Next week “The Monty” was to have visited Portugal for pleasure mixed with a little bit of business-the corona virus has put a stop to that. In lieu of a visit we will give you this summary of the heat treating market along with some pictures from one of the largest heat treaters in the country, “TTO”.
We are sure it will surprise no one that the heat treating market in Portugal is a small one with the vast bulk of the heat treating market revolving around the manufacturing of molds for the plastic industry. Apparently (and this was news to us) Portugal for hundreds of years was a hotbed of glass making which required molds, over the years this translated into the manufacturing of molds for the plastic industry. To give you an idea this relatively small country has over 500 manufacturers of tools and molds which are subsequently shipped all over the world. Now as we all know tooling and mold making requires some pretty high end heat treating which means that for a relatively small market there are quite a few very advanced vacuum hardening and vacuum nitriding furnaces.
In Portugal the largest captive/commercial heat treater is a company by the name of Ramada who has been in business for more than 75 years both as a heat treater and a distributor of steel for Uddeholm. The company has 13 vacuum hardening and vacuum nitriding furnaces all from French furnace builder BMI along with 8 sealed quench furnaces with oil quenching https://www.ramada.pt/pt/
A second major heat treater is ThyssenKrupp which probably needs no introduction. Their steel centre is complimented by their heat treating department which consists of a number of older Ipsen vacuum furnaces from the 1980’s along with some newer plasma nitriders. While they have been around for quite some time they are probably half the size of their main competitor Ramada.
The newest and most aggressive heat treater in the country is a company by the name of TTO http://tratamentostermicos.
Well we haven’t seen this since the last great disaster, the Great Recession back in 2009. We had hoped to never see a letter like this again as it tells us about the turbulent times we are living in. However like 2009 this too will pass.
“Dear Valued Supplier,
We are in a time of unprecedented change and volatility. The risk of COVID 19, the market crash, and the impact on the price of oil, have made our market conditions nearly impossible to operate in. XXXX Heat Treating, like many other companies, is unable to meet break even rate in these current conditions. Our customers have reached out for assistance to minimize their losses. We are now asking for your support as well in these challenging times. Effective immediately, XXXX Heat Treating is requesting a minimum 15% discount on all services/items purchased from you. This is a temporary request during these extraordinary times. Our goal is to partner with our key suppliers during this time to work towards stabilizing all business operations. We all want to survive to a point of market stability. It is our belief that this is a fair and reasonable approach that gives XXXX Heat Treating and our customers a fighting chance to remain financially viable as we work through these unprecedented challenges. Please respond back with your response/proposal by end of day, March 24th, 2020.
Thank you in advance for your support and understanding. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me directly. I want to thank you for your support and cooperation in this challenging time. Please stay safe.”
VCST is a division of the BMT Group of Belgium, a company which supplies gear drives around the world. Out interest with the company today is in their Leon, Mexico facility which we visited just over a week ago. This is a gear company, a gear company which supplies the automotive, rail and industrial markets and who heat treat their products in house. It should come as no surprise to anybody that company chose the most common and versatile style of furnace in the world to do their heat treating-standard batch IQ furnaces. Designed and built by Wixom, Michigan, USA based AFC-Holcroft the firm has 5 batch IQ furnaces with working dimensions of 36″X 48″ X 36″ all gas fired with endothermic atmospheres. In the past the company has had some requirements for press quenching however as we observed they have never actually brought this in house. What we saw was a clean, well run company overall with a quite impressive heat treating department. These photos will give you a better feel for VCST.
Javier Infante, Furnace Operator, Juan Gutierrez, Maintenance Manager
Juan Gutierrez, Maintenance Manager, VCST, Salvador Murillo, Operations Manager, SSi
A news item we had recently spoke about an auction featuring some surplus heat treatment furnaces being held at a company by the name of “Emitec”, in South Carolina, USA. The auction was to be held Wednesday March 18th (yesterday) but it like many things has been sideswiped by the corona virus. Guess at least for the immediate future live auctions are a thing of the past.
“As part of our Monday Morning Briefing we had a mention about an auction at a company by the name of “Emitec” in South Carolina which featured an Elino mesh belt furnace and a Rohde chamber furnace (if you have an interest in these items scroll down to February 17th on this page). We’ve learned a bit more about the history of this plant since then and it can be found below. Interestingly enough while the original name of the company was Emitec, more recently it was known as Continental. While this was a fairly small facility it had a reasonably large heat treat as it also included 3 vacuum furnaces which are now on their way back to the parent company in Germany.”
“Continental Automotive is closing its Fountain Inn facility, citing an inability to compete due to increased pressure related to international tariffs levied at the federal level. The Nelson Drive facility, which employs 40 people, is set to close in December. All 40 are expected to be left without jobs with Continental. As part of a release, company leaders stated that the “consolidation of manufacturing operations to other international locations will improve their manufacturing performance, maximize utilization of equipment and resources while still being able to support the U.S. market with cost-competitive products.” Jonathan Coleman, executive director of the Laurens County Development Commission, said wheels are already in motion to help displaced workers at Continental find new positions. “We have meetings set up with them over the next two weeks,” Coleman said. “We’re going to work to get those 40 people placed in other opportunities as quickly as possible.” Continental Automotive arrived in Laurens County as Emitec in 1996. It supplies the metal substrate market for exhaust gas catalysts and metallic diesel particulate filters for vehicles and mobile machinery. In September of 2014, then Emitec made a $3 million investment in the Laurens County facility and added 20 jobs.”
Rather an interesting story. This item tells us about a Chinese company by the name of Fulcrum installing the largest single chamber vacuum carburizing furnace in Brazil, a furnace with a capacity of 4,000 kg (roughly 9,000 pounds). Its interesting that the individual who sold the furnace is Mr. Thomas Kreuzaler, a German who we have met many times at heat treat events in Germany who moved to Brazil a few years ago. Read on;
“Tecnotêmpera, a major service heat treater in the southeast of Brazil, acquired a heat treatment line for the heat treatment of tools, large dies and functional parts. The vacuum furnace in this line has the largest payload in Brazil, a gross load of 4000 kg. Its dimensions of 1000 x 1000 x 1500 mm (39’’x 59” x 39”) make it one of the largest furnaces in South America.
However, it is the largest single-chamber low-pressure carburising vacuum furnace in South America. The complete semi-automatic line, which consist of a vacuum furnace, an annealing furnace, a tempering furnace, manually operated forklifts and a supervisory software, will start operation in the second half of 2020. Fulcrum, a Chinese furnace manufacturer and one of the leading technological companies in heat treatment equipment in Asia, supplies the equipment. Tecpropro is the South American representative of Fulcrum.
About Tecnotêmpera; Tecnotêmpera was founded 20 years ago in Guaramirim, state of Santa Catarina, and offers heat treatment service in salt, atmosphere, induction and vacuum plus controlled gas nitriding. Tecnotêmpera serves customers all over Brazil with own logistics. The company has been growing for years in turnover and process offer, running a non-interrupted 365 days/24 hours-heat treatment plant. Managing owners Luciane Bachel and Vitor Luiz Possenti stand with their names for quality, reliability and responsibility in heat treatment.
About Tecpropro; Brazilian company with German management, offers management Consulting and is representing manufacturers of advanced equipment and components. Founded in 2015 in São Paulo, Brazil, its managing owner Thomas Detlef Kreuzaler, who started working 2009 in Brazil for Bodycote, lives and works in São Paulo/Brazil since 2014.
About FULCRUM; Fulcrum Heating System (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (FHSS) was established in year 2013 in Shanghai. Yi Chen, managing owner, former manager at Ipsen, founded the company to produce technologically advanced and reliable heat treatment equipment with expert systems for LPC and gas nitriding
Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems recently received three separate orders for batch steam treating equipment. The batch steam treaters produce an oxide layer that promotes corrosion and wear resistance properties and provides an attractive surface finish. The three unique orders range in size from 18” to 30” in diameter and 12” to 48” deep. The gross load weight capacity ranges from 300lbs to 1800lbs with Gasbarre supplying the production tooling. The equipment is electrically heated and has a maximum operating temperature rating of 1400℉. Steam treating processes are used in many different industries. As such, these orders will be shipped to companies that provide products to the medical, additive manufacturing, automotive and consumer products industries.
With locations in Plymouth, MI, Cranston, RI and St. Mary’s PA Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems has been designing, manufacturing, and servicing a full line of industrial thermal processing equipment for nearly 50 years. Gasbarre’s product offering includes both batch and continuous heat processing equipment and specializes in Temper, Tip Up, Mesh Belt, Box, Car Bottom, Pit, and Vacuum Furnaces as well as a full line of replacement parts and auxiliary equipment which consists of atmosphere generators, quench tanks, and charge cars. Gasbarre’s equipment is designed for your process by experienced engineers and metallurgists that understand your requirements.
For more information on how Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems can manufacture custom-engineered heat treating equipment solutions for your specific thermal heating requirements, contact Bill Gasbarre at (814) 590-6282 or via email at [email protected]. You can also visit our website at www.gasbarre.com and find us on LinkedIn (Gasbarre Products Inc.), Twitter (@gasproinc), and Facebook (Gasbarre Products Inc.).
Yesterday as part of our Monday Morning Briefing we include a photo showing Gord Montgomery of “The Monty” along with one other individual with the promise that we would tell you the story behind the picture. Founded in 1979, Especialidades Termicas, S.A (ETSA Group) is one of the two largest commercial heat treaters in the country with 6 locations, Guadalajara, Celaya, Aguascalientes, San Juan del Rio and Mexico City. The company has 350 employees, annual sales close to $20 million USD and a partnership with HEF-France (the salt nitriding people). We’ll give you some more background including the business mix which is 85% automotive/oil components and 15% vacuum tooling. In actual number of furnaces we can say that the company has 6 vacuum furnaces, 4 nitrocarburizing, 20 batch IQ’s, 3 mesh belt lines, 2 large pit carburizers, 4 bell type for annealing and 1 austemper line.
Like so many commercial heat treaters around the world this is a family owned business and the current CEO is Mr. Mario Fabian Mendez son of the founder of the company. Again like many commercials it offers a number of processes but the one which makes it most unique is the fact that a third of their business is continuous heat treating through their mesh belt furnaces. For reasons unknown to us there is little commercially available continuous furnaces in Mexico and ETSA has capitalized on this over the years. Another rather unique feature of the company is that they have an entire division dedicated to rebuilding and installing furnaces.
Commercial heat treaters around the world differ little beyond the processes they offer and ETSA is a good example of a large well run commercial operation with a long track record and a great deal of experience.
Mario Fabian Mendez, Batch IQ Department
ETSA Celaya Plant-Continuous Department
Salvador Murillo, SSi, Mario Fabian Mendez & Enrique Constantino, ETSA
Pit Carburizing Department
ETSA Vacuum Department
ETSA Celaya Facility
Two of the most popular articles we have run over the years are about salaries in the Commercial heat treating industry and also in the furnace manufacturing business. Both were provided by recruiting company International Search Partners in California, USA. At the request of several of our readers we are re posting these in our “Articles” section.
Poclain Hydraulics Inc., Wisconsin, USA exiting vacuum carburizing. Out in Wisconsin, USA Poclain Hydraulics a manufacturer of hydrostatic transmissions has decided that they will no longer be carburizing at this location and consequently their ECM vacuum carburizing system has become surplus to their needs and is available for sale. The 3 cell system was installed 20 years ago and is still in operation.
Looks like somebody is in a whole lot of trouble: “General Motors is recalling 2020 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups to fix a defect in the trucks break system. Certain Silverado and Sierra pickups were produced with brake-caliper bolts that were not heat-treated. Without heat-treating, the bolts are weaker than they should be, and there is a risk that they could fail, which would affect the trucks’ braking performance, possibly leading to a crash.” In Mexico Carlos Angeles Michel was just appointed Plant General Manager of the Bodycote San Luis Potosi facility. Carlos is a long time Bodycote employee and previous to this he was Engineering and Maintenance Manager.
We’re getting tired of talking about Corona Virus and it’s effects on the heat treat industry but we will mention 2 Heat Treatment shows which have been sideswiped by the virus; “The European Conference on Heat Treatment (ECHT) 2020, which was due to be held at Flanders Meeting & Convention Center, Antwerp, Belgium, from March 25–27, 2020, has been postponed.” And in China; “The 13th International Exhibition for Powder Metallurgy, Cemented Carbides and Advanced Ceramics (PM China 2020), organised by Uniris Exhibition Shanghai Co., Ltd, has been moved to August 12–14, 2020, following the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.”
With all the bad news out there-how about a little good news? Nickel Pricing continues to drop which means your base trays, baskets, grids, radiant tubes and everything else made out of alloy will continue to drop in price. Mind you this is not immediate as price changes can take a little while to work their way though the system, however the long term trend is good.
At the recent Mexico Heat Treat 2020 event we met up with Mr. Carlos Carrasco, a long time rep in the country. As it turns out his rep firm is now into their third generation and he tells us about the history; “As per our conversation please find attached the pictures of the three Carrasco’s generation in furnace business; starting in 1965 with Jorge Carrasco (now retired) who started working for a local company with a sublicensee of Sunbeam Equipment Corp. now SECO-Warwick, the actual licensee was coming from Can-Eng. Followed by Carlos Carrasco, starting in 1984, actually “Carrasco Hornos” is a sales representative of several companies such as Ajax Electric, Dubois Chemical, EFD Induction, Intek, Lucifer Furnaces, Selas Heat Technology, Seco-Warwick, Seco-Vacuum. At the present time Sebastian Carrasco, the youngest of the line will be soon be graduated as a Mechanical, Electrical Engineer in order to continue the “Carrasco Story in Furnace Business” now extended to 55 years of experience. Ing. Carlos Carrasco, [email protected] www.furnacexpert.com”
One of the pictures below deserves a mention-the one with the Carrasco team standing in front of a vacuum furnace with a “VAS” logo on the front. The furnace was originally built by an Italian company, TAV for a European customer. It was later acquired by Vacuum & Atmosphere Services in the UK who rebuilt it and listed it for sale on “The Monty”. Subsequently it was purchased by captive/commercial heat treater Bohler Uddeholm for their facility in Puebla, Mexico which is where this photo was taken.
To round things out for today we have this photo for you. The very dapper fellow on the right is President of one of the largest commercial heat treats in North America-a heat treater with 350 employees if you can believe it. Later this week we are going to introduce you to him and his company.
To the best of our knowledge International Search Partners (ISP) is the only recruiting company in the world which specializes in the heat treating industry. We have worked with the firm a number of times over the years and have never regretted it-as a matter of fact ISP has provided us with some very interesting articles about salaries in the North American heat treating industry, articles which we will repost this week. In this article Josh Hale talks about interview practices.
Interview Best Practices for Employers. It’s easy to forget that interviews can be just as stressful and nerve racking for employers as they can be for candidates. That’s why we’ve complied some tips, tricks and best practices gleaned from over 20 years of recruiting experience to help the interview-ER complete a successful interview.
Pre-Interview. Before the interview, it’s good to remind yourself of the qualifications and skills (both hard and soft) that you’re looking for in a candidate. It’s best to do this prior to every interview to ensure you are conducting interviews in a uniform manner.
Also, preparing sample interview questions beforehand can help avoid fumbling, “winging it” or coming across ill-prepared. While it’s important to verify information provided on a resume or profile, it’s asking more probing questions that shed light beyond what’s presented on paper that will serve you best.
Try and avoid cliché questions like “what is your biggest strength weakness?” Instead, focus on STAR questions: Situation, Task, Action, Result.
- Situation – have the candidate provide a situation where a key behavior or competency was used.
- Task – here the interviewee needs to articulate the specific task they had to achieve within the stated situation.
- Action – the candidate then must clearly convey the actions they took in the face of the situation and task at hand.
- Result – finally, the individual needs to define the results or outcomes triggered by their actions within the broader context they previously outlined.
During Interview. Remember, you want this interview to go well! Ideally, this candidate is the person that is going to help solve some problem you have in your organization, whether it’s filling an open role or helping with an expansion. As you begin the interview, offer a brief friendly introduction. Let the candidate know what your goal is in the interview, give an indication of the proposed length of the interview, and let them know that you are there to answer any of their questions.
It’s typically a good idea to ask follow-up questions too. Don’t be afraid to probe and get the information you need to make an educated decision, but also make sure to be aware of any interview questions that might be prohibited by state or local regulations in your area.
Remember to be careful not to let your first initial impression (good or bad) cloud the interview. Do you best to ask consistent questions to get as much information as possible. Beware of the “devils-horns effect” where one negative point shuts you off to the candidate for the rest of the interview. Similarly, beware of the “halo effect” when a candidate’s strong point (such as a high-profile position or prestigious school) rose colors your experience.
It can be important to listen to your gut, but that’s just one data point. Don’t rely on this 100%.
Finally, end the experience on a positive, upbeat note. Allow some time at the end for the candidate to bring up any questions he or she might have. You can learn a lot by the questions they ask, and it also offers an opportunity for you to sell your company. Thank the candidate for their time and let them know you’ll be in touch regarding a decision or next steps.
Post-Interview. If you’re working with a recruiter, give them a call after your interview for an initial “brain dump and debrief.” It’s best to do this immediately after and to be candid and open with your comments and thoughts. If you’re not working with a search firm, find someone internally to discuss with. This is the best way crystalize your thoughts and decide how to proceed.
After an initial debrief, revisit your notes in a day or so (but not longer) and decide how to proceed. If the candidate is to move forward in the process, call them and schedule next steps. Or, if you’re working with a recruiter, coordinate how they are to handle moving forward. The recruiter should be able to give you some insight to the candidate’s thoughts as well.
If this is not a candidate you want to proceed with, let them know with a simple email. No need to espouse on their lack of credentials, but it’s a good practice, and just common courtesy, to close the loop and let them know that you won’t be pursuing their candidacy further. Again, if you’re working with a recruiter, you can filter this information through them, but in this case be sure to give specific reasons why it wasn’t a match. The more detail you share, the better equipped your recruiter will be to find you the right match on the next one.
For over 20 years, ISP has been the premier recruiting solution for the Heat Treat industry. If you’re hiring now, or exploring new opportunities for yourself, we are uniquely positioned to be your partner for success and would love to work with you! Please contact us at [email protected] or 619-465-9621.
