Lets start with some basic background; “The Winning BLW Group develops, produces and sells drive and synchronization elements for the automotive industry at 3 locations in Germany. With more than 72 years of experience in the field of precision forming, the company is an innovative and competent partner to the national and international automotive industry as well as its suppliers Home – Winning BLW GmbH”.

As you would expect the firm’s heat treating requirements are substantial and for its most recent facility in Penzberg, Germany the company turned to one of the largest commercial heat treaters in the country “Hanomag” for assistance in their heat treating needs Hanomag: Home (haertecenter.de) (to find out the relative size of Hanomag we would suggest this ranking as provided by “The Monty Heat Treat News” Largest European Commercial Heat Treaters | The Monty).

The end result is that “Hanomag” is in the final stages of setting up a “state of the art” heat treat facility in the new Winning BLW facility in Penzberg, Germany. When this location is in full production in 2024 it will have over 300 employees producing components for the heavy truck industry. Next year the company will require 6,600 tons of product per year to be heat treated and to do this Hanomag has set up a very impressive in house heat treat department which when completed will include 7 Aichelin Sealed Quench furnaces (batch IQ for our North American readers), each with a capacity of 2,000 kg, an Ipsen Sealed quench furnace with similar dimensions, an Ipsen rotary hearth furnace, ancillary equipment and annealing capacity which is yet to come.

The heat treat department will be staffed by roughly 25 individuals all of whom will be Hanomag employees. Currently the furnaces are just entering production with full production expected in 2024. The Aichelin sealed quench line is completely automated and can be considered a “lights out operation”. All furnaces are gas fired with atmosphere provided by 3 endothermic generators, atmosphere is controlled by oxygen probes with portable 3 gas analyzers and regular shim stock checks providing backup.

While this location’s heat treating needs are being provided by Hanomag, Winnings’ Munich location handles their own in house heat treating which includes nitriding and vacuum hardening. A number of the largest commercial heat treaters in the world have targeted in house heat treating departments as a natural progression for their businesses but it is still not a common occurrence. This is one of the best examples we have seen and while this project is in it’s initial stages it would at this point in time appear to be a “win/win” situation for both companies. These photos tell the rest of the story.

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