Last week "Gord Montgomery" of "The Monty Heat Treat News" had a chance to spend some time with "Mr. Salvador Alvarado", General Manager of furnace controls company SSi during the "ASM Heat Treat Mexico" exhibition in Monterrey, Mexico. Very few individuals have seen as much of the heat treat market in Mexico, so we took advantage of the time to ask Salvador a few questions about the Mexican heat treat market-these are his answers'

• Salvador you are General Manager of furnace controls company "SSi Mexico"-tell us how you ended up in the heat treatment industry in general and with "SSi" in particular. "By background I am a chemical engineer and also a metallurgical engineer. I started my career in "high end" pyrometry and from there moved on to "SSi Mexico in 2011. From 2011 to 2020 I was Operations Manager, before becoming General Manager in 2020, a position I still hold."

• Tell us about "SSi Mexico". "I am very proud of our tremendous growth over the years. We have grown to a total of 25 employees in Mexico, 22 are in our Querétaro office, three are in our Saltillo location and we will shortly have a new office in Nuevo Leon with at least one field service engineer. Our employees include Metallurgists, field service engineers and pyrometry experts.

• Tell us about the heat treat market in Mexico, what are the main industries and where are they located? "Without a doubt automotive is #1, Aerospace #2, with Agriculture and Heavy Equipment #3. Querétaro and Monterrey are the hub of automotive heat treating with Aerospace concentrate in western Mexico, although there is a growing aerospace sector around Querétaro which includes firms such as Safran. Chihuahua is also a hut of aerospace heat treating."

• How significant is the aerospace industry in Mexico? "The aerospace segment was virtually nonexistent in Mexico not that many years ago, however it has been growing by leaps and bounds the past few years and is now the fastest growing heat treat segment in Mexico."

• Is heat treating growing, remaining constant or shrinking in Mexico? " I would estimate that commercial and captive heat treating in Mexico is growing at a pace of 10% per year."

• Who are the main suppliers to the heat treatment industry in Mexico? "While a number of furnace builders from the USA and Europe subcontract some work to local firms in Mexico, the only substantial furnace builder in the country is "Mattsa". I am proud to say that "SSi Mexico" is by far the largest supplier of furnace controls. Alloy components such as base trays, fixtures, radiant tubes, etc. come from a wide variety of sources including suppliers in China, India, France and the USA. Chinese alloy suppliers in particular are gaining market share although "Cronite" is probably the largest supplier."

• Is it an issue finding good people in Mexico? "There are quite a few good people to be found in the Mexican heat treat industry, however because the market is growing employees have a great deal of flexibility in who they work for. If you treat your employees right they have little incentive to look elsewhere."

• Is there much investment in new heat treat equipment? "Yes, is the short answer! Having said that, I should clarify that while there are quite a few new furnaces being installed, there is almost as much being investment in updating furnaces and controls-modernization of existing equipment is how I would describe it. It is very interesting to us that there is a lot of investment in new control systems in preparation for more "Artificial Intelligence".

• One final question Salvador-how large is the commercial heat treat market in Mexico? " While there are no official numbers, I would suggest that commercial heat treating occupies 5-10% of the total heat treat market. Some of the larger players include; Bodycote, CRIO, ETSA, ALD, Tecnotrat and Bati and other companies".

Salvador I very much appreciate your time and your willingness to share your knowledge of the heat treat industry in Mexico. Sincerely Gord Montgomery