In Plainwell, Michigan, USA we see that commercial heat treater Darby is expanding and adding new equipment which we at “The Monty Heat Treat News” always like seeing. This photo shows the expansion progressing.

“FEBRUARY 9 2022; Darby Metal Treating Appoints New Sales Manager. In Plainwell, Michigan, USA we find family owned commercial heat treater Darby Metal Treating, a company which has made “The Monty Heat Treat News” a couple of times over the years. They grace our pages again today because they just hired a new Sales Manager by the name of David Bates.

David is obviously an experienced fellow who spent over 10 years with commercial heat treating giant Bodycote. While at Bodycote he successfully closed the Melrose Park, IL location while retaining 60% of the customers to other company locations. He also oversaw the launch of the new Elgin facility from site selection to start of production, we would imagine he will do a very good job at Darby.

FEBRUARY 2021; We would be remis if we didn’t mention our most recent news item about Darby, this is from February of 2021 when the firm installed a new gas nitrider;  “Rubig, a furnace manufacturer based in Wels, Austria is in the process of installing a “duo” gas nitrider which can also nitride stainless steels at a company in Michigan. Darby Metal Treating in Plainwell, Michigan is a family owned business and while they offer a number of heat treat processes they really concentrate on vacuum heat treating.”

Where Are They Now? Jeremy St. Pierre. Jeremy is a life long, North American heat treater who has worked with captive heat treaters such as Deloro Stellite, Kennametal, Advanced Power Fusion and auto parts supplier Stackpole International. During his time at Stackpole he was instrumental in making the company the largest vacuum carburizing facility in the world and it is our understanding that during this time period he wrote the chapter in the ASM heat treating handbook about vacuum carburizing. Jeremy recently branched out on his own and is now an independent heat treat consultant in the USA.

In Detroit, Michigan we see that James Cushman a long time employee of Ajax Metal Processing was recently promoted to Vice President of the company. Ajax is a commercial heat treater who also offers plating and wire processing services amongst others.

Salt Pricing-No April Fools Joke. I believe everybody in the heat treat industry has become rather numb to price increases but this one shocked even us. A very large captive heat treater in the US who has a number of austempering lines-they were recently told that come April 1 2022 salt pricing is increasing an amazing 83%! Yikes.

Colson Casters Opens in House Heat Treat Department. Out in Jonesboro Arizona, USA caster manufacturer and in house heat treater has just moved into their brand new facility and started production, production which includes a captive heat treating department; “Move-in and production has begun at the new Colson Caster factory in Jonesboro’s Craighead Technology Park, according to an update from Jonesboro Unlimited on Wednesday. Colson manufactures standard and custom steel caster and wheel products and conducts stamping, heat treatment, welding and plating to assembly, quality assurance and shipping within its facility. The 147,000- SF factory will replace Colson’s long-time site on Airport Road.”

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