“The Swiss corporation Alu Menziken Extrusion AG, a manufacturer of aluminum profiles and complex extrusion press products, chose a Nitrex nitrocarburizing system for its new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility on a greenfield site in northwestern Romania. Nitrex Metal delivered and installed a turnkey NX-815 nitrocarburizing system that incorporates the Nitreg®-C technology for treating aluminum extrusion dies. The pit furnace has overall chamber dimensions of 31.5” diameter by 59” high (800 x 1500 mm) with capacity optimized to nitrocarburize a 3300 lbs (1500 kg) load.
The process technology adapts to the application requirements to deliver improved performance of extrusion dies. Tailoring the application’s surface properties has a positive influence on performance metrics like throughput per run and number of runs per die, which, as a consequence, mitigates the cost of tooling. Alu Menziken also chose the Nitreg®-C technology to reduce the possibility of potential failures like premature washout and flaking that degrade the performance of dies.
“With a focus on the environment, Alu Menziken also sought to introduce eco-friendly technologies for all equipment at its greenfield facility. Not only is there a benefit of reduced process gas use with the Nitrex system, the integral high-efficiency neutralizer also helps comply with environmental regulations,” says Marcin Stoklosa, Nitrex European Project Manager. The modern factory situated in Mediesu Aurit, Satu Mare covers an area of 13 hectares and features the latest equipment for producing extrusions. Inaugurated this past November, the plant produces a range of profile products for aerospace and automotive companies, such as Audi, BMW, Bentley and Daimler, looking for lightweight aluminum solutions.
ABOUT NITREX METAL; Nitrex Metal, www.nitrex.com, is a worldwide partner offering modern nitriding / nitrocarburizing technologies, solutions, equipment and services. Our Nitreg® potential-controlled gas nitriding and Nitreg®-C potential-controlled gas nitrocarburizing (ferritic nitrocarburizing-FNC) technologies are applied in the precision parts, automotive, aluminium extrusion, defense, gears, tool & die, plastics, machinery, and many other industries.”
We can now provide an update on this news item from yesterday. The AFC-Holcroft UBQ furnaces have indeed already been purchased and removed from the auction. We understand they were bought by a used equipment dealer so they will be popping up on the used market in the near future we are sure.
“Back in February of 2018 Caterpillar announced that they would be closing their Work Tools facility in Waco, Texas-a facility which made buckets, couplers, and hammers. The plant did indeed close with production moved to a Caterpillar location in Wamego, Kansas or outsourced to external suppliers. The remaining equipment will be going to auction this week-March 28 to be exact. The plant had a substantial heat treat department which included several fairly new and quite large AFC-Holcroft UBQ furnaces which can be seen in the photos below. While the auction has obviously not been held yet we understand these furnaces have already been bought and removed from the auction. What does remain is a Williams carbottom and several other heat treat related items.”
Back in February of 2018 Caterpillar announced that they would be closing their Work Tools facility in Waco, Texas-a facility which made buckets, couplers, and hammers. The plant did indeed close with production moved to a Caterpillar location in Wamego, Kansas or outsourced to external suppliers. The remaining equipment will be going to auction this week-March 28 to be exact. The plant had a substantial heat treat department which included several fairly new and quite large AFC-Holcroft UBQ furnaces which can be seen in the photos below. While the auction has obviously not been held yet we understand these furnaces have already been bought and removed from the auction. What does remain is a Williams carbottom and several other heat treat related items.
In keeping with our top news item today about Caterpillar in Texas we also have this news item from Texas. National Heat Treat is one of the larger commercial heat treats in the area and boasts a number of different processes. Recently the company has been adding experienced people and this includes Brian Taylor who became Business Development Manager just a few week ago after spending some time at other heat treats in the area-his picture can be seen below. The company also announced a new Quality Manager;
“National Heat Treat is to proud to announce the addition of our new Quality Assurance Manager, Andy Mishaga . Andy is a quality assurance professional with over twenty years of diverse experience in ISO 9001:2015 and API Q1, in oil and gas fabrication, product manufacturing, aero structures and R&D. His experience includes quality systems design, implementation and auditing, creating quality policies, procedures and metrics, supplier qualification and management, and documentation management.”
Well it’s not quite the edge of the world but you can certainly see it from here. During a recent trip to Chile which involved some heat treat related business Dale and Gord Montgomery of “The Monty” had the chance to visit Ushuaia, Argentina at the southernmost tip of South America, a city which bills itself as the “city at the edge of the world”. This photo gives you an idea about what the local terrain looks like and why it is considered the edge of the world.
Furnace manufacturer Diablo Furnaces is having a very frustrating experience getting gas combustion burners on time as we can see from this note; “I want to address the Chairman and CEO of Honeywell as I have tried to reach out and email him to no avail. Perhaps this will somehow reach him… We are an OEM Furnace Manufacturer who has been waiting for 3+ months for product. I have to say since your purchase of Maxon, and Eclipse where has the customer service I had received in the past gone? I have never seen a company so screwed up. Your company promises dates and does not deliver. We are told you have internal restructuring of your business (not the customers fault) and cannot meet the demand for your backlog and are looking at the end of Q2 to be caught up to be able to meet quoted lead times. At this point we have 8 units waiting for Honeywell product, if Honeywell misses the date AGAIN they have promised we have no choice but to rip the Honeywell bases out and go with Fire Eye.”
This article appeared in a Toledo, Ohio, USA newspaper “The Blade” March 22, 2019. We will add that Dowa is the largest furnace builder in Japan and also the largest commercial heat treater in the country. In addition they have 100’s of furnace installations in North America.
“BOWLING GREEN – The Occupational Health and Safety Administration has proposed more than $1 million in penalties for a Bowling Green metal heat treatment company after the company exposed employees to atmospheric, thermal, electrical, and mechanical hazards as they performed maintenance inside heat-treating furnaces, authorities said. The action is a result of an onsite inspection OSHA conducted at Dowa THT America Inc., 2130 South Wood Circle, from Oct. 18 to Oct. 29, 2018, according to the citation and notification of penalty released Thursday. In addition to the $1,326,367 in penalties, the company was placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program, according to the Department of Labor.
The company was cited for 25 “willful, serious, and other-than-serious violations for hazards related to confined spaces, falls, machine guarding, respiratory protection, chemical exposures, and electrical equipment,” according a written statement released by the department Thursday. Additionally, the company “failed to provide adequate personal protective equipment and train their employees on hazards in the facility.” “The violations identified exposed employees to serious, and potentially life-threatening injuries and illnesses,” said Loren Sweatt, acting assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, in the statement. “Employers have a legal obligation to assess their workplaces for hazards, and establish appropriate safety and health programs to protect their workers.”
Last week we had several older photos from the industry as part of a news item we entitled “From the Archives”. One of these (which you can see here) had to do with an ALD TT plant in South Carolina and one of the individuals in the photo was Tony Wu who we mentioned was now working with Bodycote in China. As it turns out Tony left the company and indeed the industry about a year ago. We stand corrected.
A reader in the UK asked that we mention how a spring manufacturer in Cornish has added some more heat treating capacity. We are happy to oblige although this press release tells us little.
“Over the last year, European Springs & Pressings, has spent about GBP2m on their two Cornish factories with a further GP1m more recently on a number of new advanced technologies. A new powder coating line has been installed in a 700 square metre extension, a new heat treatment oven acquired and two high performance spring end grinding machines completed the recent purchases. The new equipment, spread across the Penryn and Redruth factories, has doubled the grinding capabilities in the company’s industrial sector and expanded the automotive sector grinding facilities by 400%.
The new heat treatment oven and powder coating line increases automotive production infrastructure by 200%. Michael Gibbs, managing director of the Cornwall operations said: “Developing enhanced manufacturing capabilities through investment in high tech infrastructure and education, enables us to sustain manufacturing competitiveness. With a global marketplace across multiple industries, it is essential that we maintain our reputation for innovation and manufacturing excellence. “We’re accelerating our industrial and automotive sector expertise, through operational focus, in direct response to customer demand. Our programme of machinery financing is strategic, reflecting a number of years of record growth and our parent company, Lesjofors, global position as an investor in manufacturing.
Based in Hanau, Germany ALD Vacuum Technologies is one of the largest furnace builders in the world and has offices and manufacturing around the world including in Germany, the US and India-as a matter of fact we recently had a news item about how the company was expanding their facility in Hanau.
As it turns out this is only a small part of the changes the company is going through. Changes which we will mention in the near future include top management changes in the USA and Germany, changes in their sales efforts in North America and changes at their manufacturing facility in India. We will keep you posted.
