According to this press release from furnace builder SECO/WARWICK they recently landed an order from a semi conductor industry supplier on the US west coast;
“SECO/VACUUM’s new partner required an extra-large 2-bar vacuum furnace specific to their unique high-temperature process. Over the years, they had found that their existing fleet of furnaces were difficult to service and replace through the original equipment manufacturer. They explored alternative options and were pleased to find that SECO/VACUUM was able to improve on their existing furnace designs. Not only is the new design more specifically tailored to their needs than their old system, but the custom equipment from SECO/VACUUM could be delivered far sooner than other options.
SECO/WARWICK Group companies are well known as heat treatment equipment manufacturers, but they also have the capabilities and expertise to engineer custom solutions for many other less common thermal processes, particularly those requiring controlled-atmospheres, positive and/or negative pressures and high process purity “Not every thermal process calls for a solution that falls neatly into one of our traditional furnace categories. This one is oversized, has a hot-zone equipped for unconventional features, and will serve an application with different process considerations than most of our furnaces,”- says Piotr Zawistowski, SECO/VACUUM Managing Director.”
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One area of strength for the Metal Treating Institute over the years has always been its line of leadership, and 2025 is no different. At the Fall Meeting’s Final Night Awards Dinner on October 16th in Columbus, OH, 2024 President Ryan Fussell from Southwest Metal Treating passed the gavel to the new 2025 President, Paul Armitage from Service Heat Treating in Milwaukee, WI.
With Service Heat Treating being a Member since 1977, and Paul’s 14 years of Board service, Paul brings a wealth of knowledge, vision, and history to the table as President.
Paul stated, “Being MTI President has always been a dream of mine and I’m honored to serve as President and continue the great work that President’s before me put in motion.”
MTI also announced the new slate of 2025 officers who will join Paul, as well as newly elected Board Members for 3-year terms:
2025 OFFICERS
President
Paul Armitage – Service Heat Treating – Milwaukee, WI
President-Elect
Deidre Minerd – Euclid Heat Treating – Euclid, OH
Treasurer
John Quaglia – Bennett Heat Treating – Newark, NJ
Immediate Past President
Ryan Fussell – Southwest Metal Treating Corp – Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
NEWLY ELECTED BOARD MEMBERS
Atlantic Coast Chapter
Bob Lyman – Eastern Metal Treating – Springfield, OH
At Large
Dave Secrist – Induction Heat Treating Corp – Crystal Lake, IL
Andrew Orr – Penna Flame Industries – Zelienople, PA
Martin Balk – Hansen Balk Steel Treating – Grand Rapids, MI
Roy Adkins – Braddock Metal Treating – Daytona Beach, FL
The Metal Treating Institute is a non-profit trade association representing the largest network of heat treaters in the world. MTI helps heat treaters succeed by driving prosperity through innovation and collaboration.
FPM Heat Treating is thrilled to announce the acquisition of a cutting-edge vacuum furnace from Solar Manufacturing, representing a significant investment in FPM’s growing capabilities to serve the manufacturing community, especially in the automotive and aerospace sectors. This advanced furnace is fully compliant with NFPA, NADCAP, AMS, CQI-9, and other critical industry standards.
This acquisition is driven by an increasing demand for a specialized family of parts, projected to rise steadily through the end of the decade. The new furnace boasts an impressive operating temperature of up to 2400°F and a weight capacity of 5,000 pounds, making it ideal for specialized heat treatment cycles critical for automotive components. Its versatile design can also handle precise specifications for applications within consumer products and the military/aerospace sectors, all while eliminating intergranular oxidation.
With flexible programmability, the Solar vacuum furnace enables a wide range of thermal cycles, perfectly suited to meet the demands of a dynamic commercial heat treating operation.
“We are committed to meeting the growing demands of our clients in the manufacturing community,” said Bob Ferry, Vice President of Quality and Engineering. “The new Solar furnace enhances our capabilities and enables us to maintain the highest standards of quality and efficiency in our operations.”
FPM and Solar Manufacturing remain committed to advancing the manufacturing capabilities and enhancing service quality for our valued customers. The addition of this advanced vacuum furnace is a testament to the dedication to innovation and excellence in the manufacturing sector for both companies.
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 Solar Manufacturing contact Pete Reh, VP of Sales, at 267-384-5040 x1509, or via email [email protected] or visit us at solarmfg.com.
Topic:
Carbon Potential control
SCADA Systems
Pyrometry requeriments
Endo Atomosphere, control & test
Endo Generators
And more!!!
Date: Nov 14th 2024
Where: Fiesta Inn Hotel Puerto Interior, Silao, Gto., Gto.
Located in Syracuse, NY, USA “Schilling Forge” is a 45 year old company which provides forgings for a variety of industries such as cutlery and medical. It would appear that it is a company which believes in keeping everything in house and this includes heat treating. Schilling has just received a new Gasbarre car bottom furnace whidh will increase their annealing capacity by 67%-the furnace can be seen in these photos.
About Gasbarre; Family owned and run furnace builder “Gasbarre” is ranked as one of the “Largest New Furnace Builders in North America“ according to “The Monty Heat Treat News”. The company operates out of a new facility in St. Marys, PA which can be seen in this photo. For more information about the company we would suggest this interview with the President of the company, Mr. Ben Gasbarre.
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MTI is excited to announce this year’s industry award winners. Recipients were honored during the Final Night Awards Dinner on October 16th, at the 2024 Fall Meeting in Columbus, OH. Service and volunteering are true investments in the industry, by any individual and company. Each volunteer commits their time and expenses to participate on committees or the Board of Trustees. MTI volunteers truly believe in being a part of a movement bigger than themselves. MTI thanks all of our volunteers for their dedication to making MTI a world-class organization for its membership.
Following is the full list of individuals and companies who were recognized for their excellence, leadership, and service in the heat treating industry:
Commercial Heat Treater of the Year Award Bennett Heat Treating – Newark, NJ
MTI Associate of the Year Steeltech – Grand Rapids, MI
Heritage Award Buster Crossley – Texas Heat Treating – Round Rock, TX
Award of Industry Merit Rob Simon – Paulo Products – St. Louis
M. Lance Miller Legend Award Pete Hushek – Phoenix Heat Treating – Phoenix, AZ
Distinguished Service Award Ben Gasbarre – Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems – Livonia, MI andHeather Falcone – Thermal-Vac Technology – Orange, CA
MTI Presidents Award Heather Falcone – Thermal-Vac Technology – Orange, CA
August 12th of this year “The Monty Heat Treat News” had a news item about the second largest commercial heat treater in the Chicago area, “Metals Technology Corp.” entering receivership, we can now provide an update on this story;
“Plante Moran”, a company in the Chicago area was tasked with restructuring the company which ideally meant finding a buyer who would continue to run “MTC” as an ongoing commercial heat treater-it would appear that they were successful. According to this abbreviated statement from Sandor Jacobson, CPA | Partner | Restructuring at “Plante Moran”, “SWD”, a leader in the metal finishing and fastener sorting fields has signed a letter of intent to purchase the company. The details are below;
“I am happy to report that MTC’s operations remain stable, and MTC’s business has been unaffected by my appointment. I have continued to retain all the existing employees and management personnel, and MTC is operating in the ordinary course. MTC’s secured lender continues to support our sales process to facilitate a transition to new ownership through a going concern, turn-key sale of the MTC assets.
After running an exhaustive sales process, I am excited to report that I have signed a letter of intent agreement with SWD, Inc., or its assignee (SWD). SWD is a recognized leader in the metal finishing and fastener sorting fields. It has over 200 employees and runs three shifts per day in its 200,000 sq. ft. facility just west of Chicago in Addison, Illinois. My counsel is working with counsel for SWD on a definitive asset purchase agreement (the “APA”) and we hope to close on a direct sale to SWD subject to court approval in January 2025. SWD intends to continue the operations of MTC as is where is and maintaining the customer base will be a critical factor in us getting to a closing.”
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According to our readers the most read heat treatment news items on “The Monty Heat Treat News” for the week starting October 21, 2024 include an item about a new Heat Treatment facility in Tenesses, USA, a LPC installation in Germany and a profile about commercial heat treater Parker Trutec in Springfield, Ohio;
Fastener Manufacturer “Simpson Strong Tie” Investing in New Heat Treat Department; Simpson Strong Tie, is a global supplier of fastening systems for the building industry-this is how they describe themselves; “Simpson Strong-Tie is the world leader in structural solutions — products and technology that help people design and build safer, stronger homes, buildings, and communities. As a pioneer in the building industry, we have an unmatched passion for problem solving through skillful engineering and thoughtful innovation. Our structural systems research and rigorous testing enable us to design code-listed, value-engineered solutions for a multitude of applications in wood, steel, and concrete structures. Our dedication to pursuing ever-better construction products and technology and to surrounding our customers with exceptional service and support has been core to our mission since 1956.”
Back in late 2023 the company announced a major investment at a facility in Tennessee, USA and it appears that this includes a new, in-house heat treatment facility. “The Monty” has been led to believe that this will include two brand new batch IQ lines and 2 mesh belt furnace lines with the orders placed recently. If this is true it would mean that production in the heat treat department would commence roughly 1 year from now.
European Gear Manufacturer Installs LPC System;Kordel Antriebstechnik GmbH based in Dülmen, Germany is a manufacturer of “high end” gear and drive systems and a company which believes in keeping all parts of the manufacturing process in house from gear blank to a finished gearbox. This includes heat treating which brings us to this news item.
Traditionally the company has heat treated their products in “standard” atmosphere furnaces, however it would appear that this is changing and the company recently added a Low Pressure Vacuum Carburizing system provided by IHI Machinery & Furnace Company. For many of you, especially North Americans the IHI name is probably a new one which deserves some more details. IHI is a Japanese furnace builder who has systems in Europe and many parts of the world with the exception of North America-as far as we know the firm has no installs in North America and does not appear to be actively marketing their products here. The system (which is shown in this photo) is a fully automated “lights out” installation with 4 carburizing cells.
Our host for the tour was Mr. Shannon Ricciardo, Vice President, Sales and Marketing for the company. Shannon brings a wealth of knowledge to the position having worked on the production side of the of the business for over 20 years before moving into a sales role. Shannon shared with us the history of the company, information about their various North American locations and a very in depth plant tour-this is what we learned;
In 1928 parent company Nihon Parkerizing was established in Tokyo, Japan, this eventually resulted in Nihon Parkerizing establishing “Trutec, Inc.” in Urbana, Ohio, a facility which exists to this day and which offers surface treatment. This investment in turn resulted in Nihon Parkerizing setting up their first North American heat treat facility under the name “Trutec, Inc.” located in Springfield, Ohio. In 2003 the name was changed to “Parker Trutec, Inc.”, and through an acquisition the company added plants in Arkansas, and Tennessee.
The end result is that “Parker Trutec” now has 6 locations throughout North America including Springfield, Ohio, Urbana, Ohio, Sevierville, Tennessee, Kodak Tennessee and Paragould, Arkansas. Under the Nihon Parkerizing group company Parker Trutec Mexicana are locations in Irapuato, Mexico and Aguascalientes, Mexico. To some extent each facility has some of the same capabilities as the other plants but this is certainly not universal. For instance, Gas Carburizing, Gas Soft Nitriding, Carbonitriding and neutral hardening are exclusive to the Springfield and Mexico locations while Ferritic Nitrocarburizing and Isonite QPQ are offered in Springfield, Ohio, Sevierville, Tennessee, Paragould, Arkansas and Mexico.
It is certainly no surprise that “Parker Trutec’s” core business is centered on the automotive industry but it would be incorrect to assume that it largely serves Japanese automakers. In actual fact only 60% of their business is for Japanese firms with the remainder for North American and European companies. Our visit to the Springfield plant revealed almost exactly what we expected to see, a large, clean, modern facility much larger than the average commercial heat treat which is borne out by the fact that it has over 150 employees. In terms of equipment this is what we saw;
Salt Bath Nitriding Furnaces (FNC) processing our Isonite process to AMS 2755 (High Cyanide Salt).
Salt Bath Nitriding Furnaces (FNC) processing our Isonite QPQ process to AMS 2753 (Low Cyanide Salt).
Salt Bath Nitriding Furnaces (FNC) processing our Isonite LiFe process.
Gas Ferritic Carburizing Furnaces (FNC) processing to AMS 2757.
Batch Carburizing with Dowa, Surface Combustion and AFC-Holcroft Furnaces.
Vacuum Degreasing Systems for pre- and post-carburizing.
Hanging and barrel shotblasters.
Vibratory polishing equipment.
And does Parker Trutec deserve to be on our list of the 50 Largest Commercial Heat Treaters in North America? With heat treat sales of roughly $45 million USD and total sales of approximately $56 million USD the answer is an unqualified YES.
Solar Atmospheres Greenville, SC facility is pleased to announce it has been awarded Parker Aerospace approval. This achievement expands Solar Atmospheres’ reach, offering five facilities able to assist customers with Parker Aerospace thermal processing requirements.
Steve Prout, President of Solar Atmospheres’ Greenville facility, shared: “We are excited to provide our customers in the Southeastern U.S. with another regional solution for aerospace and defense thermal processing. This approval allows us to save our customers time and money while maintaining the exceptional quality they expect.”
Solar Atmospheres offers a wide range of vacuum thermal processing services, capable of handling development cycles and loads of up to 50,000 pounds at temperatures as high as 2400°F. As an AS9100 and Nadcap-accredited company, Solar Atmospheres ensures every product meets the highest industry standards, giving customers confidence in the reliability and precision of their heat treatments.
For additional information on our processing options and our capabilities, contact Mike Paponetti at [email protected], and visit us at www.solaratm.com, or call 1-855-934-3284.
If you are involved in commercial heat treating in Europe or North America, we can guarantee that you have run across the name “Aalbert Surface Technologies” as Aalberts is the second largest commercial heat treater on both continents (https://themonty.com/articles/the-montys-50-largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treaters-2024/). So it was with eager anticipation that Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” looked forward to visiting one of their larger locations in Europe located in Remscheid, Germany.
The last time we visited this location was over 20 years ago and we expected changes and changes we found. The facility is still the same size, a very impressive 10,000 square meters (110,000 square feet) but the nature of the equipment has changed over the years to reflect changes in commercial heat treating. As an example, this facility used to have a very substantial number of continuous style furnaces, this has now changed to more batch type systems. This includes a total of 11 batch IQ furnaces, 3 vacuum nitriders and two mesh belt furnace lines.
The whole facility even “feels” different in that most of the plant is cleaner, brighter and more spacious. While their main customers remain the auto industry it is obvious that the plant is looking at “diversifying” which most commercial heat treaters in Germany are also looking at.
The Plant Manager “Mr. Marcus Reuter”, gave us a very in depth tour the highlight of which is a brand new “sealed quench” (batch IQ for our North American readers) line provided by Ipsen. It features two new “XXL” units with companion tempers, endothermic generators and a “HEMO” washer. The entire line is completely automated and entered production fairly recently.
We commend Marcus on what he has done, it is obvious that he has a vision-a vision which he is turning into reality.
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