Robotics in the Heat Treatment Industry-“Thermetco”
Yesterday we reported how a commercial heat treater in the UK, “Wallwork Group” recently invested in a robot for their vacuum brazing line. This prompted the team at “The Monty” to think about other examples of heat treaters investing in robots and automated systems-an example that we came across recently which is very similar to Wallwork is commercial heat treater “Thermetco” located in Chateauguay, Quebec, Canada. Their application is remarkably similar to “Wallwork” in that they also invested in a robot for racking of one particular high volume part. The system can be seen in one of these photos along with parts and fixturing, other photos show the entire shop along with Mr. Jean-Sebastien, Lemire (President and part owner) of the company and Mr. Pierre-Luc Bouvrette ing., Technical Sales
APRIL 16/2025 POSTING; Top 50″ Heat Treater Reports Strong Sales; As we count down to our 2025 list of the “50 Largest North American Commercial Heat Treaters” Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” took the opportunity to visit a company which has been on our list for the past few years and who will be on our list again this year-“Thermetco Inc.”of Châteauguay, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1982 “Thermetco” is a privately held company with 3 locations in Quebec; the main plant in Châteauguay (near Montreal), a smaller heat treat facility in Granby, Quebec and a third NDT location in Montreal.
In terms of processes offered there are few that the company doesn’t offer in that they have vacuum hardening (3 furnaces at the main location with one have a diffusion pump), 4 batch IQ units offering carburizing and neutral hardening, salt processing, stress relieving, Plasma nitriding and annealing to name a few all operating 24/7.
The company is Nadcap certified and in the summer of 2025, they will be an approved supplier to aerospace company “Safran Landing Gear Systems”. What caught our eye during the visit was a brand-new robot designed for racking parts for an automotive customer. The system will come on line in the coming weeks and the reason for it is the usual-an inability to find and keep operators willing to rack loads.
The 150 employees spread out over the 3 plants service a wide variety of industries including automotive (15% of total sales), aerospace and “general industry which includes a wider variety of gears. This diversity is probably why the company is reporting that business in 2025 is quite good for them.
Our visit took place Tuesday, April 15th and our hosts included Mr. Jean-Sebastien, Lemire (President and part owner) and Mr. Pierre-Luc Bouvrette ing., Technical Sales-we thank them for their time and hospitality. Did you like this article? Click here to subscribe to The Monty.
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