Gord, “great” isn’t exactly how I would describe myself! I’m sure others have a few different words in mind…  My history is simple: back in university, I translated Ion Nitriding documents from German to English for my father’s company to earn some spending money—alongside delivering pizzas in my GTO. My dad’s company was part of a larger furnace group. After graduating and spending some time in commercial banking, I joined him when he started his own company. The rest is history.

I started to really enjoy furnaces and heat treating, learning about furnaces, combustion, and heat treating from an expert—my dad, who had over 60 patents. While I have an MBA, I have always had a passion for designing things and figuring out how to market complex equipment. The furnace market is not easy. You can’t learn this business in five years. It’s taken me 38 years, and I still feel like I don’t know enough. But like a seasoned quarterback, I can “see the field”—and that counts for something.

2) Your title is “President, Nitrex/UPC-Marathon/GM Enterprises,” which covers a lot of ground. Could you walk us through the divisions and your responsibilities?

In January, ownership came to me and said, “We’re too corporate. We need to be leaner—and we need someone from the industry to run things.” So, they combined Nitrex, UPC-Marathon, and GM Enterprises—which includes operations in China, Germany, Poland, and France—and said, “You’re it.”  No large corporate marketing team. No corporate CFO or CEO.  Just me handling furnaces and heat treat equipment, and Jason Orosz managing the Heat-Treating Services business, which is now separate.

We both run our respective companies as sole officers and report to the board. We’re lean and focused, and we know our businesses and our markets. One of the biggest advantages is that I am plugged in and involved in everything from design and sales to contracts and customer support. It can be a bit overwhelming, but sometimes I still mentally call on my late father for guidance. After 38 years, I just trust my instincts and my training. It’s refreshing.

3) Let’s start with vacuum furnaces—specifically, your GM Enterprises division. What’s the history there and what products do you offer?

We acquired GM Enterprises in very early 2020 because of their strong reputation in Aerospace and because it’s Made in the USA. When I came on board in 2021, I realized the GM team had built some truly impressive designs—like our VPA coating furnaces for turbine blades. GM has built just about every size and style of vacuum furnace you could need. With nearly 40 years of history and several long-time employees still with us, there’s deep experience and real craftsmanship behind our products.

4) I’ve seen several GM installations over the years, and they always seem to be on the larger side. Is that accurate?

Gord, you’ve got a good eye. I noticed the same and asked our engineers about it. Turns out, our furnaces are built with slightly different dimensions—for good reasons. We use thicker materials and wider channel spacing for the water-cooling shell, slightly larger plenums, and we build in extra tolerance space in the loading. All that adds up to nearly 12 inches in additional diameter. The benefit is longer life, better cooling, easier TUS surveys, and fewer maintenance issues like water blockage.

Of course, that also means higher manufacturing costs. So this year, we introduced a new line called “Fusion.” It leverages many features from our Aerospace-proven designs but at a more competitive price point.

5) One of your customers once raved about your “removable hot zone” feature. Is that a standard option? Do any competitors offer it?

I think you mean the “movable” hot zone design. It was definitely an innovative idea—but ultimately, too costly. That said, we could absolutely build it again if someone wanted it.

6) How much do you push the envelope on vacuum furnace design? What’s the most unusual or advanced system you’ve built?

Vacuum furnaces are a mature product—competitors have been refining them since the 1970s. What sets us apart today is our attention to detail. Our hot zones are rock solid. No shortcuts. We don’t build for stock—we custom design every furnace to meet our customer’s specific needs. And we’re not afraid to take on challenges that others might shy away from. That’s our niche.

Our MIM (3D/additive manufacturing) furnaces are rather unique.  We are really pushing this advanced design and we have new offerings in this market.

7) Is the North American vacuum furnace market becoming saturated? There are already several established builders—and now a startup is entering the space. Is there room for more?

There are certainly solid furnace builders in North America. If you’re not buying from us, I’d at least advise buying from someone with real experience. I remember a customer once warning me that my design of a high-temp fan wheel better not fail—he was nearing retirement and couldn’t risk a bad decision. That’s always stuck with me.

Starting a furnace company from scratch is incredibly difficult. You need skilled workers, reliable vendors, thousands of drawings, and deep experience. Even small changes carry risks. Imagine being the first customer to drop seven figures on an unproven design. Personally, I’d never do it.

8) Let’s talk about QMULUS, your cloud-based software—a product I know you are very proud of. What does it offer heat treaters, and why should they care?

Do you want to know your profit after every furnace run? Compare energy usage across furnaces? Remotely access your systems? Store all your quality data in the cloud—including AMS 2750H TUS runs?  Need your carbon footprint or want to compare quoting a job on different furnaces? QMULUS does all of that—and more.

Even captive shops need cost center analysis. QMULUS is built to provide that kind of insight and organized data automatically.

9) There’s some competition in the space—what makes QMULUS stand out?
Answer:

I’ve been working with computer controls and data acquisition since the early ’90s, and most competitors haven’t evolved much. QMULUS goes far beyond SCADA and controls. We monitor furnace health, provide predictive maintenance, give you online manuals, AI/ML-powered analytics, and remote access via smartphone.

We even offer simulators for carburizing and gas nitriding. It took years of development, a lot of money, and serious brainpower—but the result is something no one else in the industry has. No other furnace company, and no garage-built control panel shop can touch it. Only Nitrex / UPC-Marathon has this advanced platform.

10) Does QMULUS fall under the UPC-Marathon banner?

Yes. Since UPC deals directly with heat treaters—selling probes, controllers, sensors, and flow products—it made sense to house QMULUS there. Plus, we offer a free trial of QMULUS with every furnace we sell, which is a great tool for our furnace sales team.

11) Tariffs have been a hot topic. Has Nitrex been affected? I assume you’re relatively immune due to your global footprint?

We’re global, but not immune. For example, all our gas nitriders are made in Poland, and we’ve definitely been hit by tariffs. It’s getting more difficult to manufacture outside the U.S. for the U.S. market—tariffs are unpredictable, and currency shifts add another layer of complexity.

Fortunately, we’ve got two plants in the U.S.—GM Enterprises and UPC in Milwaukee—and we’re now building vacuum furnaces and hot zones in Europe too. Still, tariffs have forced us to rethink our manufacturing footprint.

12) Heat treat business conditions vary widely—from weak in parts of Europe to average in North America. What are you seeing?

It’s been a mixed bag globally. Just recently, we had orders from the Middle East, Bulgaria, and Turkey—but none from Western Europe! That’s slowly improving. The European slowdown came from poor decisions in Automotive and the impact of the Ukraine conflict.

Things are picking up, though. We’re seeing more new orders. Some competitors and customers didn’t make it through the downturn, but we’ve held strong. We just got an order from a small South American country—that’s always exciting.

Turkey’s coming back, China is steady, North America is decent, and India is active. Aerospace has really carried us. In fact, we doubled our vacuum hot zone orders compared to last year, and now we’re building hot zones in Europe too. And yes—we still have capacity. Call us!

Mark, I appreciate your time and your very candid answers. I look forward to seeing you somewhere in the world this year.

Gord, I need to get up to the Georgian Bay to see you! I loved that area when I was much younger.

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