A manufacturer in the US approached us today with what will soon be a surplus vacuum carburizing system. To be exact it is an older 3 cell ECM system which one of these days will not longer be needed due to a change in direction when it comes to their heat treating requirements. Looking at these photos of the installed furnace system our first thought was that this is one reason why vacuum technology can be very attractive to a manufacturer with heat treating requirements-no heat, no smoke, no flames. As can so plainly be seen in these pictures the heat treat department is located right smack in the middle of the plant and surrounded by machining centers, assembly operations and even warehousing. Quite frankly we consider “real” heating treating to involve flames, puddles of quench oil and smoke however even we have to admit that this is not always a good thing.

“February 24, 2020 – To meet the challenges of the metal treating industry, Solar Atmospheres recently purchased and commissioned a Hitachi smart Scanning Electron Microscope. The FlexSEM1000 II will allow Solar to meet customer needs, such as strict requirements for low level contamination from carbon, oxygen, and/or nitrogen, post heat treating. Additionally, the SEM will enable Solar to fulfill materials characterization and microstructural determination requests beyond the basic metallography and hardness testing. This investment is a response to the changing needs of Solar’s customers, and is in keeping with the company’s mission of looking forward in the area of technical capabilities while demonstrating a willingness to accept a challenge.

“This addition is a game changer” states Solar’s VP of Technology, Don Jordan. “We have made significant investments in our technical capabilities over the years, and this was a natural addition to our core competencies.” The SEM unit includes an energy dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) option in order to characterize the elemental composition of the sample under investigation. “SEM technology has come a long way recently,” Jordan continues. “Today’s SEM technology means you don’t need to be a PhD to run the machine. The human interface is user-friendly, meaning quick and accurate metallurgical photos and spectroscopy can be achieved.”

Abbot Furnace Receives Order for Calcine Furnace Scheduled for Delivery Q2 2020; St. Mary’s, PA:  Abbott Furnace Company is proud to announce that a multinational corporation      that specializes in producing chemicals and precious metals and operating in more than 30 countries worldwide has placed an order with Abbott Furnace Company for an electrically heated continuous belt calcine furnace to be delivered in the 2^nd quarter of 2020. Abbott Furnace will design, manufacture and install the industrial furnace that is rated at 1,850° F and includes an 18” wide inconel belt, silicon carbide muffle and data acquisition system. About Abbott Furnace; 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.

​We have this press release from TAV, an Italian manufacturer of vacuum furnaces. Generally in North America you only run across them in the US South East where they are becoming better known; “TAV Vacuum Furnaces supplied a vacuum furnace with rapid cooling in inert gas at high pressure to a company in the aviation industry. The furnace, which has useful dimensions of 400 mm (15.7 inches) wide x 400 mm (15.7 inches) high x 600 mm (23.6 inches) long and a maximum operating temperature of 2282°F (1250°C), is suited for hardening and annealing. An inert-gas circulation system combines high flow, high pressure and multidirectional flow distribution to ensure rapid and uniform cooling of the charge. The AMS 2750E-compliant furnace includes a SCADA supervisory system.” Speaking of TAV we have this photo from Hauck Heat Treatment in Letchworth, UK showing their new TAV vacuum furnace. This particular one is capable of 1500kg and has working dimensions of 1000 X 1000 X 1200 deep.

In the USA Mark Roop is going to be a busy man for a while. Mark is the owner of Industrial Furnace Services in the Chicago area which for years has been doing furnace rebuilds and installs. Mark recently landed a real nice job rebuilding and installing a number of batch IQ furnaces at a captive heat treat operation in the US Midwest. Furnace builder Surface Combustion recently received an order for a cast link belt furnace line from a chain manufacturer. Its not often you ever run across a new cast link belt line these days as most heat treaters have switched over to mesh belts-the only real exception to this is when the weight of the parts is too much for a mesh belt.

From IBC Coatings in Lebanon, Indiana, USA we have a mention about some personnel changes which have occurred over the past few months. IBC does very high end coatings and heat treating which includes 12 bar quenching vacuum furnaces, Ion Nitriding and vacuum carburizing; “Lucas Emmert, 16 years in the industry including work-holding for CNC machining and agricultural equipment. Formerly the engineering manager of Stace-Allen Chucks in Indianapolis, IN. Started as production manager at IBC Coatings November 2019. Peter Harper, BS in Biomedical Engineering, formerly an engineer at IBC for 9 years. Worked alongside his father Steve Harper, metallurgical engineer. Promoted to operations manager at IBC Coatings December 2019.”

Stephen LaFrance was recently named President of Nelson Heat Treating in Waterbury, CT., USA. Nelson Heat Treating Company Inc., has been around for a very impressive 65 years offers a number of heat treating processes including vacuum heat treating and austempering. In April all of the equipment at Sakthi Automotive Group USA in Detroit, Michigan will be auctioned off. This was a manufacturer of automotive steering arms and knuckles which was built in 2015 for a cost of $75 million USD. Included in the auction are a number of Chang Jiang Heat Treat Furnaces. Chang Jiang is a new one on us, we have never run across them before.

Upcoming Stuff. Looking down the road we have a number of interesting things to tell you about. Next week (March 3-5 to be exact) is the ASM “Heat Treat Mexico” in Queretaro, Mexico (a banner ad about the event can be found on the right hand side of this page). “The Monty” will be visiting the show and also taking the opportunity to visit and profile several captive and commercial heat treaters in the area. March sees us visiting 1 or 2 heat treats in Portugal and later on this year we will be profiling captive and commercial heat treaters in the UK and Germany. When it comes to interviews we have a number coming up, Pat McKenna of Ipsen will be featured in March, followed by ALD in April, AFC-Holcroft in May-when we look at it pretty well every single month in 2020 will see us profiling a different company and individual. Keep in mind that most of our past interviews can be found at https://themonty.com/articles-interviews/  the most complete list of interviews in the entire hear treating industry by the way. Along the same lines back issues of our monthly newsletter “The Monty” can be accessed on the same page. While “The Monty” has been published since the 1990’s our archives only go back to the beginning of 2017.

And to round things out for today we have this photo from Germany which we took back in October of 2016. In it we see on the left Mr. Jorg Schmul, owner of Hagen Heat Treatment in Hagen, Germany along with Mr. Harald Roth of furnace builder KGO of Germany.

“Pleasant Prairie, WI – February 19, 2020 – ECM Technologies is pleased to announce the appointment of Bill Gornicki as Director of Sales at ECM USA, Inc. in Pleasant Prairie, WI. Previously of Diablo Furnaces, ALD Vacuum Systems and Ipsen, Bill joins the ECM USA team with 30 years of heat treat industry experience. Bill’s experience and focus in low pressure vacuum carburizing will further company equipment sales with project forecasting, development and management, and bring a dynamic twist in market analysis, technical papers and advertising for the USA and Canada markets. “We are very excited to have Bill join the ECM Group! His experience, knowledge and heat treat industry background will be a valuable asset to our team,” states Dennis Beauchesne, ECM USA General Manager.

Bill is an accomplished sales professional with extensive knowledge in the LPC market. Bill was previously on the Board of Directors with AGMA (American Gear Manufacturers Association), was a member of the Board of Directors for CHTE (Center for Heat Treat Excellence at Worcester Polytech) and is a member of ASM (Advanced Society of Materials).

ECM Technologies is an innovative low pressure vacuum furnace manufacturer with headquarters in Grenoble, France. With subsidiaries and ventures around the world, ECM’s global presence is well known in the automotive, aerospace, nuclear, energy, electronic, induction and 3D additive industries. With such a versatile product line, ECM’s products are ideal for heat treatment processes ranging from rapid thermal processing (RTP) with the JIPELEC™ JetFirst furnace to low pressure vacuum carburizing (LPC) with the ICBP® 1299 DUO (dual chamber vacuum furnace).

For more information, visit us online at www.ecm-usa.com or www.ecm-furnaces.com Bill can be reached at 262 914-6397 [email protected]

Furnace builder BMI currently has under construction 2 large vertical vacuum temper furnaces at their facility near Lyon, France.  The first is a model VSE86T with a weight capacity of 2,000Kg and with gas addition. The second a model V6TH200 (as seen in the foreground of this photo) has a weight capacity of 1500 Kg and features oil quenching. Both are destined for aerospace customers, one in France and one in China.

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 17^th 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.”

“Sellersville, PA, February 17, 2020 – Solar Manufacturing recently built and shipped two furnaces to Tennessee, for service to the Medical and Additive Manufacturing industries. The Models HFL-3848-EQ and HFL-3836-EQ both feature metallic-insulated hot zones, a load weight capacity up to 2,000 lbs., and a maximum operating temperature of 2400° F. Measuring 24” wide x 24” high x 48” deep, and 24” wide x 24” high x 36” deep respectively, each furnace was designed with the SolarVac Polaris® Control System.

“Solar Manufacturing was awarded the order because we offered the best solution for their vacuum furnace needs,” states Dan Insogna, Solar’s Southeast Regional Sales Manager. “Our knowledge and experience of the additive manufacturing market set us apart from the competition. Additionally, the customer found the premium features and benefits offered with our vacuum furnace equipment impressive. We’re pleased to have helped them select furnaces that best suit the unique requirements of the industries they serve.”

Solar Manufacturing designs and manufactures a wide variety of vacuum furnaces, with process capabilities including: heat treating, sintering, stress relieving, vacuum temper, annealing, solution annealing, and ageing. We also offer replacement hot zones, spare parts, and professional service.  To learn more about Solar Manufacturing contact Pete Reh, VP of Sales, at 267-384-5040 x1509, or via email [email protected] or visit us at www.solarmfg.com.”

“Retech, a SECO/WARWICK Group company, will lease about 49,000 sq. ft. (4,552 m2) of space at 683 Northland Ave. Mayor Byron W. Brown claimed in the official statement that RETECH’s facility will bring state-of-the-art, high tech products to the Buffalo and Western New York area, and into the Northland Corridor Redevelopment Project. Earl Good, Retech Systems President and Managing Director, said, “Retech Systems is pleased to be moving to Buffalo. This decision was made not only to provide flawless regional and global support to our customers, we also thought about the future. The engineering and technology schools in Western New York are important incubators to support the technologies that we are creating. While we are changing our location, but the quality of our products will not be changing.” Mr. Good predicts that RETECH’s relocation will potentially create about 80 new jobs over the next few years. Sławomir Woźniak, SECO/WARWICK’s CEO, added: “Among other reasons, we decided to relocate RETECH headquarters to Buffalo due to the close proximity of other SECO/WARWICK Group subsidiaries in nearby Meadville PA. This decision will allow closer cooperation and improved operation management. The new location will also be a nice place to host customers and suppliers.” Since 1963 RETECH has been the worldwide provider of cold hearth melting systems. The company’s leading solutions are being employed predominantly by the medical and aerospace industries. RETECH is considered to be the pioneer of advanced melting technologies such as electron beam and cold hearth furnaces, and their equipment is being used for processes such as melting, casting and refining of titanium, reactive titanium alloys, super alloys and rare earth metals. RETECH has been a part of the European company, SECO/WARWICK Group, since 2011.”