We told you that after a one week break that we would have a million heat treat stories to tell you, this is the first installment. We start off by adding a few more details about the truly upsetting story we had last week-that of the passing of Brad Luce of Modern Heat Treat in Dallas, Texas, USA at the very young age of 43. Brad was like many of us in the industry in that he became a heat treater because his father Jerry Luce was a heat treater. Jerry founded Metroplex Heat Treat in the DFW area of Texas which became one of the largest independants in Texas before being acquired by Bodycote a number of years ago. Brad followed in his father’s footsteps and founded Modern Heat Treat in Richland Hills, Texas back in 2009 along with partner Rudy Saucedo. The company has been a tremendous success and now has roughly 60 employees and over 40 pieces of equipment. While we didn’t know Brad as well as we would have liked we did have a great deal of respect for what he accomplished and the person he was and we along with all in the industry will miss him.

July 25, 2019 commercial heat treating giant Bodycote released their 2019 financial results for the first 6 month of this year. All the details can be found at https://www.bodycote.com/ and the highlights are below;

Highlights

• Civil aviation revenue growth of 21%5
• Specialist Technologies’ revenue growth of 4%5
• Emerging markets revenue growth of 3%5
• Western Europe car & light trucks’ revenues decline 16%5
• Resilient 18.3% return on sales performance· £38m invested to support growth of the business, including two acquisitions
• Interim dividend of 6.0p, up 5.3%

Solar Manufacturing Press Release; “Solar Manufacturing recently shipped a horizontal front-loading vacuum furnace to Georgia Southern University (GSU) in Statesboro, GA.  The furnace – the Mentor® – combines versatility and compact design to efficiently process smaller load sizes and is ideal for laboratory use.  GSU will be using the furnace primarily for vacuum thermal processing research and development of various iron-based alloys, including additive manufactured parts.  The Mentor® includes a graphite shielded hot zone and heating elements, with a work zone size of 12″ (0.3m) wide X 12″ (0.3m) high X 18″ (0.46m) deep, and a weight capacity of 250 pounds (114 kg).  Fully compliant to aerospace specification AMS2750E, the Mentor® can process in an argon or nitrogen atmosphere or in high vacuum in the 10^-6 Torr range with a 6” Varian diffusion pump.  The furnace incorporates the SolarVac® Essentials control system package with large graphic touchscreen overview.  Programming capabilities include gas quench rate control up to two bar pressure, and precise temperature uniformity up to 2400° F (1316° C). Dan Insogna, Solar Manufacturing’s  Southeast Sales Manager states, “We are pleased to provide a solution to GSU’s growing research and development efforts, and we know the Mentor® vacuum furnace will benefit the university with this research.”

Sean Driscol recently became COO of Thermal Vac Technologies out in Orange, California, USA, Thermal Vac is a commercial operation offering vacuum heat treating, brazing and a number of other process which was started by Sean’s father Steve Driscol. Recently we told you about Accurate Brazing in Greenville, SC, USA expanding but we didn’t put much emphasis on the fact that this included a HIP unit. This is worth repeating as this is the fourth commercial heat treater in North America who has added this high profit margin technology in the past year;  “Accurate Brazing, a full-service provider of specialized heat treating solutions, will add hot isostatic pressing to its thermal processing capabilities with the installation of a Hot Isostatic Press (HIP) from Quintus Technologies. The press, model QIH 122 M URC®, is equipped with Quintus’ proprietary uniform rapid cooling (URC), a feature that improves material properties of parts designed for mission-critical applications, increasingly produced in the vibrant additive manufacturing environment. “We chose Quintus equipment because of the advanced technology and the versatility of the design,” comments Steven Francis, President, Accurate Brazing, a subsidiary of Netherlands-based Aalberts N.V., a major player in the global heat and surface treatment business, with more than 150 locations in 50 countries. The new press will join the state-of-the-art equipment line-up already operating in Accurate Brazing’s newest facility, in Greenville S.C. The company’s AS9100 quality management system and Nadcap accreditation attest to its ability to meet the stringent needs of the aerospace and power generation industries.” Speaking of new equipment orders Can Eng Furnaces of Niagara Falls, Canada recently landed a nice order for a rotary furnace designed for processing aluminum parts. The order comes from an international supplier of auto components and will be installed at their facility in North Carolina, USA.

“Nakal”, Russia’s largest furnace manufacturer recently installed a nitriding and carburizing system at one of the largest producers of mining equipment, “Kopeysk Machine-building Plant” JSC in Kopeysk, Russia. The system includes a nitriding furnace with working dimensions of 1500 X 2000 mm, a carburizing and nitro carburizing furnace with working dimensions of 1800 X 2000 mm and a carburizing and nitro carburizing furnace with dimensions of 1400 X 1400 mm.

Advanced Heat Treat Corporation based in Iowa, USA and one of the largest commercials in North America has this to say about new hires; “Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT), a recognized leader in heat treat services and metallurgical solutions, announced today the addition of three new sales and metallurgy employees: Tim Zemaitis, Shane Seevell and Katie Herron. The new sales and metallurgy team members will serve the AHT locations in Michigan, Iowa and Alabama. Zemaitis, regional sales manager for AHT’s Michigan facility, joins the team with over 30 years of experience in heat treatment, metallurgy and engineering. Seevell, regional sales manager in the corporate office located in Iowa, brings over 15 years of sales experience plus past heat treat experience working at AHT; and Herron, materials engineer & quality specialist in Alabama, rounds out the growing AHT team. Herron is a recent materials engineering graduate from the University of Alabama – Birmingham.

AHT president Mikel Woods commented, “We are excited about the new team members we’ve brought onboard. They bring new diverse skillsets that blend great with our mission.” Zemaitis will focus on heat treat needs in the Great Lakes area. The Michigan AHT facility offers ion (plasma) and gas nitriding, ferritic nitrocarburizing, UltraOx®, stress relieve, s-phase nitriding and more. Seevell will cover sales in the Midwest. The Iowa AHT facilities also provide ion (plasma) and gas nitriding, ferritic nitrocarburizing and UltraOx®, in addition to induction hardening, carburizing and more.

Tim Zemaitis

Shane Seevell

Katie Herron

We are extremely upset to mention the passing of Bradley Luce, co-founder of Modern Heat Treat one of the largest heat treaters in Texas. We will provide more details about Brad and his company next week.

Bradley Ferrel Luce, age 43, of Crowley, Texas passed away on Monday July 22, 2019. Visitation will be on Friday, July 26 at Pathway Church in Burleson, Texas from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, July 27 at 10:00 am at Pathway Church in Burleson, Texas. Interment will be at Laurel Land Memorial Park in Fort Worth following the service. Bradley was born April 28, 1976, in Arlington, Texas. Bradley was a graduate of Arlington High School and received his college degree from Tarleton State University. He was an active member of Alpha Gamma Rho. After graduation he worked in the family business, Metroplex Heat Treat.

In 2009 Bradley, with his business partner, Rudy Saucedo, established Modern Heat Treat. Bradley was extremely generous and well respected by his co-workers. He was a strong advocate and supporter of the FFA. Bradley opened his ranch in Goldthwaite for family and friends to hunt and entertain. He loved spending time with his family. His children were his great pride and joy. At any gathering, you could find Bradley cooking. The food was good and there was always plenty. Time spent with Bradley at the family lake house will always be cherished. Bradley was a loyal friend who would do anything for anyone, expecting nothing but a smile in return. He took pleasure in helping others, it brought him great joy.  Bradley will be dearly missed by all.

He was preceded in death by his son, Trevor Wayne Luce. Bradley is survived by his wife, Jenifer; children, Travis, Tatum, Tyler, Tinsley; parents, Jerry and Judy; brother, Brian and Melissa; and numerous friends and extended family, including Rudy Saucedo and his family. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to:Texas FFA Foundation, 614 E. 12th Street, Austin, TX 78701www.mytexasffa.org

While we have a million things to tell you about the worldwide captive and commercial heat treating industry we apologize but they will have to wait until Monday July 29th. We at “The Monty” are going fishing for a week-to be exact spending some time on an Island in Northern Canada but that is a potential story for another day. Gord, Jordan and Dale Montgomery.

“Accurate Brazing, a full-service vacuum brazing and heat treating company and subsidiary of Aalberts N.V., today announced plans to expand its Greenville County operations. The $13 million expansion is expected to create at least eight additional jobs. “Greenville County is a great place for us to do business. It boasts good people, resources, a growing economy and easy access to transportation,” stated Aalberts material technology US division COO Richard Wright.

“County Council is pleased to congratulate Accurate Brazing on its new expansion in Greenville County,” said Greenville County Council Chairman and Board Member of the Greenville Area Development Corporation H.G. “Butch” Kirven. “As a market leader in high-quality vacuum brazing and heat treating of materials for the aircraft, ground turbine and power generation markets, Accurate Brazing is a very important member of our business community and we are proud of their growth and success.” The company has been located at the Garlington Road facility since 2001 and added another location on nearby Pelham Road in 2017. The project is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2020.”

The big news of the month which we announced yesterday was the sale of the HTC Group, which includes four companies – IVA Schmetz (Germany), Mahler (Germany), Fours Industriels B.M.I. (France) and IVA Schmetz Industrial Furnaces (Shanghai) (China) – to a Chinese company by the name of Qizhi GmbH and Shanghai Qizhi Information Technologies Co., Ltd. We alluded to this sale back in April of this year when we had the rumor below (obviously this acquisition took a lot longer than any party anticipated). Each of the Tennova companies involved in the sale are well known, top end suppliers of heat treating furnaces, mainly in Europe and Asia. Mahler is best known for continuous  furnaces, BMI for vacuum furnaces and IVA Schmetz for Sealed Quench furnaces and vacuum nitriders. This marks the first time as far as we can recollect that we have seen an Asian company buy a substantial “western” furnace builder. It will be interesting to see if anything changes in the company. For our North American readers we have to say that each of these brands are not well known in the USA, Canada or Mexico although each company has a few installations in North America. As an example we include this photo of a BMI furnace in Quebec which was recently installed.  

“April 2019 News Item; Betcha you have never heard of Shanghai Qizhi Information Technology Co., Ltd., based in Ningbo, China before-we certainly hadn’t. If you are curious about the company you can get all the details at http://www.qijing-m.com/En/INTRODUCTION.html which will tell you it is a large conglomerate which produces auto parts, power tools, washing machines, home appliances and a host of other items. What the website does not tell you is that supposedly in the near future the company will be able to add vacuum furnaces to their list of products. This by the way fits very neatly with what the company does as they already have a large heat treating operation featuring sealed quench furnaces. If our information is correct they have just reached an agreement to buy a European manufacturer of vacuum furnaces and we will be telling you all about it.”

Now this is quite an interesting news item, so much so that we will have some further comments tomorrow.

“Castellanza, July 17, 2019 – Tenova – a company of the Techint Group specialized in innovative solutions for the metals and mining industries – today has positively concluded the selling process of the HTC Group, which includes four companies – IVA Schmetz (Germany), Mahler (Germany), Fours Industriels B.M.I. (France) and IVA Schmetz Industrial Furnaces (Shanghai) (China) – specialized in advanced technologies for heat treatment processes for components.

The purchasers are Qizhi GmbH and Shanghai Qizhi Information Technologies Co., Ltd. (both members of Ningbo Qijing Holding Co., Ltd.). Ningbo Qijing is also the parent company of Qijing Machinery Co. Ltd., a company specialized in the research, development manufacturing and assembling of mechanic systems and precision parts mainly operating in the home electric appliance field and industrial application filed (in particular automotive, power tools and hydraulics).

“As an experienced company in supplying precision parts for different industries we recognize in the heat treatment one of the most critical process for precision machined parts. We believe that HTC group, with its expertise and product range, has the potentials to gain space and relevance in growing sectors, especially in the Chinese market”, affirmed Wang Yongqi, Chairman of Ningbo Qijing Holding.

In fact, the demand for heat treatment technologies is booming in the aerospace industry, whilst in two other business sectors like medical and metals powders this equipment will face a rapid expansion in the near future. “Qijing group represents a solid industrial partner, in search of an excellent European technological player to expand its business. While we as Tenova are focused more and more on the “green” technologies for large steel and aluminum plants, I am convinced that Qijing is the right purchaser to boost the development of the HTC companies, that will enhance them and develop their full potential in other sectors”, declared Andrea Lovato, Tenova CEO.

The successful outcome of the purchasing process was possible also thanks to Seta Capital and UniCredit, who have acted as financial advisors to Tenova in the context of the transaction.

About Tenova

Tenova, a Techint Group company, is a worldwide partner for innovative, reliable and sustainable solutions in metals and mining. Leveraging a workforce of over 2,500 forward-thinking professionals located in 19 countries across 5 continents, Tenova designs technologies and develops services that help companies reduce costs, save energy, limit environmental impact and improve working conditions. For more information, visit www.tenova.com”

The 22^nd SECO/WARWICK Seminar “Heat Treatment 4.0” in the climate of Industry 4.0

SECO/WARWICK, one of the world’s most widely recognized manufacturer of industrial furnaces, invites to the 22^nd Seminar “Heat Treatment 4.0”, which will take place on 10-12.09.2019 in the heart of the Karkonosze Mountains – picturesque Karpacz in the Gołębiewski hotel.

The SECO/WARWICK seminar is a certified training, with a high substantive level and an exchange of knowledge and experience platform valued among experts. Specialists from the world of science and business, engineers, practitioners, and experts from the Technical University of Lodz, Poznan, Rzeszów and Silesia will ensure the unique value of the event.

The most important trends in the field of heat treatment of metals

“SECO/WARWICK, being a leader in heat treatment, constantly sets new standards and trends. It will be shown and proved during this year’s Heat Treatment Seminar 4.0 as well. According to the refreshed formula, there will be four thematic blocks, corresponding to main groups of customers of heat treatment solutions. The most important trends from the field of heat treatment technology will be discussed, “says Katarzyna Sawka, Marketing Director of SECO/WARWICK Group.

Heat treatment 4.0 and 4 theme blocks

SECO/WARWICK, often referred to as an “innovator”, “champion”, “trendsetter” or “one of the top 5 providers of equipment and services for metal heat treatment”, this year will welcome the Seminar’s participants with a refreshed formula of the event. The seminar program, will cover 13 lectures, with selected content, is divided into four theme blocks, concerning trends, challenges and issues from the aviation industry, service and automation, mass production and commercial heat treatment.

2 days of lectures (11-12.09), with additional discussion panels, networking sessions and attractions, will be preceded by Ice Breaker, i.e. the first evening, opening the event (10.09), which is a great opportunity to establish informal business contacts. A more festive artistic setting can be expected during the Gala Dinner, topping the event. The program, including topics for lectures and information about speakers, is available online at: https://www.secowarwick.com/en/seminar-2019/

“Invention and reliability” as part of the Seminar

“Invention and reliability” is in every SECO/WARWICK’s product, solution, strategy, project. Coupled with passion and commitment it is the company’s distinguishing feature and gives a competitive advantage to its clients. Thanks to this approach, SECO/WARWICK is a leader on the market of heat treatment of metals, an innovator who, together with numerous research institutes, defines new award-winning solutions, offering equipment along with modern technology tailored to the needs, possibilities and requirements of individual clients and the industry. Efficient logistics, delivery, assembly and commissioning of equipment, service in every corner of the world, technical and technological trainings, an international team of experts and specialists all result from the need for continuous development. It is inscribed in DNA from the very beginning of the company existence and present at every moment and every thought.

With an innovative approach and mindset, SECO/WARWICK has developed a set of intelligent tools enhancing production processes through the use of augmented reality and predictive maintenance which are said to be the most immediate tech development that will affect our lives. These 4.0 solutions along with an “invention and reliability” approach,  will be discussed during the service and automation thematic panel and workshop, making it an important Industry 4.0 part of Seminar.

The number of tickets is limited

SECO/WARWICK conducts registration for the Seminar only until September 3, 2019. Ticket sales details and application form are available on the organizer’s website: https://www.secowarwick.com/en/seminar-2019/

 See also:

• Photo gallery from last year’s edition https://www.secowarwick.com/en/news-events-and-information/seminar-2018/galeria/
• A short video report from the previous edition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sfQ1hvOOIE

On July 11 th , Solar Atmospheres hosted 28 high school students enrolled in the Summer Engineering Institute (SEI) at Lehigh University. The group also included a few members of Lehigh University undergraduate students and staff. The SEI program, under the guidance of Director Dr. Laura Moyer, is a two-week residential program, running two sessions back to back. Students are nominated by faculty of local
high schools, and the program specifically targets under-represented groups including girls, first-generation students, and students who might otherwise have limited opportunities to study in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Solar Atmospheres provided a tour of the campus, exhibiting materials and processes for intriguing applications in a variety of markets. The students  experienced a manufacturing setting encompassing related topics from their curriculum, gaining a better understanding of heat treating and manufacturing, and how cutting edge technology reshapes centuries-old processes. "Solar Atmospheres was a great company and its wide range of clientele was purely astounding,” remarked student, Cole. “From aerospace companies to software and medical supplies  companies, Solar Atmosphere shows just how important heat treatment is to the world we live in."

Another student, Elizabeth, was surprised to learn how great an impact manufacturing has on our lives. "This field trip opened my eyes to the complexity of the products we use daily. By touring the facility, my horizons were broadened and I was able to physically understand what manufacturers do daily." The next group of SEI students is scheduled to visit Solar later this month. For additional process information, contact Mike Moyer, Director of Sales, Solar Atmospheres, at 215- 721-1502 x1207, or [email protected], and visit www.solaratm.com.

Until recently we would have told you that there was no market for used endothermic generators-period. However recent events have lead us to qualify that statement and this is what we would now say; “old style box type endo generators don’t sell well, new style multi retort generators do sell if the price is right”. We believe it was Surface Combustion who originally came out with the idea of the modular system whereby each retort could be run independently of the others allowing for easy maintenance and also the ability to reduce endo production depending upon demand. Whoever came up with the idea it was a damn good one and now virtually all new generators feature a multi retort design. Circling back to where we started, the idea was so good that it means everybody wants the multi retort design and few people want the old style units which is reflected in the sale price of each on the used market. In these photos we see both a used multi bottle generator and a 4 retort but single style endo generator. Guess which one is the more saleable one-correct the multi bottle will sell for approximately twice the price of the “box” style.

This photo was taken at the BMI facility near Lyons, France very recently (BMI is a large manufacturer of vacuum furnaces). What you see is the shell of a vacuum brazing furnace which is going to an aerospace customer in China. The furnace has working dimensions of 2500 mm X 2500 X 1300 (roughly 100″ X 100″ X 51″) and a weight capacity of 5 tons making it a pretty good size furnace. It is expected to be completed the end of September of this year.