New Plant Manager For One of the Largest North American Heat Treaters

Our host for the tour was Mr. Shannon Ricciardo, Vice President, Sales and Marketing for the company. Shannon brings a wealth of knowledge to the position having worked on the production side of the of the business for over 20 years before moving into a sales role. Shannon shared with us the history of the company, information about their various North American locations and a very in depth plant tour-this is what we learned;

In 1928 parent company Nihon Parkerizing was established in Tokyo, Japan, this eventually resulted in Nihon Parkerizing establishing “Trutec, Inc.” in Urbana, Ohio, a facility which exists to this day and which offers surface treatment. This investment in turn resulted in Nihon Parkerizing setting up their first North American heat treat facility under the name “Trutec, Inc.” located in Springfield, Ohio. In 2003 the name was changed to “Parker Trutec, Inc.”, and through an acquisition the company added plants in Arkansas, and Tennessee.

The end result is that “Parker Trutec” now has 6 locations throughout North America including Springfield, Ohio, Urbana, Ohio, Sevierville, Tennessee, Kodak Tennessee and Paragould, Arkansas.  Under the Nihon Parkerizing group company Parker Trutec Mexicana are locations in Irapuato, Mexico and Aguascalientes, Mexico.

To some extent each facility has some of the same capabilities as the other plants but this is certainly not universal. For instance, Gas Carburizing, Gas Soft Nitriding, Carbonitriding and neutral hardening are exclusive to the Springfield and Mexico locations while Ferritic Nitrocarburizing and Isonite QPQ are offered in Springfield, Ohio, Sevierville, Tennessee, Paragould, Arkansas and Mexico.

It is certainly no surprise that “Parker Trutec’s” core business is centered on the automotive industry but it would be incorrect to assume that it largely serves Japanese automakers. In actual fact only 60% of their business is for Japanese firms with the remainder for North American and European companies.

Our visit to the Springfield plant revealed almost exactly what we expected to see, a large, clean, modern facility much larger than the average commercial heat treat which is borne out by the fact that it has over 150 employees. In terms of equipment this is what we saw;

• Salt Bath Nitriding Furnaces (FNC) processing our Isonite process to AMS 2755 (High Cyanide Salt).
• Salt Bath Nitriding Furnaces (FNC) processing our Isonite QPQ process to AMS 2753 (Low Cyanide Salt).
• Salt Bath Nitriding Furnaces (FNC) processing our Isonite LiFe process.
• Gas Ferritic Carburizing Furnaces (FNC) processing to AMS 2757.
• Batch Carburizing with Dowa, Surface Combustion and AFC-Holcroft Furnaces.
  • Carburizing, Carbonitriding, Neutral Hardening (Quench & Temper), Normalizing.
• Continuous Roller-Hearth Carburizing Furnaces (Dowa).
• Vacuum Degreasing Systems for pre- and post-carburizing.
• Hanging and barrel shotblasters.
• Vibratory polishing equipment.

And does Parker Trutec deserve to be on our list of the 50 Largest Commercial Heat Treaters in North America? With heat treat sales of roughly $45 million USD and total sales of approximately $56 million USD the answer is an unqualified YES.