Vacuum Annealing-Captive Heat Treat Shop

We ran across a rather interesting captive heat treat operation in the US Midwest last week which is worth mentioning. A manufacturer of a strip product for cutting applications required that the product be annealed in a vacuum furnace. Consequently the company invested in a total of 14 vacuum annealing furnaces, all of which were installed in the late 1990’s. Earlier this year the manufacturer went with a different type of raw material which does not require annealing with the end result that this company now has 14 top load vacuum furnaces installed, ready to run but completely surplus to their ongoing requirements. It makes for a rather interesting sight to see this number of vacuum furnaces sitting idle in a cold, dark, shuttered heat treat department. If you have a requirement for vacuum annealers let us know and we will put you in touch.