“Abbott Furnace Company is proud to announce that a global automotive supplier has placed an order for an electrically heated continuous belt brazing furnace to be installed in Mexico in the 4th quarter of 2020. Abbott Furnace will design and manufacture the industrial furnace for brazing of fuel delivery components and Abbott Furnace Mexico will install and provide after sale support of the four (4) zone line that is rated for 2,150° F and includes a 24” wide belt and silicon carbide domed muffle.
Abbott Furnace is an industrial furnace manufacturer with 35 years of experience designing and producing some of the industry’s most reliable and high performing industrial continuous process furnaces. Abbott is a leading producer of industrial sintering furnaces, annealing furnaces, tempering furnaces, brazing furnaces, heat treat furnaces, steam treat furnaces, industrial ovens, CAB furnaces, High-Temperature Furnaces and other specialty furnace products. Abbott Furnace is a privately owned company located in St. Marys, Pennsylvania. Abbott furnaces are proudly manufactured in the USA.”
In Spain we see that Juan Vallejo Rodriguez was recently named Director General of commercial heat treater Hauck, Spain. Hauck is the second largest commercial heat treater in Europe as ranked by “The Monty” https://themonty.com/project/l
For years now furnace builder SECO/WARWICK has been the target of a viscous, anonymous e mail campaign. Literally 1,000’s of companies from around the world involved in the heat treatment industry have been receiving these e-mails, today SECO addresses the issue.
“As one of the top five heat treatment leaders and an entity involved in the world economy, SECO/WARWICK confronts numerous challenges in everyday business life. Currently, such a challenge has become the network, specifically Internet hate.
The Internet is a huge environment that can help but also harm, because it allows anonymity of the recipient and sender, including certain anonymous vilification that SECO/WARWICK has experienced. Initially, our partners, suppliers and contractors received e-mail correspondence alleging alarming and misleading information about the situation of the Group. Now employees and customers have joined the group of consumers flooded with black PR. We are concerned that after a wave of hate sent to customers, hate speech on the Internet will start. SECO/WARWICK says NO to this prospect.
Almost every entity operating on the market has a presence on the Internet where it builds its reputation every day and confronts the opinions of the environment. SECO/WARWICK consciously uses the Internet to create and manage content, applying a great deal of effort in it, because we care about a reliable and positive perception and representation or our brand.
“The author, writing under a pseudonym (currently as: Suresh Manish) and attacking SECO/WARWICK, is the so-called internet troll who wants to discredit our company’s activities and arouse controversial discussions. According to specialists researching the phenomenon of online hate, such a person feeds his low self-esteem, harms someone who is jealous or stands in the way of his alleged success. Our online troll, by providing information extracted from the context and presenting it in a selective manner, manipulates the facts. This attack is an act of economic hate,” says Sławomir Woźniak, President of the SECO/WARWICK Group.
It is not the competition that works under the pseudonym, but one of our former contractors, who formulates unfounded claims and negative opinions, and then slanders and sends this information to a wide audience. SECO/WARWICK is pending litigation against this contractor, but it turns out that legal sanctions for violating our good name and reputation are not relevant to the author of the email. Despite the conviction, he continues to slander the company, which is done, among other means, via anonymous e-mails which, although not identified explicitly, suggest the authorship of the entity: a former contractor who has been in litigation with SECO/WARWICK for many years. The operating scheme and the way the wording is formulated clearly indicates that the emails are authored by the same and former SECO/WARWICK contractor.
We will fight these anonymous slanders, because the good name of the company and its employees is vilified, and the information itself misleads our partners. As a listed company, SECO/WARWICK is guided by the principle of transparency in business, relations and communication. We are not anonymous in what we do, because we believe that the facts speak for themselves.
“Cyber-bullies who feed on the possibility of making others’ lives miserable are a very severe phenomenon and I am sorry that the sign of the times is affecting such a reputable company as SECO/WARWICK” says prof. Jolanta Baranowska from the West Pomeranian University of Technology.
“I have cooperated with SECO/WARWICK Group for decades. This is the first time I have met a situation in which a global leader must defend itself against online frustration. A wave of hate poured out by this man hiding under a pseudonym offends and touches us, the scientific support team of the Group,” comments prof. P. Kula from the Lodz University of Technology.
“As heat treaters we all work hard to promote the many benefits of our industry and spread the word that we are the most cost-effective solution to the needs of manufacturing. The last thing we need or want is unnecessary distraction, especially from an unknown source questioning our motives and damaging our industry’s reputation” wrote Daniel H. Herring, “The Heat Treat Doctor.”
“Over my long career, I have had the privilege of working with most of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) worldwide and many of our suppliers as well. Each is highly ethical, acts in a professional manner and, simply stated, have their hearts (and focus) in the right place, serving the industry we love. SECO/WARWICK, both here in the United States, in Europe and around the world is no exception. Any attempt by anyone to suggest otherwise detracts from our ultimate goal, the advancement of the thermal processing industry so as to offer our customers the best tools to succeed. In this way, we all serve our better angels”, added Daniel H. Herring.
Nobody wants to be publicly defamed, because destroying reputations affects employee morale, business, decisions of potential clients and partners, or can weaken relationships. But SECO/WARWCIK, with a faithful group of suppliers and customers in 70 countries, and always taking care of relations with partners, can boast and show that in this situation our partners are with us.
“This defamation is an offense that involves slandering a company that could expose it to loss of credibility and trust. We have not lost confidence in SECO/WARWICK; we believe and confirm its credibility and the credibility of its devices. Proof – years of collaboration and dozens of solutions for this brand,” says Mike Jarvis, Engineering Director, Wallwork Heat Treatment Ltd.
“After receiving the e-mail, our reaction was to forward correspondence to SECO/WARWICK without asking us to explain the matter. Because we do not respond to anonymous correspondence. As a transparent company, we require transparency from partners and those who want to be in dialogue with us. Anonymity does not embrace dialogue or transparency,” comments Sebastien Matray, GAUBERT MATRAY INDUSTRIES CEO.
“We were surprised by the correspondence received and the information contained therein. The surprise was all the greater because we’ve been working with SECO/WARWICK for 10 years, on 10 projects. We know who our contractor is and our relationship has long since we crossed the threshold of partnership and are now at the stage of business friendship. As a friend, we tell the hater – NO”, noted Sylwester Pawęta, Chief Operating Officer and Commercial Proxy at HART-TECH.
“In response to the defaming emails sent about SECO/WARWICK, Rex Heat Treat has not experienced any out-of-the-norm difficulties in our dealings with the company. RHT has purchased standard vacuum furnaces, first of its kind vacuum oil quenching furnace, bell style tempering furnaces, and the tallest oil quenching vacuum furnace in the world from SECO/WARWICK. We have found the entire group to be professional and highly creative for our unique needs. Rex Heat Treat looks forward to our continued relationship and next purchase from SECO/WARWICK and SECO/VACUUM Technologies,” said Johnathan W. Rex, General Manager.
“Metals India and SECO/WARWICK relations are not impacted with such kind of communication as we have had a wonderful experience in the past and continuing through present day”, commented Ankit Gupta, Managing Director of Modern Metals India.
“I was extremely disheartened to read this slanderous correspondence about SECO/WARWICK. This absolutely does not fit the standard of business behavior. All the more so because working with SECO/WARWICK as a business partner is always a great pleasure, combined with mutual respect and trust; with such experiences, it is impossible to believe these accusations,” adds Magdalena Nizik, General Director of CPP Poland.
Although the presented circumstances are completely independent of the Company, we apologize to our partners for any inconvenience caused. We declare that we have taken legal steps related to the situation that misrepresents our situation to our partners. We are guided by the principle of transparency, one of the most powerful forms of defending the good name of the company and its employees. Thus, this public message from the Group.”
Just over 1 year ago a flood devasted the in house heat treating department at the Mercedes transmission components facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This mammoth heat treatment facility which consists of pusher furnaces, Nitrex pit nitriders, rotary hearth furnaces and batch IQ furnaces was totally devasted as you can see in this exclusive to “The Monty” video. With roughly 6500 followers on LinkedIn “The Monty” boasts a following which dwarfs all other heat treat news outlets and these videos remain our top LinkedIn item of all time with roughly 15,000 views. Interested in our second highest viewed item? That would be our 2019 interview with Mr. Stephen Harris, CEO of commercial heat treating giant Bodycote.
https://themonty.com/project/m
“Climbing Europe’s highest mountain, Mont Blanc, has been a long-standing dream of mine. One that has lived on for many years and was finally fulfilled this month. What you read below is my journey of perseverance and resiliency towards unlocking my potential.
After 6 months of training to get fit for the climb and to my great satisfaction, I succeeded in summiting this majestic mountain in the French Alps. My sincere thanks to my family who supported me throughout every step of this journey and to my guide Jonath who pushed me at the right moments to give me that extra boost.
Success did not come easily. I attempted my first climb in 2019, but, at 4300 meters (14,000 feet) elevation into my trek, I was forced to return to camp because of poor weather conditions. With 120 km/h (75 mph) winds, a heavier than expected snowfall, and a temperature of -20°C (-4°F) and dropping, mountain conditions were not ideal. Consequently, the planned climb was stopped over safety concerns, and I dispiritedly returned home. Of course, this was not my first or last lesson in the limits of my potential. When you set yourself a goal, you want to reach it – mostly, to prove that you can. Dispirited but not defeated, I was inspired again in 2020 to succeed. While the environment in 2019 was not favorable, 2020 in contrast was amazing with early summer daylight and the summit above the clouds. Even though my efforts were similar in 2019 and 2020, the result was so very different. The 2019 experience fueled the 2020 success. There is no bad experience, just an opportunity to learn a lesson along the way. Don’t stop trying if you fail once. As professional tennis player Arthur Ashe once said, “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is usually more important than the outcome.”
I see so many parallels between my adventure and UPC-Marathon’s journey to success. Both are driven by one strong objective, a team that helps you get prepared and is ready to help, support from experts, the ability to overcome doubts, as well as the strength and determination to keep going forward and make things happen again and again – ultimately succeeding in our day to day achievements and taking us to the pinnacles of success.
I’ve learned a lot about myself and my limits during the ascend, but also during the long descent. At UPC-Marathon, the process of transforming our company to achieve greater success and be more resilient during difficult times and situations is our common Mont Blanc. Staying in control, never giving up, trusting your guide/leader, leaving your comfort zone when needed, staying confident in your competence, and relying on your best self will open your mind to what’s possible and what it takes to succeed. By the same token, we must focus on our goals and embrace the everyday challenges to reach our personal and professional summit. Once we are engaged and appreciate the necessity and benefits of challenges, there is no barrier to stop us in the face of new and emerging challenges and our quest to seek solutions. We are the best ourselves only when we give the best of ourselves.
To sum up, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Mike Horn, the world’s greatest living professional adventurer who has repeatedly demonstrated that there are no limits to the potential of the human spirit, “The impossible exists only until we find a way to make it possible”. By expanding our view of what’s possible, we all have the potential to unlock creativity, innovation, rewards, and fulfillments.
https://www.nitrex.com/life-lesson-perseverance-resiliency/
Paul Oleszkiewicz, Jean Francois Cloutier, Olivier Caurette
Furnace and oven builder Delta H Systems in Pickerington, Ohio, USA is just about ready to ship an oven to a North American company doing additive manufacturing. This will be used for processing aluminum parts and features an external water quench tank. Delta H is a family owned business which offers a wide variety of walk in ovens, benchtop furnaces and composite curing ovens to name just a few of their many products. There are not many “in person” trade shows remaining this year. Furnaces North America which is slated to start September 30th announced just last week that they would be changing to a “virtual” format. AISTech 2020-The Iron & Steel Technology Conference & Exposition which was to be held August 31 to September 3 in Cleveland has been cancelled. Pretty much the only heat treat related show which is still a go as a “real” event is the ASM IMAT 2020 (International Materials, Applications & Technologies) event in Cleveland, Ohio, USA September 14-17.
Tom Hart who was with SECO/WARWICK in the US left the company for a short period of time but is now back as Vacuum Furnace Product Manager. Why would anybody want to leave heat treating?
ALD Receives General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for 2019 (Editors note; ALD specializes in vacuum carburizing of automotive transmission components). “Congratulations to the entire ALD Team on another fantastic year of providing Superior Quality Vacuum Heat Treating Services! The hard work, dedication, and support of our local ALD Port Huron MI. Team, ALD Vacuum Technologies GmbH, ALD Tratamientos Termicos, AMG (Advanced Metallurgical Group), and all our ALD affiliates has been very much appreciated. These efforts have resulted in having been awarded the General Motors Supplier Quality Excellence Award for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and now 2019!”
Out in Wisconsin, USA Jagemann Munitions Components, a manufacturer of munitions will be adding to their heat treating department. Very nice to see these days that some companies are growing and investing. End of the line for Selma Precision in Selma, North Carolina. A number of years ago an Indian company by the name of Sona set up shop in Selma, North Carolina, USA to manufacture auto parts. The plant featured a fairly large in house heat treating department consisting of multiple batch IQ furnaces and associated equipment. Disaster struck in 2016 when a fire caused several million dollars worth of damage and destroyed at least one furnace. The insurer paid $21 million USD and the plant and heat treating department were rebuilt with state of the art furnaces and the company was back in business. Shortly thereafter the facility was shuttered and all of the equipment went on the market with the heat treating equipment being dispersed to various locations around the US. Last week marked the final end to the story with all the remaining equipment including 3 batch IQ furnaces having a new owner. The photo below shows an AFC batch IQ furnace which was part of the installation.
We’re going to leave you with a couple of photos of a commercial heat treater in South Africa by the name of Harchris Heat Treatment in Johannesburg which “The Monty” visited a couple of years back. Harchris is one of the largest heat treaters in the country and specializes in handling very large parts as you can see in the one photo.
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.
Recently we mentioned how Greg Huss had joined Paulo the second largest commercial heat treater in North America https://themonty.com/project/l
“We are proud to announce that our Nashville division is now under the leadership of plant manager Greg Huss. Greg joined the Paulo team in late spring 2020, bringing over 22 years of experience in the heat treating industry. Greg took courses in both materials engineering and business management during his college years. He then started his career as a furnace operator and lab inspector at a mid-sized heat treating company, quickly rising through the ranks as his skill and leadership qualities began to shine. Greg’s most recent role was as General Manager of two heat treatment facilities in the greater Milwaukee area that specialize in vacuum hardening and annealing, atmosphere hardening and annealing, stress relieving, carburizing, and carbonitriding. Greg’s expertise also includes experience with a variety of materials including aluminum, and processes such as austempering, ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC), induction heat treating, and more. He is experienced in maintaining ISO, AS9001, and Nadcap certifications and is a YES program graduate through the Metal Treating Institute.
“I’m looking forward to taking on this new challenge at Paulo,” Greg said. “I have a big passion for quality and as a leader, I enjoy inspiring other people to take pride in their work.” At Paulo, Greg will be responsible for leading the Nashville division and will be accountable for maintaining the quality and efficiency of the entire operation. Gregory’s experience on both the technical, financial, and people management sides of our business have him well positioned for success in our organization. “Greg’s experience encompasses everything we look for at Paulo,” said Tee Rassieur, Paulo’s VP of Operations. “His history blends scientific expertise with people skills and deep knowledge of heat treating operations. That’s exactly what we mean when we say ‘datagineering at work.’ We are looking forward to seeing Greg succeed in his new role.”
High Electrical costs in Europe have prompted virtually every captive and commercial heat treater in Europe to install an energy optimization system on their electrically heated furnaces. All electrical bills are comprised of several components, chief among them being the actual amount of electricity used and also a charge for the peak demand usage in any given year. As this can be a very high charge the theory is that by “flattening out” electrical demand your electrical bill is reduced and the theory works in actual practice. When the system senses electrical usage is getting close to a peak it throttles back the ramp up rate on selected furnaces but does not touch the usage during a soak cycle. As the ramp up time is generally the shortest part of any furnace cycle there is a negligible increase in the overall cycle time.
European heat treaters embraced the technology over 40 years ago and continue to do so which proves that the system works and it actually works quite well-we speak from personal experience. However in spite of very determined efforts by at least two German suppliers a number of years back to bring the technology to North America it never got very far. This is in spite of the fact that almost 20 systems were installed at captive and commercial heat treaters in the USA and Canada and all worked fairly well. The obvious point is that electricity is a lot cheaper in North America than Europe but still with an average payback time of 2 years in NA you would think heat treaters in North America would have embraced the technology. Well they didn’t and as far as we can tell at least for the time being there is virtually no interest in the technology. This photo below was taken at a SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH facility in Windsor, Canada which at the time was one of the larger commercial vacuum heat treaters in North America (it closed some years ago). The company had a system on every one of their furnaces and swore up and down that is was the best thing since sliced bread.
In this photo we have on the left Rod Pressy of SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH, Gunther Braus, Dibalog, Germany
“McLaughlin Furnace Group based in Avilla, Indiana, USA is pleased to announce that they recently appointed Jake Verdoux as Production Manager. Jake brings with him many years of experience working with other furnace builders in the US and this experience will help grow the McLaughlin Furnace Group which is seeing very substantial growth in 2020.”
