Monday Morning Briefing
According to this press release Voestalpine in the Czech Republic recently added a Nitrex Nitriding system. While we personally have not had a chance to visit this particular facility we have seen several around the world including this one in South Africa and we can say that without exception each is absolutely top notch in terms of heat treating technology; “The High Performance Metals Division of Voestalpine AG in the Czech Republic has expanded its heat treatment capabilities with the addition of a Nitrex system for nitriding and surface hardening stainless steel for various applications. The new pit-type furnace, an NX-820 model, is configured to process 31.5″ diameter by 78.75″ high (800 mm by 2000 mm) workloads that weigh up to 3850 lbs (1750 kg) and complements a prior Nitrex system installed in 2008 that combined NitregR-C gas nitrocarburizing technology with ONCR post-oxidizing technology for processing firearms.
As part of the new system order, Voestalpine and Nitrex have expanded their cooperation, granting Voestalpine the exclusive rights to commercialize NitregR-S and Nano-ST technologies in the Czech Republic. “The agreement builds on a strong partnership and confirms the market potential of hardening technologies for stainless steels. Under the terms of the license, Nitrex will work closely with Voestalpine to help meet their customer demands with research and process development for a variety of applications, materials, and markets,” said Marcin Stoklosa, Special Projects Manager of Nitrex Metal. Since 2005, Nitrex Metal has been building a lifelong customer relationship with voestalpine and its affiliates – Assab, Assab Steels, Assab Tooling, and Böhler-Uddeholm. Today, the company operates twelve Nitrex nitriding and nitrocarburizing systems in nine countries including China, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Poland, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Turkey.”
Remember this press release from McLaughlin Furnace Group in Indiana, USA about a pusher furnace order from earlier this year? Our understanding is that furnace run off will take place the end of November with the furnace being shipped and installed shortly thereafter; “McLaughlin Furnace Group based in Fort Wayne, Indiana is pleased to announce that they have received an order from a major truck component manufacturer for a two row, gas fired pusher furnace. The president and owner of the company Mr. Jeff McLaughlin had this to say about the order “We are very pleased that such a substantial manufacturer should have so much confidence in our ability to provide a state of the art system on time and on budget. This is a real milestone for our company and reinforces the fact that McLaughlin Furnace Group has grown to be one of the largest and most diversified in the North American furnace manufacturing industry.”
In Tonawanda, New York commercial heat treater B&W Heat Treating Inc., is adding 6,000 square feet and more capacity in an effort to be a “one stop shop” for their customers. B&W is a family owned company in its second generation and is now the only commercial heat treater in the Buffalo, New York area.
Mike Wright of HEF USA has decided to retire after 40 years in the the field of liquid nitrocarburizing although he does plan on starting a consulting business-Mike was Sales and Service Manager for the company. Few commercial heat treaters in the world have the experience that HEF does when it comes to liquid nitrocarburizing and the company is rated as one of the largest commercial heat treaters in Europe according to “The Monty”. https://themonty.com/largest-european-commercial-heat-treaters-february-2019/ During the recent Heat Treat 2019 exhibition in Detroit we mentioned a rumor about Plasma Nitriding supplier Ion Heat landing a nice order for brand new plasma nitriding system from a customer in the USA-we can confirm that this was certainly true although we can’t provide the name of the customer. We can also say the company has landed some more work involving some of their current equipment in the US. We predict that Ion Heat is going to become a fairly well known name in North America for Plasma (Ion) nitriding systems. This photo was taken at the show and shows the owner of the company Mr. Andres Bernal in the centre and to his left Steven Sossa.
For some time we have been mentioning a really interesting opportunity for an ambitious heat treater, an opportunity which is still available. A small Commercial Heat Treat in the Rocky Mountain area of the US is for sale and the ideal new owner would be an experience commercial heat treater who has always wanted to run his own operation and at the same time live in one of the most beautiful areas of the USA. This is a small company but quite profitable-for more details Jordan Montgomery [email protected] The former TorqTek facility in Charleston, SC, USA is now completely closed with most of the equipment removed. This was a supplier of automotive components which was acquired by American Axle a few years back. We mention the company because at one time it had a fairly substantial heat treat department.
We still have quire a few photos from the recent heat treat exhibitions in the USA and Germany which we have not yet shared, here are a couple more. In addition we have a number of interesting news items from Germany to share with you over the course of the next couple of weeks.
And to round things out commercial heat treater Hauck in Eindhoven, Netherlands recently expanded their facility by 1,000 square meters and added the vacuum furnace you see in the attached photo. We have rated Hauck as the second largest commercial heat treater in Europe as you can see here https://themonty.com/largest-
