems for their in house heat treat department. Just last year we visited this facility and what we saw in their heat treat department were a few batch IQ furnaces, some continuous lines and endo generators. While we were not allowed to take any pictures in the facility we did get this one of the individuals responsible for heat treating. On the left we see Mark Kuenzli, Operations Manager, Craig Agerter, Heat Treat Department and Gord Montgomery on the right.”
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Recently we had a press release about a fastener manufacturer in Michigan placing an order for what will be their fourth Can Eng Mesh belt furnace line-we can now offer a few more details.
“Can-Eng Furnaces International Limited was recently awarded a contract to design and supply another 6000 lb/hr continuous mesh belt furnace system to a precision automotive and specialty fastener manufacturer located in the state of Michigan. The project marks the fourth Can-Eng Mesh Belt furnace line for this captive heat treater, which with the completion of this newest line will be operating within three facilities across the state.
The new, high-volume fastener system features: an automated bin-dumping loader, pre- washer, atmosphere-controlled mesh belt hardening system, oil quench, post wash system, temper furnace, in-line soluble oil system, bi-directional conveyor discharge, and CAN-ENG’s PETTM Level 2 SCADA system. By integrating CAN-ENG’s Level 2 Automation, the heat treater provides themselves access to vital tracking of products’ status, detailed process data for continuous process improvements, comprehensive equipment diagnostics, cost analysis, & inventory management. The state-of-the-art system also utilizes Can-Eng’s Energy Reduction System (ERSTM), significantly lowering energy requirements of the hardening furnace and providing up to a one-third reduction in required atmosphere. The line will also have the capability to bypass the soluble oil system to allow for specialty fasteners requiring post temper processing to be removed and collected.”
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