Our favorite European heat treat exhibition has always been the annual HK event held every October for the past 75 years in Germany. For years it was held in the pleasant little town of Wiesbaden until it was moved to Cologne 5 years ago. This year it is being held 22nd – 24th October 2019 and as always we look forward to it.   

From 22-24 October 2019, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wärmebehandlung und Werkstofftechnik e. V. (AWT) will organise the 75th HärtereiKongress/HeatTreatmentCongress (HK). This year is the sixth time the event will take place at the Koelnmesse, in Cologne, Germany. The event is the largest annual European forum on topics relating to heat treatment and materials technology. Each year, around 3000 specialists from hardening shops, the industrial furnace construction sector, suppliers, testing device manufacturers and employees from the automotive and steel industries visit the event to exchange knowledge about the latest products, future trends and sector information. The HeatTreatmentCongress is the traditional event for the sector, informing participants about new developments and processes in materials technology, with a special focus on heat treatment procedures. At the exhibition that takes place simultaneously, around 200 exhibitors from Germany and abroad present their product innovations over an area of 13000 m2. The congress will engage with the following main topics this year:

  1. Materials for light-weight design
  2. Functional coatings
  3. Intelligent process control
  4. Partial heat treatment of components

Talks on different topics and innovations in the field of heat treatment, materials technology, process engineering and production technology can also be registered, however. The 75th anniversary will be celebrated with an honorary speech of Stefan Hock (General Secretary of IFHTSE) and a photo exhibition about 75th years HK history.

AWT, a large-scale research community including 870 company/personal members and 18 materials technology committees, is sure to provide quality lectures and a well organised fair. The form of the event, as a congress with an adjoining exhibition, also has the advantage that employees from all departments of a firm can take part in the event: management, research and development, quality management, engineering practice and sales. This ensures high-quality conversations with customers, including in the exhibition.

On www.hk-awt.de you can find not only extensive exhibitor information but also get in contact with the exhibitors directly to arrange a meeting. An online marketplace offers you the opportunity to find out about products and sector news year-round.

Key data

Oral presentations can be announced up to the 15th March via www.hk-awt.de. Exhibition stands can be registered by Mrs. Mueller, phone +49 421 3972850 or e-mail at [email protected]. The ticket shop for the congress and fair opens at the start of June on www.hk-awt.de.

Powdered Metal components supplier and in house heat treater Symmco in Sykesville, PA suffered a small fire earlier this week which luckily caused little damage. The company has a total of 8 mesh belt sintering furnaces.

“Symmco Inc. in Sykesville, which designs and manufactures powdered metal components, was still operating as usual Monday despite an early morning fire, according to Sykesville Fire Chief Kevin Yamrick. At 5:07 a.m., employees at Symmco, located at 40 S. Park Ave., called in a report of smoke coming from the roof area above a furnace used to heat-treat materials, said Yamrick. Even though the fire was difficult to get to since there was a layer of insulation, a metal roof, another layer of insulation, and then a rubber roof, firefighters had the fire initially contained in about 40 minutes. Due to the high winds, sparks were blown to a couple of other adjoining roofs on another building but those were also extinguished quickly.”

Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins set out on what must have been considered at that time, the most adventurous journey ever undertaken by mankind. An epic mission for man to set foot onto another astronomical body, a journey of great courage and outstanding engineering.

Equally so, its propelled engineering design, metallurgy, physics and chemistry to beyond its known limits!! Now NASA plans an even more epic journey to travel away from Earth to a staging post on the Moon and then onwards to Mars known as the Red Planet. We can get to the moon which is a known fact.  For our Industry (metallurgy and heat treatment), it is beyond an adventure as it will test our knowledge, our inventiveness, stretch our imagination, and take us on an equally epic journey of metallurgical proportions, one that we have never previously experienced.  Think about that!

It will mean an extended period at the ‘staging point’ to assemble the Mars vehicle to withstand the rigours of temperatures and pressures in space never experienced by mankind, the dangers of micro-meteor strikes that would compromise the structure of the vehicle and the safety of the astronauts, and the on-board equipment functionality for the onward journey to the Red Planet.

So where does all the prior research and knowledge of the Red Planet by the numerous Rover missions help the engineers and/or metallurgists? In reality (and imho) it means that the strictest of;

Major challenges will face whoever of our industry that desires to be a part of this most historical journey that mankind will ever have taken.

In life I learned three simple things;

The question needs to be asked of our industry of captive heat-treaters, commercial heat treaters, as well as corporations, scientists, metallurgists how and when we will develop new educational standards, new process control systems, new metallurgical processing equipment, and new leaders in our field but more importantly are we prepared to be a part of this new challenge.

Food for thought …

The Wright Brothers flew their first propeller-driven, powered aircraft on December 17, 1903, at which time my father was one year old!!

Armstrong and Aldrin were the first moonwalkers occurred on July 20, 1969, just 66 years after the Wright Brothers’ propeller-driven flight.

Using 2019 as a date of remembrance, we, the United States of America, are actively pursuing another journey from Earth to Moon to Mars just 116 years after the first propeller-driven flight. Though the journey is still being seriously planned, what an accomplishment and achievement by the country that leads the world’s aviation history. Onward and upwards for the United States of America.

David Pye, Pye Metallurgical International Consulting (PMIC), USA

(Note: NASA’S Moon to Mars Mission Part 2 will be continued on The Monty’s Heat Treatment page.)

This very interesting article about FCA’s (Fiat Chrysler Automobile) transmission plants in Kokomo, Indiana, USA appeared in the “Kokomo Perspective” newspaper just this week. It is interesting because it speaks about one of the largest captive heat treating operations in North America (and the world) and also summarises how a changing transmission design in the automobile world has caused substantial changes in the heat treating industry. Up until 2011 the standard for the auto industry was the automatic 5 speed transmission but this started changing when ZF Industries developed the 8 speed transmission which was able to offer substantial fuel savings.

FCA had turned out millions of the 5 speed transmissions in Kokomo but as you can see in this article the focus has now changed to the 8 speed. The result of this change had lead to at least one auto maker bringing a substantial portion of their heat treating in house at the expense of some commercial heat treaters. FCA Kokomo has most heat treating processes in house including vacuum carburizing (for a list of the largest in house heat treaters in North America we would suggest  https://themonty.com/10-largest-north-american-captive-heat-treaters/

“FCA US made big moves in recent years in removing a long-running transmission from its production line, causing big changes for Indiana Transmission Plant II (ITPII). After incurring significant changes as a result, ITPII personnel are finding their stride. In 2018 FCA made its final moves in idling the company’s 5-speed transmission after pumping millions of the transmissions out of ITPII. What followed was a sizable shifting of personnel as FCA refocused efforts on the production of 8-speed transmissions at Kokomo Transmission Plant. As employees were redeployed out of ITPII, a new focus was found for the plant. Details of that newfound purpose still are forthcoming, but some emerged recently in talks with FCA officials. Formerly, about 500 employees worked at ITPII. According to FCA General Manager Bob Varsanik, between 70 and 80 now work at the facility, primarily making pinions for 8-speed transmissions while also green machining and heat treating.

Heat treating work remained at ITPII because at KTP, where the majority of ITPII’s work went, there simply wasn’t enough heat-treating capacity. Support staff and maintenance also continue to work at ITPII. Right now we still have a small production. Contrary to what people think, we’re not totally down,” said ITPII Plant Manager Deedee Fultz. But, noted Fultz, ITPII still is proving useful. According to her, the facility has become something of a proving grounds for new processes as FCA works to up productivity and increase efficiency. “I have a small contingency group made up of skilled trades and management, and we’re trying to implement a process across powertrain that we’ll hopefully soon be able to download into the plants and help with downtime issues, lack of productivity issues, and scrap issues,” said Fultz. “My team is working not only within transmissions but also across powertrain, which includes engines. We kind of had a group together, several workshops, and we’ve come up with a process that we think is revolutionary. It’s something that has never been implemented before, but it directly involves and utilizes all the WCM tools and processes to eliminate breakdowns and increase productivity across all the plants.”

While Fultz couldn’t divulge much more at this point, Varsanik added a bit more detail. According to him, as plant manager, Fultz is responsible for overseeing one of out the six quality commitments within FCA. Fultz’s specific focus, said Varsanik, is quality maintenance. “It’s a large system on how we can not only improve the quality of our product coming off of the machines we use but how we can even improve the uptime on the machines to make a better quality product,” said Varsanik. Despite all the changes, that’s not to say the 5-speed has outlasted its usefulness. In the last three years of production, Varsanik noted that the plant helped churn out between 240,000 and 260,000 5-speed transmissions a year. What remains is a small bank of 5-speeds held for supply purposes. That’s crucial, as the 5-speed primarily went into Dodge Charger Pursuit vehicles prior to the idling of the line, but Varsanik pointed out that the remaining stock will find a purpose. “We still supply those to the Pursuit vehicles for Dodge out of our Brampton (Ont.) Assembly Plant. And we still have some for service,” said Varsanik. “We’re shipping those out, and it will eventually dwindle to zero.”

Heat Treatment Support Member Jerry Plude at Indiana Transmission Plant II reviews daily tasks. ITPII continues to employ between 70 and 80 workers

Bob Varsanik

Now here is a very interesting rumor, one which we take seriously enough to mention today. Rumor has it that a Chinese company involved in the auto industry will be announcing possibly as soon as today that they have acquired a large Western based furnace manufacturer. If this is true it would mark the first time that a Western based furnace company has been acquired by an Asian company.

“Sellersville, PA, February 25, 2019 – Anticipation is growing, as Solar Manufacturing’s new facility is beginning to take shape. With the exterior of the building now fully enclosed, including the nearly 20,000 square foot two story office building situated in the front of the manufacturing area, the next phase of building can begin, bringing the project closer to completion. Bill and Myrtle Jones, owners of the Solar Atmospheres family of companies, stand in the center of the 40,000 square foot manufacturing area during the most recent site inspection.

“This plant will be one of the most advanced facilities in the United States for the assembly of vacuum furnaces,” Mr. Jones stated. The new facility is built on the 44 acre Brownfield redevelopment site on the Sellersville Business Campus in Sellersville, PA. The $8 million project is approximately 85% complete and we expect to be operational by late summer or early fall 2019. For more information about Solar Manufacturing, please contact Pete Reh at 1-267-384-5040 x1509, or via email [email protected].”

News reports have gun and ammunition manufacturer Remington moving some or all of their production from Ilion, New York to another facility in Huntsville, Alabama. The facility in New York is an old timer with manufacturing spread over 3 floors and wooden floors, something you only see in facilities well over 50 years old. The plant has an in house heat treating department which consists of a number of batch IQ furnaces-the smallest we have ever seen with working dimensions of roughly 6″ square. Not much space but when you are heat treating firing pins you don’t need a large furnace.

After 39 years with furnace manufacturer Ipsen Tom O’Flynn recently retired. Tom most recently was Senior Service Engineer and after a career of this length we can’t imagine there is anything on a vacuum furnace which Tom has not seen. While we wish him the best in his retirement the industry is poorer for his leaving.  By the way we always got a kick out of his e-mail address abarguy@

November of last year we had this news item; “Big Changes at Retech Systems LLC. Since 1963 Retech Systems has been manufacturing vacuum melting systems in Northern California…but that is all about to change. The next step in the story of Retech comes with a transition of much of the manufacturing and assembly previously done in Ukiah, CA to facilities in Świebodzin, Poland. All of the future work done at the SECO/Warwick facilities in Poland will be per the established Retech standards with the focus on maintaining all expectations associated with the Retech brand. The Ukiah office will be downsized and will retain our experienced engineers, leading technical directors, technologists, and service staff. Key leadership roles will continue to be filled and Retech’s unique R&D Center will continue to be built up. Ultimately, the company will then maintain a west coast office along with the recently opened east coast office in Buffalo, NY.” As a footnote to this story we see that February 28th all of the remaining equipment at the facility in California will be auctioned off. Commercial heat treater East Carolina Metal Treating in Raleigh, NC is pretty please with their new Wisconsin Ovens-all 5 of them. The ovens are Class II and rated fro 1250F.

In Hungary, Lufthansa plans of building a new aircraft repair facility which will include an in house heat treating department; “With the acquisition of property in the Hungarian city of Miskolc, Lufthansa Technik AG today initiated the establishment of a new site for the repair and overhaul of aircraft engine parts. Dubbed Lufthansa Technik Miskolc, a new fully-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Technik AG will commence operations until 2022 and will utilize around 20,000 square meters of production space. Customers of Lufthansa Technik´s Engine Parts & Accessories Repair (EPAR) network will greatly benefit from this extended production capacity. In the long term, Lufthansa Technik Miskolc will employ around 400 employees. Investments in the triple-digit million-euro range will hence not only encompass state-of-the-art machinery for procedures such as cleaning, thermal spraying and heat treatment of engine parts, but also an extensive training and qualification program.” This picture has absolutely nothing to do with heat treating but it does show our readers in places such as Mexico and India what a Canadian winter truly looks like. In this photo we see Gord and Dale Montgomery standing on 2 feet of ice in the middle of the North American Great Lakes.

Where are they now? Floyd Lancaster. Floyd spend many years involved with the in house heat treating department at auto and truck parts supplier TorqTek in Charleston, SC, USA (which was associated with GETRAG and which became part of American Axle & Manufacturing a couple of years back). Floyd now works for himself under the name Floyd E. Lancaster & Associates and has this summary about the company;  “Represent Companies offering High Precision finish machine components & Vacuum Tool Steel/Brazing for Automotive/Aerospace/Industrial applications. Consult on Metallurgy, Heat Treating, and Materials Engineering.” Commercial heat treater Thermetco in Montreal recently moved into a new building and in the process invested in a number of new furnaces including this brand new Ipsen vacuum hardening furnace. With this addition the company has increased their vacuum hardening capacity by 30%.

With several sintering furnaces in house this news item about Chicago Powdered Metal Products caught our attention; “Chicago Powdered Metal Products (CPMP), Schiller Park, Illinois, USA, has announced the addition of Mark Coughlin as its new General Manager and Dhaval Anand as its new Quality Manager. Coughlin is said to have spent his career in the metal processing industry supplying to the automotive industry, while Anand reportedly has a long history of implementing and driving strategic quality systems that promote company-wide excellence. Prior to joining CPMP, Coughlin was a Process Engineer for fifteen years and an Engineering Manager for two years. Following these roles, he started up a high mix-low volume factory from the equipment purchase through install and full production. He has most recently served as Plant Manager/General Manager at a number of die cast and machining companies. CPMP stated that it looked forward to adding Coughlin’s expertise to help drive improvements and efficiencies for the benefit of the company and its customers. During his career, Anand has reportedly had success in quality and engineering roles and CPMP expects that he will bring his experience in leading quality teams to promote a high level of control and maintenance to the company’s quality systems. “

Dustin Lawhon was recently promoted to Regional Sales Manager at Paulo Heat Treating where he will be covering the Great Lakes Region. Paulo is the second largest commercial heat treater in North America (remember you can find our list of the 10 largest commercial heat treaters in North America at https://themonty.com/largest-commercial-heat-treaters-in-north-america-october-2018/ )

And to round things out for today we have this press release from Wisconsin Oven. “Wisconsin Oven Ships Horizontal Quench Solution Treat System to a Supplier of the Aerospace Industry; Wisconsin Oven Corporation announced the shipment of one (1) Electrically Heated Horizontal Quench Solution Treat System to a supplier of the Aerospace industry.”

We would like to introduce you to the new General Manager of Bodycote’s Burlington, Ontario, Canada facility, Rob Albonetti.  Rob started just 3 weeks ago and comes from a very strong automotive background having worked with such well known companies as Linamar and Stackpole. The world’s largest commercial heat treater acquired their Burlington plant several years ago and since then have invested literally $millions of dollars into it with the end result that it is a beauty and from what we understand one of the larger Bodycote facilities in North America. With Rob in the picture (on the right) is Rob Muzzin, Vice President of Operations Automotive.