For the week starting Monday, December 2, 2024 we have these news stories about the global heat treatment industry;
“Vacuum and Atmosphere Services Ltd., are thrilled to announce that we’ve received five reline orders this month (October) – a fantastic testament to the trust our clients place in us for their high-quality furnace reline needs! Of these orders, four feature our bespoke heating set design, engineered for easy and quick changeovers and also include an additional layer of insulation protection. This tailored design enhances operational efficiency, reduces downtime, and extends the life of your equipment. At VAS, quality control is at the heart of everything we do. Our detailed documentation and rigorous processes ensure thorough oversight and quality in every project. This attention to detail enables us to deliver reliable and consistent results that our clients can depend on. https://vacat.co.uk/five-reline-orders-in-october/”
To our friends and customers in the USA we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.
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The entire team at “The Monty Heat Treat News” would consider themselves to be very fortunate to have been able to see a lot of the world in our efforts to see captive and commercial heat treat facilities in every country in the world. Our latest expedition, just last week took us to the middle eastern country of Jordan where we found some amazing sights but no heat treats. One of the things we did see though was the very interesting desert/mountain region of “Wadi Rum” in southern Jordan. In this photo we see Gord and Dale Montgomery.
Along the same lines we look forward to providing details about a number of captive and commercial heat treats in Italy and Slovenia in the coming months.
SRU’s are designed to recover 99.9% of quenching salts that end up in wash/rinse tanks in applications such as austempering.
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Earlier this week we had a news item entitled “SECO/WARWICK Lands a Nice Order” which made for rather interesting reading-as it turns out we now have an update for you. The name of the end customer was not mentioned in the original press release but the customer themselves issued a press release as we can see here;
“At “HTS STEEL“, we’ve expanded our capabilities with the addition of the SECO/WARWICK Vacuum Furnace 15VP-9912, featuring a 15 Bars Gas Quenching System. This new equipment enhances our existing heat treatment line to 44 furnaces in total, allowing us to deliver improved precision and efficiency for a range of processes, including hardening, annealing, and tempering.”
It would appear that HTS Steel is comprised of 14 companies which were merged together and in addition to their manufacturing capabilities they also offer commercial heat treating in addition to their in house heat treatment. With a total of 44 furnaces it is a substantial heat treater by any standards.
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“The ECM Group, co-chaired by Laurent and Marlène PELISSIER, is a manufacturer of capital goods for the treatment and transformation of materials. It is strengthening its presence in Italy as well as its services business, with the acquisition of the Italian company Vacuum SM – Service & Maintenance. This external growth will enable the ECM Group to expand its range of services, strengthen its teams and enable Vacuum SM to pursue its development. Grenoble 25/11/2024
ECM Group signed the acquisition of Vacuum Service & Maintenance on November 4th, 2024. Vacuum SM is based in Mozzanica, close to Bergamo in Lombardia, Italy, and is specialized in the maintenance of industrial furnaces for vacuum heat treatment. It currently employs a dozen people Backed by a wealth of know-how, the company provides expert support to its customers, and prides itself on responsiveness, high quality and a customer-centric approach.
This acquisition will enable the ECM Group to consolidate its presence in Italy and strengthen its industrial furnace after sales business. This entity will also enable the ECM Group to improve its responsiveness by being closer to its Italian customers and serve them even better. For Vacuum SM, joining the ECM Group will enable it to pursue its growth and benefit from the support of a leading group in its market, while keeping its independence. Still managed by Roberto Bartoli, along with Andrea Cantarini & Lorenzo Tirloni, Vacuum SM will continue its historical activity and, in the medium term, will be trained on the products of ECM Technologies, the Grenoble-based Group’s main subsidiary.”
(Editors note: the distinguished fellow in the middle of this photo is Mr. Laurent Pelissier)
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According to our readers the three most popular heat treatment news items for the week starting November 18th include these;
World’s Largest Heat Treater Sees Small Revenue Gain; Bodycote, the world’s Largest Commercial Heat Treater has just posted financial results for the 4 months ending October 2024. As reported in this summary by “Market Watch” the company saw a small revenue gain in the past few months. All the details can be found at https://www.bodycote.com/. We hunted through our file folders to find an appropriate photo to go with this story and we found this one taken in 2021. It shows the Bodycote facility in Darby, UK which is located inside of a Rolls Royce facility-impressive to say the least.
“Bodycote posted a slight increase in revenue, citing mixed end markets, but said it remained confident in its full-year outlook. The London-listed provider of heat-treatment and thermal-processing services said Tuesday that for the four months through October, group revenue grew 0.2% organically, excluding surcharges.
Its aerospace and energy focused businesses delivered strong growth, while conditions remained soft in industrial markets and automotive, Bodycote said. Aerospace and energy posted revenue increases of 6.3% and 12%, respectively, while revenue in industrial markets fell by 11%. Automotive revenue rose by 0.5%, Bodycote said.
“Our end-market environment remains mixed, with the challenging conditions in automotive and industrial markets expected to continue into early 2025,” the company said. Despite the backdrop, the resilience of the specialist technologies businesses and cost control gives confidence in delivering good progress in operating margin. In 2023, the company’s operating margin was 15.9%. For 2024, operating profit is expected to be in line with a company-compiled market consensus of 127.9 million pounds ($162.1 million), Bodycote said.”
Why Is Heat Treating in Europe Struggling? In our previous news item above we suggested that the commercial heat treating market in North America is doing OK-no better than OK and no worse. However, this does not hold true for Europe as we found out recently at the HK24 Heat Treat Exhibition in Cologne, Germany in October. Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” spent 2 weeks visiting both commercial and captive heat treaters in Germany, Switzerland and Austria as well as attending the exhibition and the general feeling was one of “doom and gloom”. It would appear that most commercial heat treaters especially in Germany are seeing sales declines of 25-35% on average which prompts the question-why?
In general the sales declines go directly back to a drop in demand from the auto industry which in turn goes back to two main factors; the first being the declining interest in electric vehicles upon which many European car makers have invested heavily, and the second being the shocking price of energy in the European Union market.
The graph below shows the cost to industrial users of electricity in a number of markets around the world. Even a cursory glance will show that the cost of electricity to industrial users (and consequently heat treaters) in the UK, Germany, France and Italy is several times that of areas such as North America and China.
Given these numbers it is obvious that given current conditions the future of captive and commercial heat treating in Europe is “challenging” to say the least.
Changes in the Induction Heat Treating World; Induction heat treating supplier Inductotherm has made some changes in the top ranks of their management team-read on for the details.
“Their combined experience and forward‐thinking approach are perfectly aligned with our mission to deliver innovative induction technologies and exceptional value to our customers. We are confident that their leadership will drive our company to new heights.” As Co‐Leaders, Mr. Nallen, and Mr. Prabhu will carry on our founder’s legacy of emphasizing the importance of responsive customer service delivered by a reliable company which can react quickly without compromising good decision making. They will work closely to develop and implement strategies that enhance our product offerings, expand our global teams’ local presence, and reinforce our commitment to excellence in the thermal processing industry.
Their leadership will ensure that Inductotherm Group continues to thrive and evolve in a rapidly changing market. Inductotherm Group offers advanced technology for the engineering, manufacturing and service of thermal processing equipment used in the melting, heating, heat treating, forging, galvanizing, coating, cutting and welding of metals. Bringing together 40 companies with 38 manufacturing facilities located in 21 countries, Inductotherm Group delivers innovative products throughout the world. Customers rely on Inductotherm, Inductoheat, Thermatool, Radyne, Consarc and other trusted brands in the Inductotherm Group to provide outstanding equipment and services.
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Marstate Industrial Corp and Solar Mfg. have collaborated on numerous furnace projects over the past two decades to provide state-of-the-art vacuum heat-treating furnaces to Asian aerospace and aircraft engine manufacturers. Recently the two companies formed a joint partnership to design and build three identical vacuum heat-treating furnaces for a well-established aerospace company in Taiwan. The furnaces major components will be shipped from Solar Mfg’s plant in Pennsylvania to Marstate Industrials facility in Taiwan where a crew of experienced Marstate technicians will assemble the furnaces one at a time. Marstate’s engineers, along with Solar Mfg. Field Service Technicians will perform commissioning and testing on each of the furnaces as they are brought online.
The three (3) furnaces are Solar Mfg. Models VBL-7072-2EQ. They will feature a Molybdenum and Stainless Steel shielded hot zones measuring 60” diameter X 72” high, capable of operating temperatures of up to 2400°F, and a workload weight capacity of up to 5,000 lbs. The furnaces will be provided with the SolarVac® Polaris PLC-based control & automation systems featuring the Allen-Bradley CompactLogix PLC, Eurotherm digital recorder, and an HMI/industrial PC utilizing Wonderware supervisory software for recipe storage, alarm management, and data acquisition functions. The external gas cooling systems will consist of 150 HP drive motor/fan assemblies, and variable frequency drives capable of quenching workloads at 2 bar positive pressure.
The major components of the first of three furnaces have recently shipped to Marstate, and they are ready to receive this shipment and will complete the assembly of the furnace at their facility. Upon completion of the furnace at Marstate facility, the furnaces will be dismantled and delivered to the end users facility. Marstate expects the first furnace to be operational in early 2025.
Solar Manufacturing designs and manufactures a wide variety of vacuum heat treating, sintering, and brazing furnaces. They offer replacement hot zones, spare parts, and professional service. To learn more about this project by Solar Manufacturing, contact Rick Jones, International Sales Manager, at 267-384- 5040 x1533, or via email [email protected] or visit us at solarmfg.com.”
“Three SECO/WARWICK solutions will be delivered to the Slovenian concern: a vacuum furnace with 15 bar high pressure gas hardening, and two nitriding furnaces with ZeroFlow® technology.
In the past, SECO/WARWICK has provided several technological solutions to the Group, which streamline processes and increase efficiency. This time, the Partner decided on the standard solution of the Vector vacuum furnace – a leader in the vacuum furnaces segment for metal heat treatment, and two horizontal retort furnaces intended mainly for nitriding processes with ZeroFlow technology (they can also be used for high tempering with vacuum purging). They are sized to fit the elements processed in the vacuum furnace on order.
“ZeroFlow technology enables precise and fully controlled nitriding processes, which offer the high accuracy of the nitrogen layers obtained while minimizing process costs. We met the Partner’s expectations not only in terms of delivering high-quality furnaces, but also in terms of delivery time and its synchronization. The SECO/WARWICK Group has repeatedly carried out orders for large enterprises of one capital group located in different countries or even continents. Our branches in the USA, Europe, China and India cooperate in an exemplary manner, thanks to which we can successfully fulfill even logistically complex contracts.” – says Maciej Korecki, Vice-President of the SECO/WARWICK Group’s Vacuum Segment.
ZeroFlow® is a modern version of controlled gas nitriding, maximizing the process effectiveness and productivity as well as economic efficiency. The process is used for precise shaping of any nitrided layer composition while maintaining minimal media consumption and post-process gas emissions, meeting the most stringent environmental protection regulations.
The ZeroFlow technology uniqueness is that during the nitriding process, when the load does not absorb nitrogen from the atmosphere (e.g. when lowering the nitrogen potential or in the diffusion phase), the introduction of ammonia into the furnace completely stops (zero flow) and the furnace remains tightly closed.
Compared to traditional nitriding processes, ZeroFlow reduces ammonia and nitrogen consumption and gas emissions to the environment many times (up to 10 times), and at the same time contributes to energy savings.”
“Leo Whitlow was born in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma on November 4, 1931 to Granville and Olena (Davis) Whitlow. He was married to Glenna Faye Morgan on August 9, 1953. They met at the skating rink in April 1953, married in August 1953 and have been together ever since. He passed away peacefully at home on November 17, 2024 at the age of 93.
The family will receive visitors on Wednesday, November 20, between 5:30-7:00 P.M. at Whitt Funeral Home. Services are planned for Thursday, November 21, at 2:00 P.M. in the Whitt Funeral Home Chapel with his loving family officiating. Interment will follow in Fairlawn Cemetery, Comanche. Serving as pallbearers are Adam Marks, Alex Marks, Heath Whitlow, Kayden Whitlow, David Whitlow, and Tabrina Whitlow-Alexander; honorary pallbearers are Richard Marks, Kayson Whitlow, and Andy Alexander.
Leo served 20 years in the United States Air Force and is a veteran of the Vietnam War. For the Air Force, he worked in aircraft maintenance and mechanics and was always on flight status as flight engineer and navigator when flying all over the world. He took his family all over the United States being stationed on both coasts and many states in between as well as overseas in the Philippines. He loved being in the Air Force and was proud to serve his country. Upon retiring from the Air Force, he moved his family to Duncan Oklahoma to be close to other family members living there. He worked as a car salesman for Carl Campbell Chevrolet, and then worked for Halliburton. He then worked for Chisholm Machine Shop and ended up partnering in that business. He became interested in metallurgy and opened Trojan Heat Treat. He moved Trojan Heat Treat to Joplin Missouri during the oil field downturn in the 1980s. Leo’s son David joined him in the business in Joplin. Also, during this time Leo and Glenna opened the North 40 Café in Corum Oklahoma near Waurika Lake. Leo visited with the diners and kept things working while Glenna cooked. She made the best burger around and they named it the Hobo Burger in honor of the squadron Leo was in while in Vietnam. David and Donna and their spouses and kids were involved with the North 40 Café and they had a wonderful 10-year run. They sold the North 40 Café in 1990. During that same time, Leo and Glenna travelled back and forth from Duncan to Corum to Joplin which is why their theme song was on “On the road again!” Leo retired from Trojan Heat Treat in 2009.
Leo was very adventurous and was willing to try just about anything once. He skydived when he was 68. He was fun loving, kindhearted and generous, always willing to lend a hand in any situation and to anyone in need.
He was always figuring out ways to make things work better. He loved country music and he loved to dance. He enjoyed tinkering with cars and taught his grandsons a lot about cars and engines. His most favorite pastime was boating and water skiing and he taught his children and his grandchildren how to ski as well. He would teach anyone to ski if they asked and in fact did just that for lots of people who showed up at the lake. He kept skiing until he was 75 years old.
He will be sorely missed by his wife of 71 years, Glenna; his son David Whitlow (wife Pam) of Joplin MO; and his daughter Donna Marks (husband Richard) of Duncan OK. His grandchildren, Tabrina Alexander (husband Andy) of Norman OK, Heath Whitlow of Duncan OK, Adam Marks (wife Jana) of Duncan OK, and Alex Marks (wife Natalie) of Edmond OK have many memories with their Grand Dad as do his great grandchildren, Kayson and Kayden Whitlow, Annistyn Alexander, Maelyn, Emmelyn and Zella Marks, and Ruby and Reagan Marks. He will live on in our hearts.
Online condolences can be made at www.whittfh.com.”