Last week, Wednesday May 13 to be exact we published our 2020 list of the 30 Largest North American commercial Heat Treaters https://themonty.com/articles/largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-august-2020/ For over 20 years we have been publishing this annual list but this year we vastly expanded the scope from the 10 largest to the 30 largest. Our research in preparation for this article covered several months and we are rather proud of our efforts-we would be pleased to hear your comments. One of the companies on this list is “Nitrex” a company which has been in the news quite a bit recently mainly because of their rebranding efforts which we mentioned last week. The press release which was issued was interesting but made no mention of some of the other accomplishments the company has made recently. For instance their manufacturing facility in Poland has been vastly expanded and the Chicago heat treating plant is seeing some major investments. In addition their GM Enterprises division in California has a fairly new Vice President/General Manager, a fellow by the name of Larry Jackson who we don’t know personally. The photo below shows the facility in Poland, on the left is Gord Montgomery on the right Michael Korwin the founder of the company.
From furnace builder Gasbarre whose ad can be found on this page we have this press release; “Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems recently shipped a custom built atmosphere tempering furnace to a manufacturer in the Aerospace market with captive heat treating capabilities. With a working load size of 84” wide, 42” deep, and 60” tall, coupled with a max load weight of 6,000 pounds, the furnace is specifically designed for our customers key manufactured components. The electrically heated furnace has an operating temperature range of 350℉ to 1600℉, and passes uniformity at +/- 10℉ per AMS2750E. The system is equipped with custom controls including Eurotherm brand temperature controlling instrumentation, and an Allen-Bradley PLC and HMI. Automatic atmosphere control is included for running under Nitrogen, Argon, and/or a Hydrogen blend. Custom designed atmosphere cooling systems are installed to reduce overall cycle time. Gasbarre was chosen as a partner for their ability to specifically design the equipment around their broad process parameters. The equipment configuration also enabled the customer to switch from pit furnace style processing, which eliminated infrastructure costs and maintenance concerns.”
From Heat Treatment Australia (HTA) we have this press release about their Los Angeles, California facility; “ HTA is pleased to announce the completed installation of a new furnace at our Los Angeles Branch, now available for precipitation hardening of PH stainless steels up to 14′. The new equipment’s maximum processing footprint is 168″ x 48″ x 48″ and is ready now to begin filling orders. HTA Los Angeles maintains AS9100 and NADCAP accreditation, and the new processes are accredited to Lockheed Martin and Boeing specifications.”
Heat Treatment Australia is also in the news in Australia where the company recently received a grant from the Defense Department. The grant will be used to expand testing capabilities for components related to the F-35 program. The photo below shows the HTA team at the Brisbane, Australia facility, this photo was taken a few years back when we visited the various HTA facilities.
Montreal, Canada – May 12, 2020 – Nitrex, a Novacap portfolio company and the leading global provider of fully integrated heat-treating solutions and technologies, unveiled its new corporate brand identity today. This change comes at a time when the company is forging new paths, retooling its product portfolio to align it even more closely with customer needs and preferences, and seeking to present a more consistent look and feel across all brands. “In our 35-year history, Nitrex has evolved from a small family-run business operating in Canada to a global company with an extensive portfolio serving the whole heat treatment industry,” said Nitrex CEO Jean-Francois Cloutier.
“Our portfolio is built on proven science and technology to enhance material strength and optimize performance. The new brand identity we are sharing with you today,” he continued, “reflects our evolution as a market leader poised for the future, while reaffirming our tradition of innovation, reliability and quality as well as our customer-focused culture. The new unifying logo will represent the company as a whole, with all its business units. The modern, abstract design of the company’s iconic red, yellow and orange “N” symbol is now rendered as two monochromatic pillars, indicating that Nitrex rests on a solid foundation of science and technology. The pillars stand side by side and stretch out crosswise, evoking the centrality of heat treating as a mission-critical process in manufacturing,” added Cloutier.
The new symbol, shown above, will be adopted by all the Nitrex business units. The symbol also plays a functional role as the letter “N” in the Nitrex wordmark used by all business units. For now, the names of the legal entities will not change, so our customers, suppliers and stakeholders can continue to use the existing names and addresses in all official communication. The new wordmark for United Process Controls leverages its well-known trade name, the UPC initials, in combination with the company’s best-known brand asset, Marathon Monitors, to form UPC-Marathon. Also, worth noting is the incorporation of the “N” symbol as the final letterform in the new UPC-Marathon wordmark.
“The UPC-Marathon logo may be new and different, but it still speaks to our history and makes the link with the essence of our recognized brand. Operationally, nothing has changed: our mission is to be the best brand in process controls and automation worldwide. The new logo is a true reflection of our past and our future,” said Eric Jossart, VP Global Sales. “The rebranding unifies our group, while confirming our unique position in the market,” said Oliver Caurette, President, United Process Controls.
G-M Enterprises has also traded their metallic graphic for a sleek single-color wordmark using the same typeface as the other logos, with the addition of the tagline A Nitrex Company. “The new logo clearly defines the integration of G-M into Nitrex. As the newest addition to the Nitrex Turnkey Systems portfolio, G-M expands our offering in this category by bringing a new line of innovative vacuum heat treatment systems to our customers” said Iwo Korwin, President of NTS.
A new tagline: “The new tagline charts a bold course for Nitrex. It underscores our commitment to science and technology. By harnessing the latest advances, we will be able to reinvent the methods of strengthening metals and applications, to the greater benefit of our customers. “This marks the beginning of a new chapter for Nitrex and its affiliated companies, and we’re very excited to finally share it with you. Soon you will see the new logos on all our products and packaging, social media platforms, brochures, stationery and tradeshow booths as well as in our email signatures, and much else. Also, on the horizon is a new redesigned website with simplified messaging and a seamless visitor experience. The site will showcase the full suite of solutions, including turnkey heat-treating systems, heat treating services, and control and automation solutions,” said Nitrex CEO Jean-Francois Cloutier.
About NOVACAP: Founded in 1981, Novacap is a leading Canadian private equity firm with $3.6 billion of assets under management. Its distinct investment approach, based on deep operational expertise and an active partnership with entrepreneurs, has helped accelerate growth and create long-term value for its numerous portfolio companies. With an experienced management team and substantial financial resources, Novacap is well-positioned to continue building world-class businesses. Backed by leading global institutional investors, Novacap’s deals typically include leveraged buyouts, management buyouts, add-on acquisitions, IPOs, and privatizations. Over the last 38 years, Novacap has invested in more than 90 companies and completed more than 130 add-on acquisitions. The company has offices in Toronto, Ontario and Brossard, Quebec. For more information, please visit www.novacap.ca.
About NITREX: NITREX is the lead provider of fully integrated heat-treating solutions and technologies globally. The company was founded in 1984 in Montreal, Canada and operates three business units – Nitrex Turnkey System (NTS) a leader of turnkey nitriding, nitrocarburizing and vacuum heat treat systems; Heat Treating Services (HTS) a worldwide network of commercial heat-treating service centers; and UPC, a leading provider of controls upgrade and automation solutions for heat treating and combustion. Nitrex serves its customers globally from 14 locations across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, China, Japan and through a global network of representatives and licensees. www.nitrex.com | www.group-upc.com | www.gmenterprises.com
Last week we mentioned how Salto Heat Treating was a brand new start up commercial heat treater in Northern, Ontario, Canada. What we didn’t realize was that this is a far larger operation than we thought and a larger investment than we thought. As an example the company invested $1 million in a new Induction hardening system from a company in Ohio which we would have to assume is Ajax Tocco Magnathermic. More details below.
“A Sudbury industrial service company has launched a new specialty metalworking business for Northern Ontario. Salto Heat Treating is the newest company in the stable of owner Felix Lopes Jr., president of Lopes Ltd., a well-known steel fabricator in the city’s east end. “We’re ready and open for business,” he said. Lopes and his team have spent more than a year involved in planning and design to convert a vacant building at the privately owned Coniston Industrial Park into a fully automated, state-of-the-art shop.
The company is named after his father’s village in Portugal. Felix Lopes Sr. founded the parent company in 1976. “It sounds good, too. I like the name,” said Lopes. With leading-edge technology not yet seen in Northern Ontario, Salto represents a more than $7-million investment for the company. The 16,500-square-foot shop has been laid out with flow chart-like precision for efficiency and quick turnaround time on most applications. The rationale for this spinoff company was to siphon off component and parts work that normally would go to shops in southern Ontario or the U.S.
But should business pick up, as both Lopes and Mehanna expect, they could quickly hire as many as 14 people. All training would be done in-house. “It’s only a matter of time,” said Lopes. “I have a good feeling about this.” Mehanna pays credit to Lopes for having the vision to deliver a top-of-the-line service. “If he sees an opportunity, he studies it and goes for it. “Felix has a big dream for the park here; he’s very ambitious. He’s an opportunist and, slowly but surely, he’s building the park the way he wants it.”
“Ipsen is pleased to announce the hiring of Janet Nanni, PHR, SHRM-CP, as its new Director of Human Resources. Nanni stepped into this role after the May 6 retirement of longtime Ipsen HR Director Nancy Kolar. Nanni is responsible for managing all personnel and human resources programs for Ipsen USA, which includes locations in Illinois and Pennsylvania. Before joining Ipsen, Nanni was the Director of Human Resources at Zenith Cutter in Rockford, accountable for global HR initiatives in two countries.
Nanni has more than twenty years of human resources experience in the industrial manufacturing and engineering service industries. She received a Bachelor of Business Administration with emphasis in Human Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. She is also a Society of Human Resources Management Certified Professional. Nanni’s talent for transforming workplace culture and aptitude for building trust and accountability make her an ideal fit for the role.
About Ipsen. Ipsen USA designs and manufactures industrial vacuum and atmosphere heat-treating systems, supervisory controls systems and predictive maintenance software platforms for many industries, including Aerospace, Automotive, Commercial Heat Treating, Energy and Medical. With production locations in America, Europe and Asia, and representation in 34 countries, Ipsen is committed to providing 360° support for customers worldwide.”
Recently we had an interview with Dr. Klaus Loeser, Senior Vice President Heat Treatment, ALD
https://themonty.com/project/d
reatment/ Klaus did a good job on the interview telling us about ALD, their strategy and their plans for the future in North America, Europe and China. If you ever found yourself saying it was a good interview but too bad it’s not in Chinese well this is your lucky day. The interview was translated into Chinese and it can be found at
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/lk2
Since 1999 “The Monty” has been publishing annually a list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America based upon annual sales, our 2019 list can be found at https://themonty.com/articles/largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-august-2019/. This year readers will see we became a bit more ambitious and expanded the list to the 30 largest. Please click on the link below to see the largest 30 commercial heat treat treaters in North America.
www.themonty.com/largest/commercial/heat-treats
“May 12, 2020 – To support an increasing demand for high-value gas nitriding, Solar Atmospheres, Souderton Pa, has installed a new, state-of-the-art vacuum gas nitriding furnace, built by sister company, Solar Manufacturing.
The front-loading furnace incorporates the latest nitriding and recipe system from Solar Manufacturing. The automated controls meet AMS2759/10, Automated Gaseous Nitriding Controlled by Nitrogen Potential, in addition to the standard AMS2759/6, Gaseous Nitriding of Low-Alloy Steel Parts. The automated control system is useful for single stage, as well as two–stage (Floe) processing. All hot zone components are made completely of graphitic materials inert to the anhydrous ammonia used during the nitriding process.
In addition to a forced gas cooling system, the furnace also incorporates Solar Manufacturing’s unique convection heating system This design has significant advantages over conventional retort-type systems in the reduction of cycle time, by as much as 50% – resulting in increased efficiency, saving customers time and money.
For additional process information, contact Mike Moyer, Director of Sales, Solar Atmospheres, at 215-721-1502 x1207, or [email protected], or visit our website at solaratm.com.”
To compliment this press release from Aerospace Testing & Pyrometry (whose banner ad can be found on this page) we dug through our files and came up with this photo to compliment the press release. The great man himself, Mr. Andrew Bassett is on the left in this picture which was taken at the ASM show in Detroit the fall of 2019.
“The President of Aerospace Testing & Pyrometry, Andrew Bassett and President/Owner of AKA Calibrations, Bill Stines, would like to announce that Aerospace Testing & Pyrometry will be acquiring the assets and clients of AKA Calibrations starting June of 2020. Bill Stines approached ATP to acquire his clients because of the same work ethic and dedicated service that AKA Calibrations has provided to his client base. “This was the only option. Aerospace Testing & Pyrometry has a great reputation in the industry and a leader in providing superb Pyrometry services to their clients” stated Bill Stines. “This is a perfect fit for ATP. Bill’s hard work and dedication to his clients over the years is the same approach with our clients”, added Andrew Bassett. AKA Calibrations and Aerospace Testing & Pyrometry have worked together over the years and acquiring AKA Calibrations client base will be a seamless transition. The majority of AKA Calibration accounts will be handled from our Southern Division based out of Tulsa, OK. Bill will be taking a role within the ATP organization which includes special projects and consulting.
About ATP: Aerospace Testing & Pyrometry, Inc. is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited company specializing in the onsite calibration of temperature processing instrumentation, calibration of vacuum measuring systems and temperature uniformity surveys for thermal processing equipment. We also specialize in consulting and training in Pyrometry Specifications, Heat Treat Consulting & Procedure Writing and Consulting for Nadcap Accreditations in Heat Treating, Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), Welding, Brazing & Materials Test Laboratories. With offices located in Bethlehem, PA, Stroudsburg, PA, Hartford, CT, Cleveland, OH, Tulsa, OK, Los Angeles, CA, Greenville, SC, Bedford, OH (Lab) and Muskegon, MI, our services have reached through-out the United States, Mexico, Canada and Europe. For more information, please visit www.atpcal.com or call Andrew Bassett at 844-828-7225.”
Bill Stines of ATP
For as long as we can remember it has been the norm to see a print copy of “Industrial Heating” in the lobby of every commercial heat treater in North America. From a number of sources we have been lead to believe that IH will continue with the magazine but at least in North America in a digital format only to which we have to say what a shame. Print magazines in general have for some time been dying a long, very protracted death but it is still a shame to see them slowly disappearing. On a personal level I can see that my magazine subscriptions have dropped from quite a few to one only (Yachting magazine by the way) so it is no surprise that the heat treatment industry has also seen this transition but I don’t have to like it. I have to say I am going to miss reading IH while waiting at appointments.
We start off the week of May 10, 2020 with a press release from commercial heat treating giant Bodycote. By the way when we publish our list of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America later this week it will come as no surprise to anybody that by 2019 sales Bodycote is the largest;
“Bodycote to consolidate three facilities in North America; MACCLESFIELD (U.K.) — Bodycote, the world’s largest provider of heat treatments and specialist thermal processing services, announced a restructuring plan in March 2020 which aims to better align parts of the heat treatment business to ongoing industrial trends. The global plan entails a renewed push for acquisitions in key territories, the modernization and expansion of a number of facilities as well as the consolidation of a few. The strategic review identified the need to consolidate three of the 72 North American facilities. Bodycote is moving the capacity of the three locations, on 74th East Ave. in Tulsa, OK; Ronda Drive in Canton, MI; and County Road 1 in Elkhart, IN, into their sister facilities and closing the three sites. This will result in improved operational efficiency, increased available capacity and enhanced customer services in North America. The consolidation is now underway and is expected to be completed later this year. For more information on Bodycote’s heat treatments and specialist thermal processing services, visit www.bodycote.com
This is an upsetting news item, the passing of Thomas Crafton, President & CEO of furnace and oven builder Thermcraft.
“Thomas M. Crafton, President & CEO of Thermcraft Inc., September 25, 1952 – April 28, 2020. Thermcraft President, Thomas Morris Crafton, 67, of Winston-Salem, NC passed away Tuesday, April 28th, 2020. He was educated at Trinity High School in Washington, PA, West Virginia University and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Thermcraft was founded in 1971 by Tom’s father and mother, Morris L. Crafton and Clara Martin Crafton. In 1978 Tom and his wife, Nancy, moved to Winston-Salem where Tom joined his parents working at Thermcraft, Inc. He was a successful businessman and was greatly admired by his colleagues. Tom became President & CEO of Thermcraft, Inc. and expanded the company internationally. He has given presentations about small businesses in Washington DC and has relationships with companies throughout the US, Europe and Asia.
Tom was passionate about travel and he loved to travel the world, visit with customers and talk about the many places he had been and things he’d seen. Tom had a witty sense of humor and was always quick with a comeback. He loved fast cars, guns, music, guitars and spending time at Lake Norman. But most of all, he loved his family. As successful as Tom was, his daughters and grandchildren were his greatest accomplishments. His strong will and determination can be seen in each of his grandchildren and he thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow. He loved life and lived it to the fullest.
Tom was not a large man physically, but he cast a huge shadow personally and professionally. During his daily presence at Thermcraft, Tom mentored, counseled and advised his employees, many of whom he considered his friends. He will be missed by everyone who knew him. Tom was preceded in death by his father, Morris L. Crafton and his mother, Clara Martin Crafton. He is survived by his wife, Nancy Crafton, and his three daughters and their families, as well as one sister and her family. The family would like to express their gratitude for the compassionate care given by Dr. Powell and the nurses on 6CC at Wake Forest Baptist Health. A celebration of life will be held at a later date TBD. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina at 3655 Reed St. Winston-Salem, NC 27107.”
SECO/WARWICK recently landed an order for a RLHE electric roller furnace for heat treating large bearing rings. The line, based on the RLHE-120.510.20-1000 roller furnace, is designed for heat treatment of large bearing rings with diameter from 980 to 1180 mm, which are used in the production of the world’s largest trucks, the dump trucks working in the mining industry. The whole supplied technological line consists of: a transport system with a set of manipulators, an electric roller furnace type RLHE-120.510.20-1000, a hardening press with matrix instrumentation and a control system with a master system for data visualization and archiving. The end customer, OAO BELAZ is a dump truck manufacturer located in Belarus.
Can-Eng Furnaces recently received an order from a major U.S. automotive parts supplier for the complete overhaul and refurbishment of a cast link-belt normalizing furnace. Designed and manufactured by Can-Eng in 1996, the equipment was originally rated at 27,000 pounds/hour of hot-charged, closed-die forgings. It was known to be one of the largest cast link-belt furnaces in the world at the time of its manufacture. The refurbishment project will take place in Can-Eng’s Niagara Falls, Canada plant and will consist of a complete refractory reline, new combustion system, new control panel and a Level II automation system. The furnace shell, hearth and return rolls will be refurbished to near-new condition. The furnace line will go back into operation in the first quarter of 2021 and will be used for normalizing alloyed automotive forgings.
So how are we doing these days? According to MTI (Metal Treating Institute, the largest commercial heat treat organization in North America) things were not good in March 2020 as compared to March 2019 which is no surprise to anybody. Most areas of North America saw double digit sales drops with only one exception, the US North East eked out a small increase. April sales figures will tell the real story. Where are they now-Olivier Chevre. For a number of years Olivier was Sales Manager for Swiss furnace builder Codere but we see he had made a move to what appears to be a company totally out of the heat treatment field. We have this photo of Olivier from the recent heat treat show in Moscow, Russia last fall. Codere is known around the world in the heat treatment field and their banner ad can be found on this page.
In upcoming news we have two very interesting items on the agenda for this week. The first is our list of the 30 Largest North American Commercial Heat Treaters based on 2019 sales. This year we see that 1 Mexican company and 2 Canadian companies are on the list. The second very interesting news item has to do with Nitrex. Tuesday the company is having a webinar about changes, we are not entirely sure what they are but we will have all the details for you later this week.