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This photo shows Mario Neuwerth, General Manager of the Haertha facility in Weissenburg, Germany along with Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News”.

Largest New Furnace Order of 2021 in North America. Recently “The Monty Heat Treat News” broke the story about the largest new furnace order in North America in 2021. We can now provide a few more details. As previously mentioned the customer is EXCO, a company based in Canada with multiple location around the world. Our understanding is that the investment is worth over 7 million USD, and this will be spread between 2 locations in Ontario and that it includes vacuum furnaces and nitriding systems. We believe that the order involves two separate vendors. We have been hearing that the consultant for the project is Mr. Don Behm, a long time heat treater who we have always had a high opinion of.

Furnace Builder BMI of France is shipping their 149th vacuum furnace to Taiwan. It is a B54RHT type. A vacuum tempering furnace allowing the customer to do thermal treatment under inert gas convection up to 900°C (magnetic annealing, ageing…). More and more steel grades have this particular requirement in the production of high value-added components, especially in the aerospace, nuclear or precision casting industries.This furnace will be installed at a pump manufacturer in Taiwan who has an in house heat treatment department. The new B54RHT will soon join another BMI vacuum furnace, a tempering oven and a low pressure nitriding furnace.

SECO/WARWICK Sells Third Aluminum Annealing Furnace to Polish Customer. Eurometal S.A., member of the Eko-Świat Group and manufacturer of highly processed aluminum products, purchased a third SECO/WARWICK furnace. This solution will be used by the only rolling mill currently in operation in Poland, with Polish-owned equity. The new equipment will consist of  a Vortex® furnace for aluminum coil annealing equipped with an external cooling system. The furnace is adapted for operation under a nitrogen protective atmosphere. Thanks to the proprietary jet flow technology, the SECO/WARWICK Vortex aluminum coil annealing furnace combined with an optional by-pass cooler for cooling under a nitrogen atmosphere and SeCoil® — the control and simulation software — enables aluminum coil manufacturers to significantly shorten the production cycle. As a result, this design produces energy savings, increases productivity and improves the surface quality of the processed coils. The key feature of the system is the increased heat-transfer coefficient achieved thanks to directing the atmosphere at high speed simultaneously on both sides of the coil.

Florian Elwart a long time Bodycote (commercial heat treating) employee who was Head of Business Improvement in Germany recently made a change and is now a Specialist for plasma nitriding – plant construction – contract treatment with Eltropuls in Baesweiler, Germany. Eltropuls supplies plasma nitriding systems and also offers commercial heat treatment services. His father, Jan Elwart was one of the top Bodycote people in Europe for many years and also oversaw the Bodycote facilities in Brazil for a period of time. Florian is pictured in the middle below.

Daniel Breitkreuz was recently promoted to Maintenance Manager at H & S Heat Treating in Port Robinson, Ontario, Canada. H & S is one of the largest commercial heat treats in Canada and “Danny” is in our opinion one of the most competent, conscientious  maintenance people we have ever met.

Where are they now-Paul Zettler. Paul was involved in the vacuum furnace industry for a number of years mainly in Texas. It would appear that he has left the industry, Mr. Paul G. Zettler, formerly the Senior Project Manager, at Alphatek.of Texas, Inc.  Has entered the academic world, as Instructor, Robotics and Automation, at Texas State Technical College, in Waco, TX.  At this position, Mr. Zettler will be contributing to the training of Industrial Robot Programmers and Automation Technicians for applications in packaging and manufacturing cells.

Stacy McKee Appointed Plant Manager at Bluewater Thermal. In Ridgway, PA, USA, right in the heart of the powdered metal industry we find commercial heat treater Bluewater Thermal-Bluewater is a multi location company and one of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America. Stacy has worked for the company for almost 24 years very recently she was promoted to Plant Manager. We offer our congratulations.

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We have spoken in the past about how automotive heat treating in North America has slowed dramatically in the past 3 months- our posts on the subject can be seen below. As the largest segment of the heat treating industry in North America is automotive  related it is easy to see why the entire heat treatment industry has been rather sluggish of late. It is one thing to talk about it, quite another to see a visual representation. This photo shows some of the 200,000 partly completed Ford F-150 Pick Up trucks which are sitting unsold at the Kentucky Freeway in the USA, unsold until they get “chips”. Not much point in building more vehicles when you have this sort of inventory, however when the issue is resolved we predict that automotive heat treating will set new records.

Automotive Heat Treating To Come Roaring Back July 2021

May 2021 we had a news item about how heat treating of automotive components has seen a dramatic decrease worldwide over the past 2 months due to assembly slowdowns caused by a global “chip” shortage (the original news item is below). As automotive heat treating is the largest segment of the heat treatment industry the effects have rippled through the industry effecting both captive and commercial heat treaters as well as industry suppliers.

However it would appear that the pain will be short lived and that by July of this year automotive heat treating will be in a very healthy position. Let’s correct that statement, automotive heat treatment will actually be in an extremely healthy position.

Several automotive parts suppliers with large in house heat treatment departments, companies such as ZF Industries, Dana, Eaton Corporation, Borg Warner and Linamar have told us that they have been advised by their customers to be prepared for a return to full production by late June or early July at the latest. To elaborate on this a little further all have been advised to limit maintenance shutdowns and summer holidays because pent up demand for new vehicles will require full production. This comes after many industry suppliers have just come off either plant slowdowns or full shutdowns.

“Automotive Heat Treating Slows Due to “Chip” Shortage

Why is the largest heat treating segment in the world, that of automotive heat treating seeing a substantial drop these days?

In early 2020 when COIVD-19 was hitting the world automakers cut back computer chip orders as auto sales slumped which lead to temporary plant closures. Electronics manufacturers, which have enjoyed very strong sales during the pandemic quickly scooped up the excess supply. However since that time car and truck sales have rebounded far sooner than anybody anticipated and automakers have been scrambling ever since to obtain new “chip” supplies in a very tight market. The result has been that all automakers have been forced to close assembly plants in North America, Asia and Europe.

As an example GM recently announced it would shut production at two US plants – in Spring Hill, Tennessee, and Lansing Delta Township, Michigan, in the coming weeks. GM also extended shutdowns at the Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas, and the CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, which have both been idled since February 8. And it will continue the shutdown at the Lansing Grand River assembly plant, which has been down since March 15. In addition, GM is halting Chevrolet Blazer production at the Ramos Assembly plant in Ramos, Mexico, during the week of April 19, although that plant will continue to build the Chevy Equinox.

Autoweek Magazine summed us the situation this way; “The chip shortage itself is rooted in the early weeks of the pandemic last spring when the automakers largely shut down, and when suppliers producing microchips for automakers had turned their capacities in the direction of computer and gaming console makers. When the auto industry experienced a sudden bounce-back in most major markets last fall, suppliers were not able to shift away from contracts with these electronics companies, who had experienced rapid growth in consumer demand during lockdowns around the world.

Different automakers have weathered this storm differently so far-some have even stockpiled weeks worth of chips-but the shutdowns at US plants and continued production disruption is expected to continue for months due to these shortages. Some chip makers are already working on expanding their manufacturing footprints, but given the time needed to get new assembly facilities up and running, this is unlikely to have a measurable positive effect for quite some time.

In the meantime, automakers are expected to scramble for chips and endure shortages as the car buying season picks up steam and heads into the summer, just as vaccination campaigns in the US and elsewhere reach a point where demand for new vehicles could seriously ramp up. Just how long these shortages could last is a matter of some debate, but even aside from it, the growth of increasingly complex infotainment systems in cars points to another pressing issue: The semiconductor industry will have to adjust not only to the current shortage, but also prepare for emerging trends in auto manufacturing as a whole, as multiple automakers turn increasingly to tech-heavy electric cars.”

The end result has been that auto parts makers with in house heat treating departments and commercial heat treaters concentrating on the auto industry have in many cases have seen a drastic slowdown in production. One very large auto parts maker and captive heat treater in the US recently told us that in March of this year the company set records for the amount of heat treating they did in house, April in turn is looking to set records for the number of furnaces shut down. This leads to the conclusion that when the chip shortage is corrected the pent up demand for new vehicles will lead to record amounts of auto production and with it a corresponding amount of heat treating.”

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In Milwaukee, USA we see that a long established company, Complete Heat Treating has now entered the batch IQ/Carburizing market with a Surface Combustion batch IQ furnace. Complete has always been known for direct fired heat treating, this marks a new venture for the company. “The Monty Heat Treat News” knows the company well and in 2018 the “Monty Team” had this press release about the company including this photo. The firm reports strong sales in 2021 and expects it to continue. The first photo shows the new installation, the second shows Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” on the left along with part of the team at Complete.

“September 2018 Posting; Complete Heat Treating/Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Good news is breaking out all over-it is unusual to find a heat treater these days who is not growing and adding capacity and Complete Heat Treating in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is no exception (by the way if the name is familiar it is because we mentioned just a few weeks about how the company had acquired Commercial Heat Treating Inc., also of Milwaukee).

Founded in 1939 as Wisconsin Steel and now operating under the names Complete Heat Treating, Wisconsin Steel Industries and Commercial Heat Treating this is a company which specializes in big work and we mean real big work-castings, forgings, weldments and plates up to 100,000 pounds. While the company is doing well at this market the decision of owners Jake and TJ Dolhun is that they want to add other processes and that is exactly what they have been doing.

Recently the company purchased an aluminum drop bottom oven and a batch IQ furnace both of which will be installed in the near future. You see part of the team below in front of their largest furnace, a direct fired unit capable of 2100F and loads up to 1 million pounds which puts them in a very small group of companies able to handle loads this size.”

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Or as commercial heat treater Braddock Metallurgical in the US Southeast would say, they are now 2 for 2 after their Jacksonville, Florida facility also recently received their Nadcap accreditation with Merit.

We’re 2 for 2! This time our Boynton Beach facility has earned its Nadcap accreditation with Merit! Continuing the news of successful Nadcap audits, the Boynton Beach facility has received a Nadcap accreditation with Merit for demonstrating their ongoing commitment to quality by satisfying customer requirements and stringent industry specifications.  This achievement is a significant accomplishment and a testament to the hard work and dedication of our employees.

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Heat Treatment Australia, the country’s largest commercial heat treater has made a number of major investments over the past year. These include;

• The HTA facility in Los Angeles, California, USA has received Nadcap approval for vacuum aluminum brazing.

• The Brisbane, Australia location is installing a new vacuum aluminum brazing furnace with an extra large hot zone.

• This week the firm will be receiving two brand new SECO/WARWICK 15 bar quenching vacuum furnaces, one will be going into the Melbourne facility and the other into the Sydney plant. The associated water cooling systems will be arriving from Dry Coolers in the US.
• The Melbourne facility recently moved into a larger building and with 1600 amps the plant is geared up for future growth.

Heat Treatment Australia is a family owned company owned and run by brother and sister Norm Tucker and Karen Stanton. We had the privilege of interviewing Karen a few years back, an interview which can still be found at  Karen Stanton, Heat Treatment Australia | The Monty Subsequent to that discussion we visited the HTA locations around Australia which is where many of these photos came from. Look forward to an upcoming “The Heat Treat Podcast” featuring HTA.

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In Franklin, Kentucky, USA New Mather Metal, the world’s largest stabilizer-bar manufacturer is making some changes to their in-house heat treating department. Heat treating has always been a core competency of the company and to this end the company has made some changes to their equipment with the end result that two older temper lines have become surplus. The company is offering both the units free of charge for the price of removal.

The first system was manufactured by PIFCO (now part of AFC-Holcroft) in 1989 and is a gas fired indexing chain style temper furnace. System consists of a charge table, 3 zone temper furnace and 10′ long cool down and discharge table.

The second system is a tube tempering furnace & cooling unit manufactured by Consolidated Engineering Company in 2005. The system was designed for tempering automotive torsion and say bars. Sled style (or pull-dog) transfer mechanism. Parts ride on trays each with a capacity of up to 675 pounds. Maximum number of trays in the system 17.

If you as a manufacturer have a use for these units please let us know and we will put you in touch.

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For almost 25 years “The Monty Heat Treat News” has compiled a list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America. The list is based upon annual sales and originally we started with the 10 largest-over the years this has expanded and last year we set a record at the 30 largest https://themonty.com/project/largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-august-2020/ This year we have set ourselves the very ambitious goal of the 50 largest, a list which we plan to conclude by the end of June.

While we are in the initial stages of putting together our rankings we do expect some changes due to the turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic-this is due to the fact that some industries thrived during COVID, others saw a dramatic downturn;

-Those companies relying mainly or largely on the Aerospace or Oil & Gas industries saw major declines.

-Firms relying on the automotive industry saw very mixed results which varied from substantial increases to the current downturn due to the on going “chip” shortages.

-Those companies serving the Firearms, Medical and Defense industries generally saw anything from wild upturns (Firearms) to strong demand (Medical, Defense).

-Firms with large diverse customer bases generally survived with little “ill effects”.

-Incidentally one of the best resources to discover the winners and losers in the heat treatment industry can be found in the Bodycote Financial results posted May 27th of this year https://www.bodycote.com/press-releases/press-release-2021/trading-update-10 / Bodycote is the world’s largest commercial heat treater and as such is involved in every facet of heat treating that is available. Their financial results quite succinctly sums up which industries have done well this year and which haven’t.

While we are jumping the gun a little on this we would estimate that to be included in our list of “The 50 Largest Commercial Heat Treaters in North America companies would require annual sale of at least $10 million-time will tell whether this is accurate.

As always we look forward to your thoughts and comments. If you feel your company deserves to be on our list we would enjoy hearing from you. Our file photo comes from Woodworth Heat Treating, ranked #3 last year on our list of the largest;

“Woodworth Heat Treating; The third largest North American commercial heat treater on our list is a company which operates 4 facility in two countries and specializes in large volume automotive work. “Woodworth Inc. provides a wide range of heat treatment services through our four facilities. We are currently located in Pontiac, Homer, and Flint, Michigan, as well as Puebla, Mexico. The company operates over 40 large furnaces in North America. Woodworth Inc. has installed capacity to run 16 million + rotors per year. (2.2 million Lbs / Day).” http://www.woodworthheattreating.com/index.html“

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“The latest system from SECO/WARWICK will be used for controlled atmosphere aluminum brazing at a manufacturer of heat exchangers in the UK. This addition will allow the customer to expand its range of sizes and dimensions of aluminum heat exchangers that can be brazed using the CAB technology. The Active Only line offers the greatest flexibility within the CAB furnace range while maintaining the same optimum performance as larger continuous lines.

SECO/WARWICK’s controlled atmosphere brazing (CAB) line featuring the Active OnlyR furnace will consist of a degreaser with afterburner and integrated energy recovery system, a spray fluxer, and an Active Only semi-continuous furnace. The system is comprised of a dryer, a purging chamber, a convection-heated brazing furnace, a protective atmosphere cooling chamber, and a final cooling chamber. This will be complemented by an integrated system for loading, sequencing, stacking, transferring, and unloading the work in progress.

This is not the first collaboration between the British manufacturer of industrial heat exchangers and SECO/WARWICK. “We delivered our first furnace to this company 17 years ago, in 2004. It was a furnace designed for the cutting-edge copper brazing technology of that time,” says Piotr Skarbiński, Vice President of the Aluminum & CAB Products Segment at the SECO/WARWICK Group.” The customer ordering the furnace has a very wide portfolio including heat exchangers for various industries. For this reason, the customer has chosen a solution which, in semi-continuous operation, offers the greatest flexibility with optimum performance.”

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