ECM Technologies is an innovative low pressure vacuum furnace manufacturer with headquarters in Grenoble, France. With subsidiaries and ventures around the world, ECM’s global presence is well known in the automotive, aerospace, nuclear, energy, electronic, induction and 3D additive industries. With such versatile product lines and service capabilities, ECM is the ideal furnace system supplier for heat treatment processes ranging from rapid thermal processing (RTP) to low pressure vacuum carburizing (LPC). Our service capabilities include advanced automation, robotics, after sales, spare parts, on-site training and more. For more information, visit us online at www.ecm-usa.com or www.ecm-furnaces.com
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Mr. Chris Otten of Schaeffler Bearings is positively bouncing off the walls with happiness today because he knows he will be receiving the May 2021 issue of “The Monty Heat Treat News” magazine https://themonty.com/magazine/ and when he gets finished reading it he will know all there is to know about the global heat treatment industry. Chris Otten is Group Leader, Development Production Methods, Region Americas for Schaeffler and as such he is very heavily involved in most heat treatment projects the company initiates. Chris made our list of the “The Monty’s 30 Most Influential People in The North American Heat Treating Industry 2021” which can be found at https://themonty.com/project/a
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To round out our heat treatment news for the week we have this fascinating rumor to share with our readers. A captive (in house) heat treater in Canada is in the process of placing orders for new furnaces and associated equipment, orders which could be in excess of $10 million USD. Our understanding is that the orders will include nitriding furnaces, vacuum furnaces, tempers and washers-all the equipment required for a large, new, modern heat treat facility. If these details are correct and all the orders have indeed been placed this would be by far the largest new furnace order in Canada in 2021 and probably the largest in North America for the year-so far. We will keep you posted on this very interesting potential story as more details hopefully come available. We leave you with these photos of some very impressive in house vacuum heat treating operations which we have seen over the years.
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Just last week “The Monty Heat Treat News” broke the unfortunate news about long time heat treat industry supplier Park Thermal abruptly closing their doors. As reported the over 80 year old company provided new and used furnaces as well as quench salts. We can now tell you that most of the remaining assets of the company will be going to auction Wednesday, May 26th, 2021. Not included in the auction will be anything to do with the quench salt business. “The Monty Heat Treat News” will shortly be providing an update on that portion of the business.
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This week “The Heat Treat Podcast” talks furnace retrofit projects with Mark Johnston of AFC-Holcroft. Mark is a fellow who knows his stuff and we had the privilege of working with him on several rebuild projects including several very interesting ones at Borg Warner in New York state.
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GKN Driveline Bruneck AG is modernizing its hardening shop with two low pressure carburizing plants by ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH, thus gearing up for the future as a key location for the development and production of E-powertrains in the GKN group.
For the last three years, the GKN group has been concentrating the development and European production of E-powertrains at the Bruneck site in South Tyrol, Italy. Through an extensive investment program, the site was equipped with the most modern production technology, placing it at the core of GKN’s E-mobility strategy. Dating back to the 1960’s, the hardening shop consists of several conventional pusher furnace systems and will now be modernized with ALD vacuum furnaces.
“This state-of-the-art heat treatment technology puts GKN in a position to meet the unique challenges of E-powertrain production” states Matthias John, Sales Engineer at ALD.
In comparison with conventional combustion engine transmissions, the transmissions installed in modern electric cars are exposed to significantly higher speeds and torques. Therefore, the mechanical and metallurgical properties, as well as the dimensional accuracy of the highly stressed parts have to meet particularly high requirements. In the future, GKN intends to meet this challenge with a multi-chamber plant-type ModulTherm, and for special applications, a SyncroTherm plant. Both plants were started up in the second half of 2020.
“ALD convinced us with both, the very good results regarding metallurgical properties and low distortion of the parts. Their excellent and competent consulting reinforced us in our decision in favor of the state-of-the-art technology” explains Gianni Del Favero, Value Stream Manager Machining and Heat Treatment at GKN. “The process combination of low-pressure carburizing (LPC) and subsequent high-pressure gas quenching (HPGQ) allows GKN to optimally adjust the parts’ properties – flexibly and component-specifically.” adds John.
During the first expansion phase, in addition to the ModulTherm plant consisting of a mobile quenching module and five treatment chambers, ALD delivered fully integrated peripheral tempering and preheating furnaces, a cleaning plant, a batch buffer, and an external charge transport system.
The plant can be expanded up to 10 treatment chambers, depending on demand over the following years. Consequently, GKN will be able to gradually replace the aging protective gas furnaces.
ModulTherm plant installed at GKN
The SnycroTherm plant will mainly be used for parts which are especially susceptible to distortion. The small batch size allows for a more targeted and finely tuned quench, resulting in very little change in dimensions on the parts.
Additionally, heat treatment of small batches enables a more flexible and faster throughput of smaller load sizes throughout the overall production
SyncroTherm plant installed at GKN
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Thursday of this week GE Aviation in Newark, DE, USA will be auctioning off an almost new GH Induction Atmospheres vacuum furnace. Details of the auction can be found in the link below and also on the banner ad on the right side of this page.
“GE Aviation Online Auction Closing this Thursday 4/29 @ 11:00 – Featuring 2019 GH Induction Atmospheres VF 35 – 2019 GH Induction Atmospheres Induction Heating Vacuum Furnace. Model VF-35, Model VF35, Hot Zone: 12” x 16” (305 x 407 mm), Hot Volume; 1.0 cu ft. 1.0.0283 m3, Max Temp; 3200°F (1760°C) optional three-zone control +/-010°F, w 2019 Edwards EDS 300 Vacuum Pump 50/60 Hz, 100 Amp, Machine S/N 1912/VF-35/357. New Cost $315,000 – Sale Details https://lnkd.in/eKdbqQm“
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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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Recently John Hansen, a legend in the heat treating industry in Michigan passed away. We now have these details about his celebration of life.
“Milford – John Douglas Hansen, 77, of Milford, Michigan, passed away peacefully on February 16, 2021 in Naples, Florida after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. He is survived by his loving wife of 23 years, Carol; his children, Victoria (Klayton) Dillon of Novi, Michigan and Dennis Hansen of Fenton, Michigan, both with former spouse Judith Hansen; Christopher (Lia) Rooks of Sherwood, Wisconsin; Diane Rooks of Fort Wayne, Indiana and Nicole (David) Murphy of Fort Wayne, Indiana. John adored his eight grandchildren: David Dillon and Kendall Dillon; Samantha Rooks and Nicholas Rooks; Kelsie Rooks and Joshua Armstrong; Jacob Borland and Madison Murphy and three great-grandchildren Maxlynn, James and Xavier. He is also survived by his brother William Michael Hansen of Spring Lake, Michigan and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents William Charles and Marion Ruth Hansen.
John or “Doug” as many knew him, was born at Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Illinois to William and Marion Hansen. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, graduating from Union High School in 1961, then went on to Northern Michigan University where he studied Industrial Technology. After graduating, he began a long career in sales and went on to start his own business that would serve as a driving force in his life for many years. He loved the relationships his work brought to his life and was frequently known to drive hundreds of miles for a personal conversation and handshake with a customer when a simple phone call would do.
John had a lifelong love of automobiles and car racing, starting with go-cart and sprint car racing as a teen. He spent years traveling with friends and family to various raceways and particularly relished his season passes and race weekends each year at Michigan Speedway. He also enjoyed working on his own classic cars as a hobby and could always be found polishing chrome or putting a coat of wax on something somewhere. He also had a passion for boating, keeping boats on northern Michigan lakes and Lake St. Clair over the years and treasured his family’s annual summer getaways on Lake Michigan, where even the youngest grandchildren could not keep up with his antics. More recently, he developed a love of travel by motorcoach and enjoyed planning trips and traveling together with friends, frequently pushing the legal length limits on U.S. Interstates. He and Carol enjoyed spending the winter months in Naples, Florida in recent years with their cherished feline, Gabby.
A memorial mass to celebrate John’s life will take place at 10:30 am Saturday, May 22 at St. James Catholic Church, 46325 W. Ten Mile Rd., Novi MI. Visitation will begin at 9:30 am. Tributes may be shared and obituary viewed online at Legacy.com In lieu of flowers, for those who wish, memorial contributions may be made to Adopt-a-Pet of Fenton.”
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Last week we mentioned the very unfortunate news that Park Thermal International, an 80 year old supplier of quench salts and new and used furnaces had closed their doors for good. We now understand that everything remaining will be auctioned off in an on line auction in late May of this year. We will keep you posted.
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