Today we start off in Vienna, Austria where we see that August 5^th car manufacturer Opel will be auctioning off equipment related to gear box manufacturing. This includes a very large ECM Vacuum Carburizing System built in 1997. This is the older style ECM design and features 3 systems each consisting of 5 vertical carburizing chambers located off of a central transfer chamber, opening bid is €125,000. When built these were great systems, and worked perfectly however by todays standards capacity is very much on the small size and our prediction is that the equipment will probably end up being scrapped.

Speaking of auctions we see Western Forge in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA will be auctioning off some equipment Monday, August 17 & Tuesday, August 18. The auction includes the heat treat department which features a small AFC mesh belt furnace line.

Everybody in the industry knows Eclipse combustion burners, well it appears they will be moving from their Rockford, Ilinois location; “Honeywell has decided to close its Rockford Eclipse site by 1Q 2021 and is planning to move the work to our Muncie, Indiana, facility. This will be done in phases. We’re encouraging affected employees to apply for other roles within the company and eligible employees will be offered severance and outplacement assistance.” Another plant in Rockford which is actually closing this week is Greenlee Tool. The company has this to say;  “This difficult decision is no reflection on the quality of our employees at the Greenlee facility, who have served our customers and the company well over the years. This is a business decision based on global competition and Emerson’s review of operations to manage costs, be competitive, and provide the best possible service to our customers. The Rockford factory manufactures hole-making and punch tools used by electricians, plumbers and others in construction. The Rockford plant closing is expected to be completed by August 2020, affecting 65 employees. The company will move volume to its existing Elyria, Ohio, facility and outsource some of the other products produced at the local facility, 1222 Research Parkway.” We mention them today as they have an older in house heat treating department which is part of the closure.

We regret to mention the passing of long time heat treater Wayne Welton. Wayne spent most of his working life with commercial heat treater HTI in Indiana, USA. “Wayne A.Welton II, age 57, of Logansport, passed away unexpectedly on July 28, 2020, at his home. Born Oct. 4, 1962, in Mount Carmel, Illinois, he was the son of the late Wayne A. and Beverly “Diane” (Lowe) Welton. On Feb. 28, 1992, in Las Vegas, Nevada, he was married to Pam (Smith) Welton. Wayne was a 1981 graduate of Pioneer High School. For over 30 years, Wayne worked as a lead man for HTI Heat Treat Specialists in Logansport. He spent a lot of time at work and was a very dedicated team member. Wayne enjoyed gardening, especially when it came to growing different varieties of peppers. Most of all, he loved spending time with his grandchildren.”

In Burlington, Ontario, Canada we recently announced how Burloak Technologies was in the process of setting up a very impressive in house heat treating department. We can also add that the company will be installing this year a brand new Hot Isostatic Press system. “Burloak is expanding our post-processing capabilities to include comprehensive in-house heat treatments with Hot Isostatic Pressing (Hip).” In Sterling Heights, Michigan, USA Cyprium Induction is expanding their R & D capabilities with the addition of a used dual spindle induction scanner. Cyprium provides induction systems and tooling. In Buckinghamshire, UK commercial heat treater Titanium Heat Treatment Services is adding equipment as you can see in this photo. We have always been fascinated with this place as it is the only commercial heat treater we have ever run across that almost exclusively heat treats parts for Formula 1 race cars.

And for something different we are going to leave you with these photos of a heat treat firm in Lima, Peru by the name of Tratar that we visited a couple of years back.