We owe our readers a bit of an apology on this-we had promised a completed list by Friday September 13th however that is not going to happen. What we do promise is that the list will be completed and posted next week. You have our apologies, sometimes things do not go as planned.

From vacuum furnace builder BMI in France we have this press release about two vacuum brazing furnaces the company recently installed at Liebherr Aerospace in Toulouse, France; 

“Two new BMI vacuum furnaces have been added to the brazing workshop of LIEBHERR-AEROSPACE TOULOUSE (France). They are big size furnaces with a useful volume of 1000*h1000*2500mm for the vacuum brazing of stainless steel exchangers (furnace B56T250) and aluminum exchangers (furnace BA56-250). The LIEBHERR exchangers are part of their innovative on-board systems for the air-conditioning of the cabin. These two vacuum furnaces are state-of-the-art in the technology of vacuum brazing of aerospace components. BMI’s extensive knowledge in temperature regulation under secondary vacuum, as well as BMI’s ability to adapt its products to customer’s process requirements have led to the success of this business in terms of quality and performance.”

German furnace builder ALD of Hanau started offering their SyncroTherm thermal processing system a few years back and this press release tells us how the company has shipped their first system to China. The SyncroTherm system offers some advantages over other furnace systems but the very high cost is certainly a detriment to a lot of potential customers. We are unsure of how many systems the company has in  the worldwide market place but we can say that our understanding is that the company has 5 such systems installed in North America, two at Milwaukee Electric Tool in Mississippi, USA (which were installed in 2013) and 3 at an aerospace components supplier with 2 locations in the US.

“The vacuum heat treatment system SyncroTherm creates completely new perspectives for an effective and more economical hardening of high-quality components. This new and unique technology improves productivity meanwhile simultaneously reducing negative effects such as distortion of the treated components and a high degree of environmental compatibility. With the delivery of the first SyncroTherm to a well-known institute in the Beijing area, ALD has been able to create an important reference and provide impulses for technological developments. The carburization of components made of micro-alloyed steels is carried out at high temperatures above 1,000°C without unwanted grain growth. In addition, single-layer charging permits individually controlled and component-adapted high pressure gas quenching for a wide variety of component geometries. With the SyncroTherm, our customer will be testing novel steels for high-temperature vacuum carburization, which in the long term can make a significant contribution to cost-effectiveness and environmental protection. Our delegation of customer was convinced of the quality of the system after the preliminary acceptance. It is now prepared for shipment to Beijing.”

We are rather proud of the fact that no other company in the world has interviewed more people in the heat treatment industry than “The Monty” https://themonty.com/interviews/ Over the past few months we have interviewed Mr. Brian Reid of Park Thermal, the new President & CEO of SECO/WARWICK, Mr.  Mr. Slawomir Wozniak, the President & CEO of ECM, Mr. Laurent Pelissier and currently we have an interview on the home page of our website with Mr. Steve Thompson and Mr. Jim Oakes of controls company  SSi https://themonty.com/ So who are we looking forward to interviewing in the near future? October 1 we will be speaking with Mr. Thomas Dopler CEO of furnace builder Aichelin GesmbH, Moedling, Austria, November 1 we meet up with Mr. Andreas Fritz of cleaning equipment supplier EMO Oberflächentechnik GmbH and December 1 we have a long awaited interview with Mr. Stephen Harris, CEO of commercial heat treating giant Bodycote. This photo shows Mr. Thomas Dopler of Aichelin who is next up.

“SSi Mexico conducted a one-day technical in Monterrey, Mexico on 29 August 2019.  The session was attended by fifty-one heat treatment professionals from the states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas.  The attendees represented commercial and captive heat treatment operators and managers.  The topics included Principles of Heat Treating, Quality & Metrology in Thermal Treatment, Endothermic Atmospheres, Flow Meter Technology, Atmosphere Controllers & Troubleshooting, SCADA, Sensor & Analyzer Theory & Technology and Thermocouples & Pyrometry.  The technical presentations were conducted by SSi Mexico’s quality lab technicians, sales engineers and Super Systems Inc.’s Manager Mexican Operations Steve Duban and Director International Operations Damian Bratcher. The conference included hands-on breakout sessions demonstrating Super Systems Inc’s products and solutions.  The breakout sessions provided a detailed review of Super Systems Inc.’s process controls, analytical devices and SCADA software solutions. The event concluded with a scenic boat cruise along the Santa Lucia River Walk, tapas, cerveza and Blanton’s bourbon. SSi Mexico’s next technical seminar is 24 October 2019 in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico.”

We welcome our most recent advertiser, furnace manufacturing firm Uttis whose ad can be found on the right hand side of this page. Based in Romania, Uttis offers a wide variety of heat treatment furnaces in addition to their commercial heat treating division. We rummaged through our file photos and came up with these two pictures. One shows a recent installation the company did at a Daimler facility in Romania, the second shows part of the Uttis team at HK 2018 in Cologne, Germany last October. In the center of the photo you see Petruța Drugă, Managing Director of the company.

We regret to mention the passing of Mike Moxie who we met through his company Advantage Thermal Services of Indiana many years ago. Advantage Thermal lives on as a prosperous, well run commercial heat treater; “Michael John Moxie passed away on Aug. 30, 2019, after an extended illness. He was born in Canton, Ohio, to John and Helen Moxie on Feb. 6, 1951. Mike grew up around the corner from Meyers Lake Amusement Park where he spent many happy days fishing, playing and working at the Park. He graduated from Canton Lehman High School in 1969 and The University of Akron in 1973, where he was a proud member of Theta Chi Fraternity. Mike went on to have a very successful career working in Commercial Heat Treating, when in 2006 he purchased and owned Advantage Thermal Services in Kendallville, Ind. Mike was extremely proud of his accomplishments of having completed three marathon races. Mike is survived by his wife, Denise (Tinlin) Moxie; sons, Michael (Morgan) Moxie, Evan (Jessica) Moxie and Matthew Moxie; grandchildren, Matthew Moxie, Jr., Avery and Adalyn Moxie, Brayden Moxie and a new baby boy Moxie due in December. Mike is also survived by sisters, Lenora (Dick) Krueger, and Olivia (Steve) Heppe. Also numerous nieces and nephews.”

Earlier this year we posted a press release from Bodycote, the world’s largest commercial heat treater about a brand new facility the company was building in Elgin, Illinois, USA (the original press release from January of this year is below).  We understand the new facility is progressing and that orders for new equipment have been placed. This plant will eventually replace the Bodycote location in Melrose Park, Illinois which is just 25 miles away. Melrose Park was originally a Lindberg plant (commercial heat treater Lindberg was of course acquired by Bodycote quite a few years back). The Melrose Park plant is probably the largest Bodycote facility in North America if not in the world in terms of sheer size but large parts of it are unused and certainly underutilized. It would appear that Bodycote very much to their credit is investing a great deal of money in a new location, new equipment and new technologies. One of the photos below shows Melrose Park as we saw it a few years back.

“Bodycote, U.K., the world’s largest provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services, announces plans to open a new heat treating facility by late 2019 in Elgin, Illinois. The plant will support the automotive, agricultural, mining, construction, and various other manufacturing supply chains in the Upper Midwest region.  The new facility will include advanced heat treating technologies such as low-pressure carburizing and carbonitriding, vacuum nitriding and ferritic nitrocarburizing, Bodycote’s proprietary Corr-I-Dur process, and traditional carburizing of large parts.  According to Dan McCurdy (editors note; Dan McCurdy recently retired) President Automotive & General Industrial, North America & Asia division, “This investment demonstrates Bodycote’s commitment to serving the Midwest with the services our customers ask for and require.”

Where Are They Now-Don Longenette. Because of his years in the heat treating industry working with companies such as Timken Bearings, Bodycote and Thermal Holdings Don’s is a name which many in the industry recognize immediately. Don recently made a change and as of 1 week ago he is Facilities and Maintenance Director at Union Metals in Canton, Ohio. We have no doubt but that he will do a good job. Last week we ran across the name Tracy Glende, which is a name from the past. If you recall Tracy was the President of the Bodycote ADE (Aerospace, Defense & Energy) division in North America for several years ending in 2009. Tracy is now Chief Executive Officer at Valence Surface Technologies if you are curious. Nickel Pricing has reached it’s highest level in 5 years meaning that all alloy component prices are slowly edging up.

From McLaughlin Furnace Group we have this press release; “McLaughlin Furnace Group is proud to announce the purchase of the property housing Vesco-McLaughlin. Vesco is a heat treat service and vacuum pump repair company that has been in operation for over 30 years, servicing primarily vacuum heat treat equipment. Since the addition of Vesco to the McLaughlin Furnace Group team, McLaughlin now houses the capability to service both atmosphere and vacuum heat treat equipment. The recent expansion of both the Indiana and Connecticut facilities has certainly set McLaughlin Furnace Group apart from the competition.”

It would appear that the upcoming heat treat exhibition, Heat Treat 19 being held October 15^th-17^th in Detroit, Michigan, USA is going to be a success. As of last week there were 5-count em-5 booths left which will probably mean that this ends up being a sold out event. This is the largest exhibition of its kind in North America in 2019 and our opinion is that if you have an interest in the heat treat industry don’t miss this. Bluewater Thermal is one of the largest commercial heat treaters in North America, if you don’t believe us check out our list of the Largest North American Commercial Heat Treaters https://themonty.com/largest-commercial-heat-treats/ We mention the company today because our understanding is that the company is looking for a buyer for their operation in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. This plant features batch IQ, mesh belt and aluminum processing. Furnace manufacturer Gasbarre (whose ad can be found on this page) sent us this press release; “Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems recently manufactured and commissioned a High Temperature Box Furnace Line for an aerospace company in the Midwestern United States.  The system is custom designed to meet the customer’s strict process requirements, manufacturing methods, and eliminates the need for a quench pit.  The equipment will process 36″ wide by 48″ long by 24″ high workloads, weighing up to 2,000 lbs, and will be used for solution treating of high alloy forgings.  The single zone electrically heated furnace is designed with multiple trim zones to meet AMS 2750 temperature uniformity requirements across a wide temperature range and allows for fast furnace recovery times. “

To round things out for today we have this photo from gear manufacturer/captive heat treater Overton Gear in Addison, Illinois, USA. What you are looking at are several of their parts fixtured prior to going into a Lindberg pit carburizing furnace with working dimensions of 7’ diameter X 15’ deep. Overton maintains a very impressive in house heat treat department which includes possibly the largest Gleason press quench units ever built which have the ability to process parts up to 84” in diameter.