One of the only “greenfield”, brand new commercial heat treats in North America in 2022 is the Thermal Vac, Arizona facility in Chino Valley, Arizona and Gord & Dale Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” were lucky to be able to land an exclusive visit just yesterday.

 

First the background on the company; “Thermal Vac Technology Inc. was established in 1985 by Steve Driscol to supply the So Cal area with Highly Technical brazing capabilities and High end Vacuum Heat treat of specialty alloys. Currently they have two facilities in SO CAL providing Brazing of complex assemblies using Vacuum Furnaces, Dip brazing, Induction Brazing , Torch brazing and specialty plating operations. Our heat treat capabilities serve the specialty alloys arena as well as steel treating.  We offer first-class services to a wide customer base, including some of the most demanding in the industry. For three decades we have been sought out by customers who require the most innovative solutions for challenging project needs, effectively helping us to secure our position as a leader in our industry. Today the company is being propelled forward at a rapid rate by the Professional family members that are Steve’s Adult children.  “I have been very fortunate to have five of my six adult children involved heavily with our organization, breathing in new and more sophisticated processes/procedures/management  to support future growth, the future looks bright for the next 30 years.”

 

To this description we can add that Thermal Vac is ranked as one of the 50 largest commercial heat treaters in North America as ranked by “The Monty Heat Treat News” https://themonty.com/project/the-monty-heat-treat-news-50-largest-north-american-commercial-heat-treats-2022/ 

 

Thermal Vac Arizona is the third location for the company with the other two locations in Southern California. Arizona will be guided by Sean Driscoll, President who has 20 years experience in the industry. This facility will have a total of 20,000 square feet under roof, 6,000 dedicated to a machine shop and 14,000 allocated to the brazing/heat treating industry. Currently what we see are a brand new Ipsen “Titan” vacuum furnace and several induction hardening systems, however future plans will bring joy to the heart of any vacuum furnace salesman-2 all metal hot zone, large vacuum furnaces in the very near future with another 8 in the works over the medium term. 

 

Steve Driscol, Chairman of the Board for the company says that he aims to have total sales for the three Themal Vac facilities in the range of $25 million USD per year within the next 4-5 years. When we quizzed Steve as to future plans he was rather blunt as usual: “to have fun and at the same time provide absolutely top end vacuum brazing services, but most important is to have fun”. 

 

And it was very obvious to us that Steve, Sean and Jennifer are having fun  building up a very impressive combination brazing/heat treat/machine shop in Chino Valley Arizona. 

 

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