January 9^th of this year it was announced that commercial heat treater Vac-Met in Michigan had been acquired by Solar Atmospheres. That announcement also mentioned that the 9 existing vacuum furnaces at Vac-Met would be moved to a brand new location in Chesterfield, Michigan.

Armed with this information Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” visited the existing Vac-Met locations and the new facility with tour guide Bob Hill, President of Solar Atmospheres of Michigan.

Based on this tour “The Monty” has three photos to share with you showing the progress which has been made. The first photo shows the first furnace which will arrive at the plant, currently it is undergoing testing at Solar Manufacturing and is expected to be delivered in the next few weeks.

The second picture shows the next furnace which will arrive, this VFS 2 bar furnace has working dimensions of 10’ X 84” X 84” and is currently located at the Vac-Met location in Fraser, Michigan. In front we see Gord Montgomery, Bob Hill and Andrew Cronkright who will be the Production Manager in Chesterfield.

The final photo happens to be our favorite. In it we see Bob Hill in the new plant, a facility which is right on schedule to meet the planned start date of the end of 2023. As you can see Bob is positively beaming at the progress that has been made and rightfully so.

“Chesterfield, MI, January 9, 2023 – Solar Atmospheres of Michigan, formerly Vac-Met, has recently purchased 18,000 square feet of plant space on four plus acres in Chesterfield Michigan. The new building is 20 miles Northeast of the two existing Vac-Met facilities which are currently located in Warren and Fraser Michigan.

Bob Hill, President of Solar Atmospheres of Michigan Inc states, “We are working feverishly in 2023 to prepare and equip this new facility to make it our fifth state of the art vacuum heat treating and brazing facility in the United States. Once all of the electrical, water cooling and specialty gas utilities are installed, we will strategically relocate the nine existing vacuum furnaces to their new home. Additionally, two new vacuum furnaces were purchased from Solar Manufacturing.” Hill continues, “This investment of over $5 Million dollars gives Solar Atmospheres of Michigan the space to locate our valuable employees and equipment under one roof while continuing to grow the Michigan vacuum thermal processing needs.” 

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