Last week an Ipsen “Titan” Vacuum Sintering/Debinding furnace was included in an auction taking place on the USA West Coast. While the Ipsen “Titan” vacuum furnace has proven to be extremely popular with heat treaters around the world, this is a very unusual version of the unit-so unusual in fact that our understanding is that only 3 have ever been built.
It is a Model DS 121224 which proved to be a vacuum sinter/debind system with working dimensions of 12″ X 12″ X 24″, built in 2023 with a surge tank, water cooling system and numerous spare parts. It would appear that it was originally sold to an end user in Washington who scrapped the entire project meaning this system was probably never used or even installed.
While the auction is ongoing it has as of 11:30 AM, November 4th received numerous bids with the current highest being $45,000 USD, this for a furnace which new would have had a sale price of approximately $500,000 USD.
It will be interesting to see what the final “buy” price is, while it is a beauty of a furnace it will be of interest to only a small % of manufacturers in the world.
The link below will take you to the December 2025 Edition of “The Monty Heat Treat News” for 30 years, the most widely read publication in the global heat treatment industry. Some industry exclusive stories you will find in this edition include these;
In addition to our exclusive news stories our used heat treat equipment listings continue to surge with these very recent additions;
As always the entire team at “The Monty Heat Treat News” appreciates your readership, thoughts and comments and at this point in time we would like to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas! Sincerely, Gord, Jordan, Dale and Anne.
“Another SECO/WARWICK industrial furnace will join the equipment in one of the most modern heat treatment plants in South America. The horizontal retort furnace will be used for high-temperature tempering and nitriding processes using ZeroFlow technology. The device will be integrated with the existing superior production control system in the hardening plant, which will streamline production cycles and improve internal logistics for the Partner.
This is the sixth SECO/WARWICK device for the “Isoflama Heat Treatment Plant”, which has been loyal to SECO/WARWICK technology for years.
Customization of Standards – The Power of Adjustment; Although the device ordered is a standard solution in the SECO/WARWICK portfolio, the version for Isoflama has been customized to meet the client’s production specifics. It has been designed with increased capacity, a reinforced retort, and a working area of 900 x 900 x 1200 mm (35″x35″x47″), enabling the heat treatment of large and heavy elements. Thanks to this flexibility, the client chose SECO/WARWICK as the device supplier.”
(Editors Note; Times have not been good for commercial heat treaters in the UK for some time and this is yet another example of a UK heat treater being forced to close down).
The company, spanning three generations, had provided industrial heat treatment and precision engineering services to other businesses. However, CBS ceased trading on October 17, with 15 employees made redundant as a result of its closure. The directors of CBS Engineering Holdings Limited and CBS Engineering & Heat Treatment Limited appointed Gareth Rusling and Phil Nunney from Begbies Traynor after what the joint liquidators described as a “prolonged downturn”.
Gareth Rusling, partner at Begbies Traynor, said the business had collapsed despite its “rich history”. “Over time, the business grew into a well known local firm, built on the long-standing customer relationships and practical experience of its founders,” Mr Rusling explained. “The company specialised in CNC milling/turning, in-house metal treatments, along with manual turning and grinding and, as it evolved, it expanded overseas.” Mr Rusling, along with his fellow appointed liquidator, has been tasked with winding down the company and seeking the best outcome for creditors, which includes employees.
Explaining the decline that resulted in the end of CBS, he added: “For a number of years it had experienced a downturn and this was further accelerated by increases to running and material costs.”
(Also called; “Why does a manufacturer bring heat treating in house”)
We can now report that this location now has a new, completed heat treat department featuring vacuum furnaces which are replacing the antiquated fluidized bed furnaces the company previously operated at this location.
For more details about the company and their recent financial reports we would suggest this link “Earnings call transcript: Exco Technologies sees Q3 2025 sales dip 4%” . “The Monty Heat Treat News” has reported several times over the years about “Exco”, each of the stories can be found below and they all make for fascinating reading at to why such a large manufacturer would decide to bring heat treating in house. (Editors Note; these photos show the firm’s location in Canada)
Over the years “The Monty” has reported on several of the firms heat treat investments including this news item from 2023, today we mention another heat treat investment the company is making at their facility in Chesterfield, Michigan, USA. The current heat treating department operates fluidized bed furnaces (as a number of the other Exco locations did in the past), however the plant is in the process of phasing out the fluidized bed furnaces and replacing them with vacuum heat treatment. This brings up the obvious question; is there anybody left in North America who still operates fluidized bed furnaces? The project is expected to be completed by the 3rd quarter of 2025.”
It was reported to “The Monty Heat Treat News” recently that furnace builder “Cremer Thermoprocess Systems GmbH” of Düren, Germany entered bankruptcy protection November of this year. Some diligent searching turned up the fact that the company was included on a list of “Insolvencies in North Rhine-Westphalia: November 8th to November 21st, 2025”.While we don’t know a great deal about the company we have run across several of their furnaces at a powdered metal auto parts maker in North America. What we saw were some very impressive sintering furnaces with some very intriguing design features which were quite “novel”. Certainly the end user was very pleased with the quality and support which they received.
We will provide more details as they become available.
“Macclesfield-based listed company, Bodycote, has completed the sale of ten non-core sites to French asset management company, Arcole.
The provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services said the sites are based in France and are focused on heat treatment for automotive and industrial markets.
The cash consideration for the deal is €22m.
The completion of this deal marks an important milestone in the execution of the group’s Optimise programme, which at full run-rate in mid-2027 will deliver an operating profit benefit of at least £15m, with net programme cash costs of £10-15m.
Chief executive, Jim Fairbairn, said “This transaction brings in considerable proceeds and is a key step in the delivery of our Optimise programme.
“It accelerates our efforts to transform the group’s portfolio and to create a higher quality, more resilient and faster growing Bodycote.”
In a trading update earlier this week the group said it is building a pipeline of mergers and is confident it will accelerate growth through attractive bolt-on acquisitions.
The group said it expects to deliver a stronger profit performance in the second half of the year driven by further growth in Aerospace & Defence, improved Specialist Technologies trading and increasing benefits from the Optimise programme.”
Earlier this year “The Monty” had an in-depth article entitled “Why are so Many North American Commercial Heat Treaters Closing?”, the article can be found further down on this page.
Included in our list of commercial heat treaters closing were four firms which specialized in large volume continuous work; “Commercial Steel Treating” in Michigan, “American Steel Treating” in Perrysburg, Ohio, “Elm Plating” in Michigan (which will be ending production the end of 2025) and “AMAC Industries” of Cleveland, Ohio.
Together these 4 firms represented an enormous amount of continuous heat treating, to counter balance this loss of capacity only one firm that we know of added mesh belt capacity, “B & D Cold Heading” in Michigan “Manufacturer Brings Heat Treat in House-A Case Study”.
“The Monty” has long felt that this lack of capacity would be felt and that another heat treater would add capacity; this has turned out to be correct.
Beyond these two photos no details are provided, but our best guess is that the furnace will have a capacity of 6,000 pounds/hour, will be gas fired with an endothermic atmosphere and oil quenching; designed for processing high volume automotive fasteners-we will see if our guess proves correct or not.
We are sure detailed press releases will be forthcoming and when they are “The Monty” will share them with you.
“JUNE 30, 2025; Two More USA Commercial Heat Treaters to Close; 2025 has seen an unusually high number of commercial heat treaters in the USA closing their doors, “The Monty” now has word that two more, medium sized facilities in the US Midwest will be closing down for good, one almost immediately, the other over the course of the coming year.
As more details become available, we will update this story.
A relatively complete list of the USA commercial heat treaters closing in the past year (along with one Canadian firm) can be found below in an article published by; “The Monty Heat Treat News” June 30th of this year; “Why Are So Many North American Commercial Heat Treaters Closing”? In this article we summarize the many and varied reason that commercial heat treats close down.
“JUNE 30th 2025; Why are so Many North American Commercial Heat Treaters Closing?; If it seems like commercial heat treatment firms in North America have been dropping like flies over the past year you can certainly be forgiven for thinking so. Over the course of the past year “The Monty Heat Treat News” has mentioned at least 12 firms that have closed, with at least two more to be mentioned in the next few weeks. This prompts the question “Why Ae So Many North American Commercial Heat Treaters Closing”?
There are three schools of thoughts on this rather depressing trend; the first holds that manufacturers are bringing more heat treating in house leading to lower volumes going to commercial operations. The second suggests that uncertainty in the automotive sector and an overcapacity in the commercial heat treat industry is leading commercial treaters to adjust to these new realities. And the 3rd school of thought offers that large government subsidies during the Covid Pandemic kept many commercial operations afloat long after they should have closed down.
(To bolster the views of those in the first camp who believe manufacturers are bringing more heat treating in house leading to a decline in volumes for commercial heat treaters we would suggest this article; “More Manufacturers Bringing Heat Treating in House?” written by Mr. Marco Baretti of vacuum furnace builder “TAV”. Granted Marco wrote this from a European heat treat perspective but we believe that many of the thoughts are applicable to North America also).
The list below shows some but not all of the commercial heat treaters in North America which have closed in the past year-the team at “The Monty”looked at each one to determine why they closed down and we came to some very interesting conclusions-basically that there are a wide variety of reasons why heat treats close down. Our conclusions are below this list (please note that two firms on this list will be announcing their closures in the next few weeks, at this point in time we choose not to identify them).
Commercial Steel Treating, Michigan; https://themonty.com/another-usa-commercial-heat-treater-closes-its-doors/?no_cache=1
American Steel Treating, Ohio: https://themonty.com/substantial-us-heat-treater-to-close-april-1-2025/
Cambridge Heat Treating, Ontario; https://themonty.com/cambridge-heat-treating-celebrates-40th-anniversary/
Weiss Industries, Ohio; https://weissind.com/
Elm Plating, Michigan; https://themonty.com/us-company-to-exit-commercial-heat-treating/ Elm Plating
AMAC Industries, Ohio; https://themonty.com/ohio-usa-metal-processing-company-to-temporarily-slow-down-halt-production/
Bodycote, California; https://themonty.com/usa-commercial-heat-treat-facility-to-close/
Katy Heat Treat, Texas; https://themonty.com/texas-heat-treater-closing-why-are-so-many-north-american-commercial-heat-treaters-closing/
Missouri Heat Treat, Missouri; https://themonty.com/another-usa-commercial-heat-treat-closes-its-doors/
MT Heat Treat/Quality Steels/Metallurgical Services; https://themonty.com/what-the-heck-is-happening-to-heat-treating-in-ohio-usa/
Commercial heat treats close down for any number of different reasons, using the above examples these are the conclusions we came to;
Retirement; In the case of two of these firms including “Cambridge Heat Treating” the owners with no family members to take over the business and unable to find a buyer decided to liquidate the businesses. In both cases hard assets such as land, building and equipment was greater than the value of the business as a going concern.
Tariffs; One of the companies on this list, “Amac Industries” closed because new US tariffs meant their largest customer found it made more sense to keep the heat treating in Canada as opposed to sending it to the US.
Consolidation; Three of these closures were the result of multi-location commercial heat treaters consolidating operations.
Older Technologies; We always had a high opinion of “Amercian Steel Treating” in Perrysburg, Ohio which at one time was an industry leader in automated pusher furnaces. However, the firm never moved beyond what has become an older technology and that combined with the fact that their fortunes were tied to the auto industry proved to be too large a challenge for the company.
Lack of Profits; In a couple of cases firms found that their margins on heat treating were so small that the decision was made to pivot away from commercial heat treating in favor of other business units.
Stupidity & Incompetence; And of course in at least two cases sheer incompetence, stupidity and greed led to the demise of what were once good solid businesses.
While it would appear to be doom and gloom in the commercial heat treat industry in North America, at the end of the day we can’t lose track of the fact that there are over 500 commercial heat treat locations in North America and a failure of even 15 commercial heat treats represents a very tiny % of the overall market.”