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, 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 15^th 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.