1) “The Monty Heat Treat News” always enjoys the opportunity to speak with one of the foremost furnace builders in the world, “SECO/WARWICK” and today is no exception. We last spoke with the CEO of the company, Mr.  Sławomir Woźniak when he was first appointed CEO of the company a few years back-the interview can still be found at https://themonty.com/interviews/mr-slawomir-wozniak-president-ceo-of-seco-warwick/

Sławomir, I have to ask, how are you enjoying the experience as CEO of Seco-has it proven to be more or less challenging than you thought?

“Considering how the last five years have looked globally, I have to say that it was a huge challenge. But almost every manager of a large company can say that. No one could have predicted the Covid-19 pandemic or the subsequent outbreak of war in Ukraine. These events required decisive, quick actions from manufacturing companies, and also revalued the business and the approach to it. We decided to focus on providing services locally to reduce logistics costs, build our own independence, increase delivery’s safety and timeliness and additionally, to eliminate the risk of an interrupted supply chain. The labor market has changed, the war caused rapid changes in the rare metals and raw materials’ market, which in turn influenced a new approach to our goals and strategy. We redefined the development directions, working to improve competitiveness, at the same time we always knew that the SECO/WARWICK Group’s development must be consistent with the direction set by the green transformation. For years, we have been adapting our range to the industry’s key trends and to the our customers’ expectations. Thanks to this, our solutions allow us to increase the heat treatment processes’ efficiency and save raw materials and energy used in the processes.

So, when you ask me if it was a challenge, I can only answer: yes, it was. However, thanks to the SECO/WARWICK team, each of the daily challenges related to running this business is successfully solved. The fact that I have a professional, committed and loyal team at my disposal makes this work a pleasure.” 

 2) I don’t believe there is a furnace company in the world as diverse as SECO/WARWICK in terms of product offerings. Standard vacuum furnaces, sealed quench furnaces (batch IQ furnaces for North American readers), nitriding furnaces and furnaces for the steel industry-SECO/WARWICK makes them all. First off please give us a better idea about what SECO/WARWICK offers and second, this leads to the obvious question-do you stretch yourselves too thin by offering this many products?

“We are indeed comprehensive in providing solutions for metal heat treatment and metallurgy. In my opinion, and more importantly in the opinion of our Partners, this is an advantage. Today, the SECO/WARWICK Group includes companies located on three continents in five countries. This is over 4,000 implemented solutions in five product areas. Thanks to such a structured business, both local and product diversification, we serve customers comprehensively. The automotive, aviation, energy and commercial heat-treating industries use various technologies and product solutions. We can deliver them all. One manufacturer means the possibility of combining solutions and technologies, faster service or lower logistics costs during deliveries. On the other hand, for SECO/WARWICK it is also an important revenues diversification. 

In recent years, we have focused on the technologies and processes’ development and standardization. Vacuum furnaces are products which are already very standardized. This allows for greater attention towards tailor-made products. Standardization also means greater experience, the needs’ broader knowledge and understanding, as well as the offered solutions’ certainty (verifiability). Importantly, they are equipped with solutions opening the green door to heavy industry. The second important decision was to invest in CAB technology and create a product brand (EV/CAB) dedicated to the electric vehicle sector. Our continuous aluminum brazing lines operate at almost all key manufacturers of electric vehicle components. We also produce them in Asia, which significantly shortened delivery times and reduced costs. 

It was undoubtedly important to implement the Group’s development strategy for 2023-2026, which assumes at least double-digit revenue growth in each of our segments by 2026, and even triple-digit growth in some of them, so the plan is very ambitious. We assume that thanks to strategic initiatives, in 2026 it will be possible to achieve the Group’s total revenues of over PLN 980 million (while in 2023 we achieved a turnover of PLN 684 million) and the highest growth should be achieved in the vacuum metallurgy (VME) segment. We also assume an increase in results proportional to sales. The first year of our work under the new strategy, i.e. 2023, brought a 10% increase in revenues compared to 2022. We are working to at least maintain this trend in the coming years.” 

3) This question ties in with the previous one-are there any heat treat technologies which SECO/WARWICK doesn’t currently offer that you are looking at?

“Of course, we are constantly researching trends, and our research centers are working both on improving the technology offered and on completely new solutions. However, unfortunately I cannot answer this question specifically yet, because the solutions being developed are in the key phase of research and pilot production. I assure you, however, that SECO/WARWICK will definitely surprise everyone positively more than once. We plan to provide more details in the first half of 2025.” 

4) We recently had a press release from your company about how well SECO/WARWICK North America was doing-a very impressive history of your efforts in North America in the past year. What about your other geographic areas? Mainstream media keeps reporting that Europe is languishing these days in terms of investment, is this what you are finding?

“Yes, we did have an impressive year in the North American market. But other regions are doing very well too. In April, we opened a new plant in India. The plant is 4,000 square meters in size and is located in a special economic zone near Pune, where a lot of industrial factories, which are our current and potential customers, are located. We thought this investment through very carefully. India is one of the fastest developing countries in the world with gigantic production needs. Own production here means that we do not have to organize expensive logistics and transport for our furnaces. It is very important that SECO/WARWICK brand products fulfill the promise of high quality regardless of where they are manufactured. That is why we have conducted a very thorough and long training process which guarantees this quality. 

The SECO/WARWICK’s strength is, on the one hand, globality and a uniform high level of know-how for the entire Group, and at the same time, locality understood as the ability to adapt to the local market needs, also in the business communication field. Today, the Chinese branch can produce 20 CAB lines, 8-10 VAC vacuum furnaces and 2-3 VME furnaces per year. Both of our production plants in China are 10,000 square meters, so we have doubled the area in the last year. We are also systematically increasing employment to meet production challenges.

When it comes to the European market, of course, globally, a production reduction can be felt on the Old Continent. This is related, on the one hand, to the high costs of doing business in Europe compared to other places, and on the other hand, to restrictive legal regulations related to ecology. However, we respond to these challenges by offering solutions reducing both costs and CO₂ emissions.”  

5) Sticking with the very successful year that SECO/WARWICK North America had we have to ask-why? What led to this success?

“Indeed, all three American companies belonging to the SECO/WARWICK Group have increased ​​their facilities’ area, the employees’ number and sales over the last few years. The first half of 2024 was exceptionally intense for American companies, because we see a very large increase in industrial activity in this part of the world. Last year, the American market accounted for 37% of the SECO/WARWICK Group’s sales. All three companies are currently expanding their capacities, enlarging production halls and warehouse areas. We also opened a branch in Mexico, to reach Partners from Latin America more effectively. We are observing increased activity of companies on the American market, hence the orders number increase. I think that we should also congratulate our sales teams in this part of the world, who with their professionalism and knowledge, convince more customers to SECO/WARWICK.” 

6) COVID-19 and its effect on the global supply chain are now in our rear-view mirror, thank goodness-are things back to normal as far as deliveries and supply issues?

“Fortunately, these turbulences are behind us. It was an important lesson for business in general. At SECO/WARWICK, we decided to focus on providing services locally to reduce logistics costs, build our own independence, increase the deliveries’ safety, timeliness and additionally, to eliminate the risk of an interrupted supply chain. Today, a potential repeat of 2019 would not surprise us. We are much better prepared to cope in such an extreme business situation.” 

7) Let’s talk about what really excites us and all of our readers-what is new in the world of heat treatment both for SECO/WARWICK and the industry in general? Are you seeing any really substantial changes? Are customers’ requirements changing? How about vacuum vs: atmosphere-are you seeing a drift toward vacuum over atmosphere or the reverse?

“Customer requirements have been the same for years: they want to receive a high-quality, durable, reliable, efficient and cost-effective product. In addition, there is the issue of ecology, which is increasingly being discussed in companies. At SECO/WARWICK, we implement innovative and technological solutions allowing for many ecological changes in the energy, aviation, automotive and recycling industries. In this way, we change the world for the better, ecologically, which is why we say that we create green solutions for heat treatment and metallurgy. Vacuum technologies have a number of advantages over atmosphere furnaces. Many of our customers are switching from atmosphere to vacuum. Quite recently, one of our Partners from the USA decided to decommission nine sintering furnaces after 40 years of SECO/WARWICK solutions’ reliable operation and replace them with modern solutions from the vacuum furnace family. I am convinced that there will be more such situations in the future.”

8) Speaking of vacuum vs; atmosphere-what about Low Pressure Carburizing (LPC)? It seems like just a short time ago that many predictions had LPC taking over the entire carburizing market at the expense of atmosphere, this has clearly not happened. What LPC solutions does SECO/WARWICK have and do you see this as a growing market? 

“In my opinion, this is still a valid thesis. Vacuum and LPC technology will certainly gradually replace atmospheric solutions. LPC technology used in many of our brand’s vacuum furnaces allows for the process time multiple reduction and the energy and process gases’ consumption reduction, which directly affects the reduction of production costs and the CO2 emissions’ reduction to negligible values ​​while improving the results’ quality compared to traditional technology. LOW PRESSURE CARBURIZING (LPC) is, for example, a green alternative to carburizing processes. It is used in vacuum furnaces known to the market under the brands CaseMaster Evolution, Pit–LPC and Vector. It results in a five-time reduction of carburizing time, which leads to the costs and energy consumption reduction. Therefore, this technology will undoubtedly be the heat treatment’s future. We are already seeing a greater demand for this type of equipment in the automotive and aviation industries, and both of them are, to some extent, global trends’ determinants. Of course, there will still be customers who, for various reasons, prefer atmospheric solutions, but when it comes to future trends, SECO/WARWICK is betting on vacuum. 

9) As a North American we can say that CO2 emissions are a very low priority for the vast bulk of captive and commercial heat treaters, so low that it doesn’t enter into most heat treaters deliberations when it comes to purchasing furnaces, Europe of course is different. This leads to this question-do you take this into consideration with your marketing efforts? In other words, do you emphasize CO2 emissions more when you are marketing in Europe as opposed to Asia or North America?

“In our marketing communication, we want to be authentic above all. SECO/WARWICK solutions are ecological, and ecology is important to SECO/WARWICK, so we talk about it. Even in the USA.

But it is worth remembering that ecology is usually accompanied by savings related to, for example, lower process gases’ consumption. So, it is always a win-win situation.  An example is the ZeroFlow technology, which allows for the technological costs’ and process gases’ emissions reduction by up to several dozen percent. Another solution – Vortex reduces the processing time of elements by up to 30% compared to other available technologies. This increases productivity, and consequently reduces energy consumption and costs. An example of an ecological and at the same time economical solution, this time from the ​​vacuum metallurgy area, is the JetCaster VIM DS/SC DGCC vacuum casting system with a gas crystallization method. This solution is designed for the production of precise multi-variant and large-scale casting of gas turbine blades with a single crystal microstructure for the aviation industry. It shortens the crystallization time by 50%, increases production efficiency by 82%, reduces production energy consumption by 40% and limits cooling water consumption by 50%. It is hard not to see here that ecology pays off. In turn, LPC technology allows for the process time multiple reduction and the energy and process gases’ consumption reduction, which directly affects the production costs’ and the CO2 emissions’ reduction to negligible values ​​while improving the results’ quality compared to traditional technology. These arguments, believe me, hit the nail on the head on all continents.” 

10) During your time as CEO SECO/WARWICK has been very successful with both sales and profit up and market share growing-what are you most proud of?

“I am probably most proud of the new strategy implementation for the Group, which will enable us to achieve, by 2026, twice the sales growth dynamics than in the “organic” scenario. Thanks to strategic initiatives, it will be possible to achieve an increase in revenues by approximately $86 million compared to 2022, including approximately $43 million in additional revenues compared to the development scenario “business as it is” – CAGR 2022-2026 revenues in the strategic scenario +12,1%. 

In line with the Group’s strategy, in the period 2022-2026, we anticipate at least a double-digit increase in revenues in each segment. A product gaining importance is the VAB solution, i.e. furnaces for vacuum aluminum brazing. I am proud of the fact that we are constantly developing, we are able to adapt to the current situation, in very different markets. We are flexible and innovative, which allows us to conquer the market. I cannot fail to mention the SECO/WARWICK team. The company today employs over 850 employees, of which approximately 60% are engineers, owns two R&D centers (in Poland and the United States) and serves customers from over 70 countries around the world. I am proud to say that SECO/WARWICK is one of the global leaders in heat treatment and metallurgy technologies.” 

11) Sławomir I always enjoy our conversations; can we make a date to do another interview in 2 years? Possibly at SECO/WARWICK headquarters? Thank you, Gord

“Of course, you are always welcome at SECO/WARWICK and apparently we will see each other next year.”

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