November 30th we started our nomination process for our semi-annual list of the 25 Most Influential People in the North American Heat Treating Industry and since that time we have received quite a number of suggestions a few of which are below. Remember that our final list will be published early in 2021.
“November 30, 2020. We Need Your Votes To Determine The Top 25 Most Influential People In The Heat Treating Industry in 2020; Who are the 25 Most Influential People in the North American Heat Treating Industry? Who are the individuals who decide which technologies will succeed and which will fail? Who are the people who decide which brand of furnaces to buy? On a semi annual basis “The Monty Heat Treat News” has for over 20 years published a list of the individuals who are in a position to change the course of the captive and commercial heat treating markets in North America either in terms of presenting new technologies, influencing purchasing decisions, deciding what type of heat treating to do or effecting current heat treatment practices-our list from 2019 can be found at https://themonty.com/project/2
The individuals on this list are not chosen by us but by fellow heat treaters through your votes. Examples could include pioneers in new forms of heat treatment, the fellow at a major captive heat treater who decides which furnaces to buy, CEO’s of major furnace builders, large commercial heat treaters or consultants who advise on what equipment should be used. In addition, to make the list individuals must currently be active in the industry. Submit your vote today to Jordan Montgomery [email protected] and the final list will be presented early January of 2021. All votes are anonymous and we will provide regular updates on some of the suggestions up until the end of the year. And by the way the Most Influential Individual in the North American Heat Treating Industry on our last list? Mr. Stephen Harris, CEO of Bodycote, the world’s largest commercial heat treater.”
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Bob Fincken, Vice President Sales, Super Systems Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio area. Bob’s entire working life has been spent in the heat treating industry, specifically for furnace controls. We can think of few individuals with more experience.
Shlok Sundaresh, TS-USA. Several individuals to date have suggested Shlok Sundaresh of TS-USA in Columbus, Ohio an individual we interviewed earlier this year. https://themonty.com/interviews/mr-shlok-sundaresh-engineering-manager-ts-usa-hef-group-north-america/
Matt Woodworth, GM, Woodworth Inc., Flint, Michigan. An individual in the heat treating industry in Michigan suggested Matt Woodworth of commercial heat treater Woodworth Inc., in Michigan. Over the years Woodworth has grown to be one of the 10 largest commercials in North America so this suggestion makes perfect sense to us; “I would like to nominate Matthew Woodworth. Matt had a large part in making Woodworth Inc. as successful as they are. Bringing gauge and paint lines for the rotors in house, implementing robot racking and un-racking of the rotors, and always looking at ways to better improve the quality of work, both for the worker and for the customer. Even as successful as he has become, he will still roll up his sleeves and do the work if it is needed.”
Bill Jones, CEO, Solar Atmospheres, Solar Manufacturing, Pennsylvania. We would have been shocked if Mr. Bill Jones a true pioneer in the vacuum heat treating industry did not receive a number of nominations. The Solar Group of companies includes vacuum furnace manufacturing and commercial vacuum heat treating.
Jeff Hemmer, Chief Executive Officer, President and Chief Operating Officer at Bluewater Thermal Solutions in the Indianapolis, Indiana area. Several individuals have now suggested Mr. Jeff Hemmer, a lifer in the heat treatment industry and for the past number of years the number 1 person at commercial heat treater Bluewater Thermal.
In Augsburg, Germany we find that MAN Energy Solutions recently opened a state of the art commercial heat treat facility, a project which started way back in 2016. In that year demolition of the old plant started with new equipment from Ipsen and Cleaning solutions company HEMO starting to arrive in 2018, final handover and full production took place this year. The facility offers high pressure gas quenching (20 bar), low pressure carburizing and prototype production. The man in charge is Mr. Andreas Büttner a long time heat treater.
Now the best part of this story is this video below in which you see the original equipment being removed, the building modernized and the new equipment being installed, a time line which would cover 4 years. We got a real kick out of watching it.
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In Germany we see that furnace builders IVA & Schmetz will be combining their two locations into one and at the same time expanding their capacities as you can see in this press release. To provide some more background to this story we also include a press release the company did in 2019 telling us about how the companies had new ownership. Schmetz is a very well known manufacturer of vacuum furnaces (at least in Europe) and on a regular basis we run across their furnaces. We took the one photo below a couple of years back at a commercial heat treater in Germany by the name of Werz located in the town of Harthausen. In the picture you see a row of Schmetz vacuum furnaces.
“IVA Schmetz GmbH sets itself up for the future; We are expanding our headquarters, enlarging our capacities and relocating our Dortmund office including all employees and machinery to Menden, Germany. All departments including production of IVA atmosphere furnaces and Schmetz vacuum furnaces will be located at one site in the future. With our four well-known and renowned brands IVA, Schmetz, Mahler and BMI we offer new systems as well as service, spare parts and modernization for existing systems worldwide.”
“July 17 2019 PRESS RELEASE; Tenova Sold the HTC Group to Ningbo Qijing Castellanza, July 17, 2019 – Tenova – a company of the Techint Group specialized in innovative solutions for the metals and mining industries – today has positively concluded the selling process of the HTC Group, which includes four companies – IVA Schmetz (Germany), Mahler (Germany), Fours Industriels B.M.I. (France) and IVA Schmetz Industrial Furnaces (Shanghai).”
The purchasers are Qizhi GmbH and Shanghai Qizhi Information Technologies Co., Ltd. (both members of Ningbo Qijing Holding Co., Ltd.). Ningbo Qijing is also the parent company of Qijing Machinery Co. Ltd., a company specialized in the research, development manufacturing and assembling of mechanic systems and precision parts mainly operating in the home electric appliance field and industrial application filed (in particular automotive, power tools and hydraulics).”
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At “The Monty” we pride ourselves on knowing virtually every commercial heat treater in North America however this company down in Texas we have never heard of before. Several readers mentioned to us this fire which occurred over the weekend, we have no further details we can add.
“LA PORTE, Texas — A fire involving an unknown chemical Saturday at a heat treatment facility in La Porte is under investigation. La Porte firefighters responded at 12:21 p.m. to reports of a mysterious odor in an area on 16 th Street between Spencer Highway and Fairmont Parkway. They spotted heavy smoke in the area, and because it was unclear what materials were involved, city officials ordered those in the area to shelter in place at 12:45 p.m. Investigators said the smoke was traced to a fire at Ameritek Heat Treating Services, Inc. The city’s emergency order – which was based on wind direction – instructed everyone east of Sens Road and Bay Area Boulevard to immediately go inside the nearest building. Residents and business owners were also told to shut all windows and turn off any air conditioning or heating systems. La Porte officials haven’t released details about what was burning, but the fire has been extinguished and the shelter-in-place order lifted.”
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“ALP Aviation is increasing its production capacity and expanding process capability with the purchase of an additional Vector vacuum furnace from SECO/WARWICK. This purchase is the 4th installation for this client during 13 years of successful cooperation. The first order for vacuum technology placed in 2007 was dedicated to landing gears. The next purchase in 2015 is a duplicate of the same furnace but with a smaller workload chamber, along with an additional Vector gas furnace for carburizing helicopter gear components. The 2020 order is a Vector furnace with some customized features.
The new vacuum furnace is configured with horizontal charge loading, a maximum cooling gas pressure of 15 bar of Argon and Nitrogen, and a 900x900x1200mm (WxHxL) charge area. The furnace is dedicated to LPC carburizing of transmission components for helicopters and other aircraft.
Excellent customer support is included as a standard service to equip operators with the technological expertise required for precision SECO/WARWICK carburizing. The furnace design will increase the quantitative capacity of production. The Vector product group, utilizing the same carburizing technology currently in use in the ALP AVIATION facility, enables the furnace operators to bring the system online quickly and efficiently.”
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North Americas second largest commercial heat treater as rated by “The Monty” Paulo has made some changes in their sales department. https://themonty.com/articles/largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-august-2020/
“The COVID-19 Pandemic has been transformational to many businesses. As industries were impacted the entire supply chain felt the strain of both downturn and recovery. In response to these changing conditions Paulo has made several efforts to streamline and improve our business processes and organizational structure. One such change that will impact customers is in our Sales Department.
We have challenged our team of Regional Sales Managers to take on larger territories to expand our market share and they have accepted positions as National Sales Managers, as their territories have grown to cover much of the US. Dustin Lawhon in the Northern US, and Alex Janeway in the Southern states. Mike Harper, who leads this team responsible for growing new customer accounts, will continue to manage select sales relationships in addition to new responsibility in our Quoting team.
William Rassieur, VP Sales, commented, “Relative to the changes COVID-19 has caused, this is relatively minor, but I feel that the team is better situated to help our customers succeed and to develop the partnerships that will propel us through recovery and to growth.”
Founded in 1943, Paulo is one of the largest providers of thermal processing and metal finishing solutions in North America. Headquartered in St. Louis, Paulo operates six strategically-located divisions across the U.S. and Mexico. We deliver quality results with datagineering: blending the best in automation, data, and human expertise.”
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Dustin Lawhon
Alex Janeway
Back on September 24, 2020 we mentioned a massive fire at the Colfor Manufacturing facility in Malvern, Ohio, USA. While the cause of the fire was nothing to do with heat treating Colfor and AAM are very large captive heat treaters. As a follow up to this story the fire was so severe that the plant cannot be rebuilt and will be closed as we can see in this press release.
“American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings will close its Malvern, Ohio, manufacturing plant that was destroyed in a fire in Sept. Malvern plant manager Jason Lowe said in a letter to the community on Friday that the blaze was too severe and that the structural damage to the building was irreparable, according to the local newspaper, The Repository. “We know that this decision affects many in the community and at AAM,” Lowe wrote. “We will continue to work with affected associates to identify employment opportunities within the AAM organization where available.”
The Colfor Manufacturing plant caught fire Sept. 22. Reports said that presses caught fire at the plant, which employs 276 hourly and salary associates, but no injuries were reported. It is not clear which automakers beyond General Motors relied on the driveline and drivetrain systems supplier’s plant. GM accounted for 37 percent of American Axle’s business last year, according to an SEC filing. The plant generated $100 million in sales last year, The Repository reported. The company recorded $8.6 million in net expenses related to the Malvern fire, CFO Chris May said in a call with investors on Oct. 30. American Axle did not immediately respond to a request for comment. American Axle ranks No. 41 on the Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers, with worldwide sales to automakers of $6.53 billion in 2019.”
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We are pleased to be able to offer you today an interview with Mr. Dan Reardon, Director of Technical Sales, Abbott Furnace Company of St. Marys, PA, USA. Dan tells us a bit about the company it’s products and history and his forecast for the coming year.
Dan I have been looking forward to speaking with you about Abbott Furnace Company, I just regret that it can’t be in person because of COVID, hopefully in the near future. In these very strange times I want to ask you what is probably the most asked question in the world these days-how is business for you?
Our business is doing okay. We our working on our backlog. We are seeing some uncertainty in some sectors while others continue to be strong. The election has contributed to this along with COVID.
What’s your background Dan?
I graduated from Penn State with a degree in Mechanical Engineering Technology. I started working for Rockwell International in the R&D Lab. I was there for 15 years before coming to Abbott. While at Rockwell I continued my Education and obtained a degree in Electrical Engineering Technology.
How did you get involved in the industry and end up at Abbott?
I was ready for a change and since I live in the PM world capital, I decided to get involved in something related to that. Abbott was a growing company with a lot of potential so I joined then in 1993.
What does your typical day entail?
We start everyday with a review of our current projects to make sure we deal with any issues that arise so we can stay on schedule. Since COVID the rest of the day consists of several online meetings with staff and customers. Since our equipment is custom designed we spend considerable time on engineering reviews and discussions.
With your title of Director of Technical Sales I would imagine that at least pre COVID your position involved a lot of travel but I am guessing on that.
You are correct. Pre COVID travel was at least 50% of the time.
When I think of Abbot rightly or wrongly I think of sintering applications, such as mesh belt sintering furnaces. Perhaps this is because you are located in St. Marys, PA the powdered metal capital of the world. Is that impression right or wrong?
This is somewhat correct. Sintering is still a very big part of our business but we were able to build on this to and expand into other markets. Sintering is one of the most complex processes for a furnace design, so it made branching out into other areas much easier. We understand atmosphere control very well which is critical to all processes from heat treating to stainless steel brazing.
Perhaps it would be easiest if you could tell us tell us about Abbott, the history of the company, the products you offer and the size of the company.
Abbott was founded in 1982 as Abbott Control Systems. We built our first furnace in 1986. Since then we have built over 900 furnaces. We purchased Drever in 1986 which allowed us to expand our furnace capabilities.
Over the course of the past year your company has sent us several rather interesting press releases. Going from memory I recall a press release about a new product for Abbott, an Endothermic generator and also a news item about a Roller Hearth Tube annealing installation. Lets start off with the generator-what prompted you to start offering this product line, especially considering that a number of companies in North America also offer generators?
With the acquisition of Drever, we obtained several generator designs. To support our customers, we looked at current generator designs and reviewed with them their likes, dislikes and wish lists. Our engineering team then set out to incorporate as many of the changes as possible. Energy efficiency as well at atmosphere quality and control were two of Abbott’s primary goals. We achieved all of these with the new design.
I also recall the press release about a roller hearth furnace line, can you share some details with us about what this project involved?
Drever had a great reputation for building high quality roller hearth annealing furnaces. Abbott utilized Drever designs and upgraded and modernized them to meet todays process requirements. We were able to make substantial improvements in all areas of the design. This allowed us to meet the customers requirements for a ASTM 2750 accredited furnace with a rapid quench system to meet their stringent metallurgical requirements.
Abbott is offering some new products which include the “Vulcan Delube System”-what is this exactly and where did the name come from?
Vulcan is the Roman god of Metal working/ metallurgy. One of the biggest problems in Powdered Metal is the delubrication of the parts prior to sintering. The Vulcan is a paradigm shift in how this process is performed. We are able to independently control all the variables needed such as time ate temp, atmosphere, and addition of oxidizing component to deal with the lubricant. It works well with light loads or very heavy large parts.
Another new product for your company is the “Nautilus” system for lubricant removal and strengthening the compact for soft magnetic composites. Care to share some details about this system?
The Nautilus furnace was designed to meet the time, temperature and atmosphere requirements necessary to process powder metal parts manufactured for the soft magnetics market. We see this as a growing market with the electrification of vehicles and continuous need for more efficient electric motors.
As I go over these questions one thing which jumps out at me is that Abbott has added several new product lines to your offerings in a fairly short period of time-why? Do you feel that the traditional market for sintering furnaces is becoming saturated or are looking for more solutions for your customers?
We still see growth potential in PM and continue to work to advance this industry as you can see by the development of the Vulcan and Nautilus. We added the roller hearth to compliment our existing base and to allow growth into other markets and it leveraged our Drever IP.
Where are your customers? From past press releases you seem to have a strong presence in Mexico in addition to the US market (and I should add the Canadian market also as I have seen several examples of your products in my home country)-what about outside of North America?
We supply furnaces worldwide including China, Taiwan, South Korea, Germany, and many other EU countries. Our goal is to be able to supply the best equipment available with the lowest cost of ownership to our customers wherever they are located.
This a totally unfair question and one which I shouldn’t be asking but what do you think 2021 is going to be like for Abbott in particular and the furnace industry in general? If it makes it easier I will even go first-I firmly believe that next year will see substantial growth in manufacturing and consequently heat treating-but perhaps I am leading the witness as they say.
I would like to agree with you, but I don’t. I believe there are too many uncertainties for which we don’t know the outcome yet. Getting the pandemic under control would certainly help. We don’t know what is going to happen with a new President taking over. What will happen with the taxes and regulations on business?
Dan I really enjoyed speaking with you and I hope our paths continue to cross for many years. Sincerely, Gord
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“Solar Atmospheres of California (SCA) recently added additional large furnace capacity to their already extensive inventory of vacuum equipment. The furnace was specifically designed to process a variety of materials that require optimum performance during controlled heating, controlled cooling, vacuum processing, positive pressure processing, and differential pressure processing. SCA works very closely with sister company, Solar Manufacturing, to design and fabricate equipment to provide repeatable mistake-proof processing while meeting all prime requirements and AMS 2750. Key equipment performance characteristics include:
• 84” diameter x 144” long, robust and energy efficient all graphite and CFC hot zone
• Temperature uniformity ±10°F
• Dual 35” diffusion pumping systems capable mid 10-6 Torr range
• Maximum operating temperature of 2650°F
• Maximum loading of 50,000 lbs.
• 2–Bar high performance 800 HP cooling system (Argon, Nitrogen & Helium)
• SolarVac Polaris® Electrical Control System
SCA President Derek Dennis states, “We are very pleased to add the additional large furnace capacity. Each new furnace installation is built on a building block approach from the personal knowledge and experience accumulated by operating previous furnace models. I really appreciate the ability to bounce different “out of the box” ideas to our manufacturing team, who then takes those ideas and makes them a reality. Often, the team takes the ideas to another level before the final build plans go to the shop floor. It is this valuable collaboration between companies that allows Solar to lead the industry in material processing and furnace manufacturing. The new furnace will bolster SCA’s position as a leader in the heat treat industry on the West Coast, and provide our valuable customers with the very best quality, on-time delivery and repeatable value-added service, coupled with the best customer service in the industry.”
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Over the course of this year we have watched with interest as additive manufacturing firm Burloak Technologies in Burlington, Ontario, Canada has developed their in house heat treating department. With the addition of their new Quintus Technologies Hot Isostatic Press (pictured below) the installation is now complete. This by the way is the first commercial HIP unit available in Canada.
“September 14, 2020 Burloak Technologies Installing In-House Heat Treatment Department; Earlier this year we had an exclusive news item about how Additive Manufacturing firm Burloak Technologies was installing a brand new in house heat treating department at their Burlington, Canada facility. We can now say that this AS9100 and Nadcap compliant facility is now in operation and in a very interesting development also taking on commercial heat treatment business for vacuum, air, solution and T6/aging cycles. We say interesting because generally captive heat treaters do not make good commercial heat treaters although there are exceptions-Gleason Works in Rochester, NY, USD is a good example of a company successfully blending captive and commercial heat treating. Having said that the individual in charge of the department at Burloak, is a former Schaeffler Bearings employee and a very experienced fellow with a great deal of knowledge of both captive and commercial heat treating.”
“July 9 2020. “Burloak Technologies Installing In-House Heat Treatment Department; In Burlington, Ontario, Canada we find Burloak Technologies who describe their company thusly; “Burloak Technologies is Canada’s leading supplier of highly engineered additive manufactured components for demanding applications.” https://burloaktech.com/ The company makes our news section today due to the fact that for months, if not years the company has been planning their brand new, state of the art in house heat treating department and just this week one of the first pieces of equipment arrived-a new Titan vacuum furnace from Ipsen in Rockford, Illinois, USA. Installation and Nadcap qualification are the next steps. Future plans are very ambitious to say the least, with several more large pieces of equipment on order, this includes a furnace for processing aluminum. Additive manufacturing is proving to be a rapidly growing market for furnace manufacturers, already this year we have announced several large heat treatment investments in the field and we would expect this will grow rapidly in the future.”
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