Top Heat Treatment News Items Week of November 18th
According to our readers the three most popular heat treatment news items for the week starting November 18th include these;
World’s Largest Heat Treater Sees Small Revenue Gain; Bodycote, the world’s Largest Commercial Heat Treater has just posted financial results for the 4 months ending October 2024. As reported in this summary by “Market Watch” the company saw a small revenue gain in the past few months. All the details can be found at https://www.bodycote.com/. We hunted through our file folders to find an appropriate photo to go with this story and we found this one taken in 2021. It shows the Bodycote facility in Darby, UK which is located inside of a Rolls Royce facility-impressive to say the least.
“Bodycote posted a slight increase in revenue, citing mixed end markets, but said it remained confident in its full-year outlook. The London-listed provider of heat-treatment and thermal-processing services said Tuesday that for the four months through October, group revenue grew 0.2% organically, excluding surcharges.
Its aerospace and energy focused businesses delivered strong growth, while conditions remained soft in industrial markets and automotive, Bodycote said. Aerospace and energy posted revenue increases of 6.3% and 12%, respectively, while revenue in industrial markets fell by 11%. Automotive revenue rose by 0.5%, Bodycote said.
“Our end-market environment remains mixed, with the challenging conditions in automotive and industrial markets expected to continue into early 2025,” the company said. Despite the backdrop, the resilience of the specialist technologies businesses and cost control gives confidence in delivering good progress in operating margin. In 2023, the company’s operating margin was 15.9%. For 2024, operating profit is expected to be in line with a company-compiled market consensus of 127.9 million pounds ($162.1 million), Bodycote said.”
Why Is Heat Treating in Europe Struggling? In our previous news item above we suggested that the commercial heat treating market in North America is doing OK-no better than OK and no worse. However, this does not hold true for Europe as we found out recently at the HK24 Heat Treat Exhibition in Cologne, Germany in October. Gord Montgomery of “The Monty Heat Treat News” spent 2 weeks visiting both commercial and captive heat treaters in Germany, Switzerland and Austria as well as attending the exhibition and the general feeling was one of “doom and gloom”. It would appear that most commercial heat treaters especially in Germany are seeing sales declines of 25-35% on average which prompts the question-why?
In general the sales declines go directly back to a drop in demand from the auto industry which in turn goes back to two main factors; the first being the declining interest in electric vehicles upon which many European car makers have invested heavily, and the second being the shocking price of energy in the European Union market.
The graph below shows the cost to industrial users of electricity in a number of markets around the world. Even a cursory glance will show that the cost of electricity to industrial users (and consequently heat treaters) in the UK, Germany, France and Italy is several times that of areas such as North America and China.
Given these numbers it is obvious that given current conditions the future of captive and commercial heat treating in Europe is “challenging” to say the least.
Changes in the Induction Heat Treating World; Induction heat treating supplier Inductotherm has made some changes in the top ranks of their management team-read on for the details.
Inductotherm Group is proud to announce the appointment of Mick Nallen and Satyen Prabhu as Co‐Leaders, effective July 1, 2024. This strategic move is part of our ongoing commitment to fostering innovative leadership and ensuring the continued success of our company. Mick Nallen, a veteran of the industry with 32 years at Inductotherm Group, has a proven track record of driving operational excellence and strategic growth in North America and the Asia Pacific region. “The fundamentals of our organization still hold true today. We are entrepreneurial at heart. We are responsive. But, most important, we are customer‐driven,” says Mr. Nallen.
Satyen Prabhu, a seasoned industry veteran with 37 years at Inductotherm Group, brings vast experience in fostering the exchange of best practices and induction technologies across Group companies, significantly bolstering our global organizational strength. Mr. Prabhu emphasized, “To effectively serve our customers, Inductotherm Group maintains a global yet locally responsive presence, leveraging manufacturing facilities in multiple countries alongside local sales and service teams to deliver swift and reliable support.” “We are extremely pleased to have Mick Nallen and Satyen Prabhu take on the roles of Co‐Leaders,” said Virginia Rowan Smith, Chairman of Inductotherm Group.“Their combined experience and forward‐thinking approach are perfectly aligned with our mission to deliver innovative induction technologies and exceptional value to our customers. We are confident that their leadership will drive our company to new heights.” As Co‐Leaders, Mr. Nallen, and Mr. Prabhu will carry on our founder’s legacy of emphasizing the importance of responsive customer service delivered by a reliable company which can react quickly without compromising good decision making. They will work closely to develop and implement strategies that enhance our product offerings, expand our global teams’ local presence, and reinforce our commitment to excellence in the thermal processing industry.
Their leadership will ensure that Inductotherm Group continues to thrive and evolve in a rapidly changing market. Inductotherm Group offers advanced technology for the engineering, manufacturing and service of thermal processing equipment used in the melting, heating, heat treating, forging, galvanizing, coating, cutting and welding of metals. Bringing together 40 companies with 38 manufacturing facilities located in 21 countries, Inductotherm Group delivers innovative products throughout the world. Customers rely on Inductotherm, Inductoheat, Thermatool, Radyne, Consarc and other trusted brands in the Inductotherm Group to provide outstanding equipment and services.
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