Steeltech LLC is one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of heat and corrosion resistant materials. We are seeking highly motivated and qualified candidates to join our outside sales team.
The ideal candidate will have sales experience specific to the industries we supply. Industries include: heat treat, steel mill, lime & cement processing to name a few. 3-5 years of sales experience in these industries is preferred. The position requires extensive travel within a designated region of the US. Potential territory will be discussed during the hiring process.
Steeltech offers a competitive compensation and benefits package.
Interested applicants should send their resume to:
On February 27th, Heat Treat Todayconducted an initial Coronavirus Impact Study. We wrote about the findings on March 4th. Click here to see that initial report. Considering the historical uniqueness of what is happening and the impact that the virus and, more importantly, the impact of the reaction that has been mandated by federal, state, and local governments, Heat Treat Today decided to conduct a slightly expanded follow up study (Phase II) on March 20th — roughly 3 weeks after the initial study. Below is an analysis of the results of Phase II and where possible a comparison between Phase I and Phase II results.
Publishers Note: The coronavirus/COVID-19 situation has been accompanied by media coverage that some describe as sensational and panic-creating. Heat Treat Today’s desire is to objectively report impacts without commentary and without increasing panic.
The Phase I (February 27th) survey netted more respondents, 113, than the Phase II (March 20) survey, 75. The decrease in responses may be attributed to the day of the week that the survey was deployed — Thursday for Phase I and Friday (late afternoon) for Phase II. The length of the survey may have also impacted the response rate — Phase II having several more questions than Phase I. Neither study has enough responses to be considered “scientific” and Heat TreatToday strongly recommends that no important decisions be made based on the results of these studies.
Additionally, the phrase “coronavirus” was used extensively in Phase I whereas “COVID-19” was used extensively and in place of “coronavirus” in Phase II. It is understood that these terms are different and stand for different things. For the non-medical professional, we assumed that these two terms will mean essentially the same thing and they were used interchangeably. Our apologies to medical professionals and other who know the difference.
Finally, this survey was sent to roughly 700 heat treat industry SUPPLIERS, not end-users. The desire was to see what impact the virus and the subsequent response of governments and businesses was having on the heat treat industry specifically, and not on the wider industrial economy as a whole.
Current Impact
Q: Has the coronavirus/COVID-19 ALREADY impacted your business?
The two studies were divided up into two broad sections: 1) what impact the virus has ALREADY had, and 2) what impact the virus is ANTICIPATED to have.
The percentage of respondents claiming that COVID-19 had already impacted their business essentially doubled from Phase I to Phase II going from roughly 40% to nearly 80%. And the number of respondents saying that there has been no impact fell from nearly half in Phase I to roughly 12% in Phase II. Below, Phase I results are shown first, then Phase II results.
Phase I (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: How has the coronavirus/COVID-19 ALREADY impacted your business?
The responses here were also significantly different. Please note that the charts below are not 100% comparable. While both green bars denote supply chain difficulties and both blue bars represent travel restrictions, there was a third option added to the Phase II options that was not in Phase I. Therefore, the tan or yellow bar actually represents two different answers between the studies as does the blue bar at the bottom. Please read these charts and the tables that follow them carefully to see the difference between the last two bars.
Suffice it to say, however, that while supply chain concerns did not increase significantly between the two studies, travel restrictions nearly tripled going from 30% in Phase I to nearly 90% in Phase II. Effectively, travel is banned in the North American heat treat industry … something never before experienced.
One final point. In the Phase II chart below, you’ll notice that the last option is “Other (please specify).” For the sake of relative brevity (!), these “Other” comments have not been included in this report. If you’d like to see these comments, please email htt@heattreattoday.com and request a full “Phase II Coronavirus Report.”
Phase I (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: What steps are you ALREADY taking to minimize the impact?
In Phase II, an additional question was asked regarding what steps have already been taken to minimize the impact of the virus. There was no equivalent question in Phase I. Below are the results. Please notice that the complete wording of the answers are shown in the table below the chart and the “Other (please specify)” answers are not shown, but may be obtained by emailing htt@heattreattoday.com.
Phase II (click to enlarge)
Anticipated Future Impact
In both studies, we then moved from the CURRENT situation to what people were ANTICIPATING for the future.
Q: In what ways to you anticipate that the coronavirus/COVID-19 will impact your business?
The top bar, the green one, represents an anticipated difficulty with a company’s supply chain — difficulty getting materials to manufacture their heat treat product or component. This number stayed at roughly 25% in both studies.
The green bar is also the same in both studies representing travel restrictions. This number, however, took a huge jump between Phase I and Phase II — 43% to 79%.
There was an additional answer added to the Phase II study so the tan/yellow bar represents two different things in the charts below. In Phase I, the yellow bar represented “Other” responses. In Phase II, it represents an anticipated drop off in business levels and it was this answer that gleaned the highest number of responses — just over 8 of 10 respondents anticipated a drop in business levels due to the virus.
Phase II (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: What steps do you anticipate taking to minimize the impact of the coronavirus/COVID-19?
There was another additional question added to the Phase II study asking what actions the company anticipated taking to reduce the impact of the virus. Below are the responses.
Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: What impact will the coronavirus/COVID-19 have on your company’s bottom line?
On this question, it is safe to say that the answers were significantly less optimistic in Phase II than they were in Phase I. In Phase I, over 50% felt that the virus would impact their bottom line 5% or less. In Phase II, the “5% or less” answer was given less than 10% of the time, meaning that over 90% of the respondents anticipate that the virus will have a greater than 5% impact on their bottom line. In fact, the highest number of respondents chose “11-20%,” and the second largest group was the group anticipating “Over 20%”.
Phase I (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Q: How long do you anticipate the coronavirus/COVID-19 will impact your business?
This is another question where the answers were significantly different between the two studies. The “3 to 6 month” answer came in nearly identical on both studies sitting at roughly 60% in both cases. Marked changes occurred, however, on both sides of the “3 to 6 month” answer. Those anticipating an impact of “0-2 months” fell by nearly half from roughly 30% in Phase I to just over 17% in Phase II. The big gainer was in the “7 months or more” category where the numbers over doubled from only 10% in Phase I to 25% in Phase II. Obviously, the heat treat industry is bracing for a much longer impact than initially anticipated in Phase I.
Phase I (click to enlarge)Phase II (click to enlarge)
Actual Sickness
The above question was the LAST question asked in the Phase I study. Phase II respondents were given the optional opportunity to answer one more personal question. The reason for asking this question was to get at the actual health impact of the coronavirus/COVID-19 verses the impact caused by the reaction of governments, media, and others who might be unduly heightening anxiety levels whether purposefully or unwittingly. As you can see from the chart and table below, nearly 80% of the respondents chose to proceed with the optional question.
Phase II (click to enlarge)
The question itself is rather long and can be read in the chart below. As you can see, of those proceeding to this more personal question, over 80% chose to actually answer the question. Of those answering the question, nearly 95% knew of no one in the heat treat industry (as defined by the question) currently infected with the coronavirus/COVID-19 and a full 97% knew of zero or one person infected. (Please note that the percentages above are based on a base of 38 people who chose to give a numeric answer.)
Phase II (click to enlarge)
A Complete Copy of the Report with “Other” Comments
If you’d like to see a complete copy of the Phase II results (with all personally-identifiable or company-identifiable information removed), please email htt@heattreattoday.com and request a copy of “Phase II Coronavirus Report.”
Heat TreatTVpulls the best heat treat videos from the web for your viewing, and today HTTV highlights Wirco Inc.
For over 50 years, family-owned Wirco Inc. has served numerous industries around the world by supplying high quality American made heat-treated parts. As the company has aged, it has adapted to the changing times and demands of the 21st century.
This video demonstrates how its updated technology, dedication to lab-tested American-sourced products, use of 3D printing technology, and recent expansion has turned it into a state-of-the-art one-stop shop for its customers.
(Editor’s Note: Users of Firefox may have difficulty playing the below video. If so, please use another browser like Chrome.)
Heat Treat Todayconducted a very unscientific and highly-fluid study on the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) on the North American heat treat market. By the time you read this, the impact will undoubtedly be different; but what you'll see below is a snapshot in time from Friday, February 28th, which is when most of the responses came in.
Heat Treat Today surveyed 675 heat treat industry suppliers and asked them 6 very simple questions. The survey took no more than 5 minutes to complete. Of the 675 surveyed, 104 responded, all of them completing all 6 questions.
The questions were broken down into two basic categories:
The first two questions asked what impact the coronavirus was ALREADY having on their business.
The last four questions asked them to speculate about the future impact of the coronavirus on their business.
Before giving the results, let me acknowledge as truth what one respondent so politely stated:
Unfortunately any information gathered for the coronavirus will be outdated within days because the global situation changes so frequently and rapidly. A survey of this kind has very limited value for business analysis/decisions due to the ... fluidity of the situation.
Having duly disclaimed, let's get on to the results.
One final note -- click on each image below to enlarge it for easier viewing.
Current Impact
Click to enlarge.
Question 1: Has the coronavirus already directly impacted your business/supply chain?
As you can see, over half (51%) indicate that the virus has had NO EFFECT to date. Another 11% are uncertain if there has been any effect, and roughly 38% say that the virus has already had an impact on their business.
Yes: 37.50%
No: 50.96%
Uncertain: 11.54%
Click to enlarge.
Question 2: In what way(s) has the coronavirus already directly impacted your business/supply chain?
The two main options given were:
Difficulty getting materials to build product: 11.54%, and
Limitation of travel either of employees, customer, or workers: 29.81%
Other answer included:
No impact: 46.15%
Other: 12.50%
It's not surprising that nearly half (46.15%) said there was "no impact" given that nearly half of the respondents in Question 1 indicated that there was "no impact" to date of the coronavirus on their business operations.
Anticipated Future Impact
Click to enlarge
Question 3: Do you anticipate that the coronavirus will directly impact your business/supply chain?
After assessing the current impact, the next four questions focus on the future and what expected impact the coronavirus might have on business.
The results were a bit less optimistic:
Yes: 55.77%
No: 18.27%
Uncertain: 25.96%
While roughly half of the respondents indicated that the coronavirus was having no current impact, only 18% believe that it will never impact their business. The other 26% are uncertain if this global sickness will impact them or not.
Click to enlarge.
Question 4: In what way(s) do you anticipate that the coronavirus will directly impact your business/supply chain?
As with question number two, which was very similar, the answers to this question indicated that the #1 anticipated impact was restriction on travel. Coming in a close second was the ability to secure materials necessary to continue production -- supply chain issues.
Limited travel for employees, vendors, and/or customers: 40.78%
Trouble obtaining materials to manufacture our product(s): 25.24%
Other: 16.50%
No impact: 17.48%
Click to enlarge.
Question 5: How significantly do you anticipate that the coronavirus will impact your bottom line?
Assuming that there will be some impact, the question tried to get an order of magnitude of how great the impact might be. Asking respondents how they anticipated the virus will impact their bottom line seemed like a good approach. Here's what they had to say:
5% or less: 52.88%
From 6% to 10%: 30.77%
From 11% to 20%: 12.5%
More than 20%: 3.85%
It's possible that everyone in the "5% or less" category said that there would be zero impact on their bottom line; but even if that is the case, there are still 47% of the industry who believe that the coronavirus will have a 6% or greater impact on their bottom line. Only a very small percentage (4%) believe that it will have a 20% or more hit on their bottom line.
Click to enlarge.
Question 6: How long do you anticipate the coronavirus will impact your business/supply chain?
This final question tried to get a sense of how long respondents thought the virus would continue to impact their business.
Here's what they had to say:
0-2 months: 28.85%
3-6 months: 63.46%
7 months or more: 7.69%
Fortunately, it doesn't appear that the impact will be long-lived.
Question 7: Open-ended comments.
The survey was anonymous, so respondents seemed to feel comfortable giving their opinions. On two of the questions, Question 2 and Question 4, where they had the option to respond "Other," we asked them to give some explanation of their "other" response in this open-ended, final question. You can see the unedited, open-ended responses at the end of this post.
Flu vs. Coronavirus (by the numbers)
"Pandemic" is a word frequently thrown around with Coronavirus. Here are some interesting numbers from the Center for Disease Control:
CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at least 32 million flu illnesses, 310,000 hospitalizations, and 18,000 deaths from flu.
Compare that to the worldwide coronavirus numbers (as of February 28th):
Confirmed cases: 83,700
Deaths: 2,859
This is not to minimize the importance of actions against the coronavirus, but the current numbers associated with the coronavirus are a tiny fraction compared to a typical year with influenza. That's also not to minimize the great personal pain and suffering of anyone who has lost a close relative or friend to either influenza or the coronavirus.
Verbatim Comments
As promised, here are the unedited responses to Question 7 in Heat Treat Today's Coronavirus Survey. Some company names and any other identifiable information have been removed.
Being close to a porous border we anticipate migration north to find better conditions for their families. This indirect contact within the Hispanic community could impact the health of our workforce.
Contract now on hold that was signed in early January in China for [company] to supply new heat-treating equipment there.
Cost of shipping to countries hit increased 3x.
Deliveries will be late on finished products. Many parts come from China. More than we know.
Difficult getting some materials. Should improve as soon as things loosen up in China. Not killing us, but an irritation.
Economic slow down.
Facility in China had to temporarily close until the sickness peaks and wanes.
Human anticipation will be a negative factor
I am a sales rep and don't see much potential impact. Large purchases may be delayed but day-to-day needs should be OK to sell and ship.
I don’t feel it directly impacts our business unless it lasts more than a year
I have had suppliers ask about the availability to receive materials coming from Chinese suppliers, I have had questions about delivery delays from vendors/ suppliers. We are about to see in real time how good our companies are multi-sourcing critical components and not relying on conflicted materials.
I have two major concerns: 1. The virus will become Pandemic effecting world economy, 2. In the US people will overact and panic.
I think it is overblown, .1% of people die from the “normal strains” of flu, .7% from coronavirus. So if you get it, less the. 1% chance of death. Makes good news.
It appears it is directly affecting some of our upcoming travel plans, as well as we expect some parts issues to arise.
It might hurt our customers production, hence the trickle down
Little impact for us other than limiting travel. Our supply chain is stable for the moment.
Our business supply chain, business travel, product distributors have all been affected.
Shipping companies like FedEx won't ship our ordered products to China. I believe that will start to affect our other international customers.
Short term (3-6 month) impact anticipated in regard to supply of components from China and respiratory masks.
Slower sales cycle for cap-ex type projects. A wait-and-see mentality with purchases.
Some North American heat treaters have been purchasing Chinese castings sold by American based distributors. These castings are not marked with country of origin, so we encourage those who may be unaware where their castings are made to insist this information be provided. We are seeing many of our customers, who chose to go away from [company] and buy these off shore castings, unable to have their needs met. We manufacture our castings in our foundry in [location] and source our raw materials from domestic mills. So our supply chain and output is uninterrupted.
Some of our customers are global, we suffer if they suffer.
Some of the parts we are currently processing are being sourced by our customer from both China and South Korea. We have not had any delays in receiving parts but expect it to happen in the near future.
The supply chain is disrupted. But projects slated for China have been cancelled or severely delayed affecting order input.
This week I was at several customers who are screening for international travelers and not permitting anyone in their building who has traveled to China in the last 2 weeks.
Travel for our sales team may be limited. Economic concerns and supply chain issues affecting our customers could potentially slow our sales bookings. We do not expect a direct supply chain problem with our raw materials.
Travel has been altered and changed but not yet limited if required. However, we had international visitors returning home just today and they were quite concerned about the journey. We are not as much worried about the material supply yet, but thinking forward to critical items which may be impacted and considering changes to stocking programs considering our short term materials forecasts.
Unfortunately any information gathered for the coronavirus will be outdated within days because the global situation changes so frequently and rapidly. A survey of this kind has very limited value for business analysis/decisions due to the survey fluidity of the situation.
We anticipate the effects to vary; potential for some interruption to material availability and/or increases to material pricing. If China/India/Europe continue to be affected by the spread of Coronavirus, we suspect it may create a "bump" in thermal processing demand stateside. Although, if the spread of the virus becomes more prevalent stateside, a substantial shift in operational parameters may occur, which effects to our industry would be difficult to speculate.
We do not expect an impact
We export about 25% of our sales to China, South Korea and have seen some impact of about 10% on our shipments. We … sell to the oil & gas and this is also being impacted.
We had field service work lined up in China to relocate the furnace to Indonesia. We have had to abandon the project due to the logistical challenges and definitive need for Quarantine at both ends of travel. There is a significant drop in the amount of service business that we do in southeast Asia this year because of travel restrictions and Quarantine requirements.
We've experienced shortages or longer lead times from some vendors products such as our [company] controls. We also have staff and some clients that have considered driving to customer service calls, sales visits, etc. where they would normally drive, to avoid airports and large public places. There has been no significant impact yet.
When China releases restrictions, the impact will be minimal.
(Photo Source: Unsplash.com, by Free To Use Sounds)
New orders turned upwards following several months of downward motion.
What impact does the coming political election have on the 2020 economy? As this month’s IHEA Executive Economic Summary reports, “Election years tend to depress consumers, business people and investors alike. The two parties try to outdo one another with tales of gloom and doom unless you vote for them and the sense is that the world is teetering on the brink.”
That being said, the report also encourages optimism when it states, “It should be noted that many of the index readings that turned negative are only slightly down and many are still higher than they have been much of the year.”
Metal prices, new orders and recorded in the PMI, capital expenditures, and the transportation index all trended upward in October. According to the report, the fact that the PMI has started to trend upward, even though it is still below 50, is a good sign for the months ahead.
Regarding capital expenditures, the report states, “The capital expenditures numbers are better than expected given the data on capacity utilization, but it seems there is still a demand for replacement equipment even if there is less demand for new equipment to support growth.”
Industrial capacity utilization continued to slide in October adding to worries about a potential recession.
With regard to the seven downward trending indices, the report states that “they are not all that bad.” Indices in this group include new automobile and light truck sales, new home starts, steel consumption, and industrial capacity utilization to name a few.
Concluding the report is the following statement, “These have not been massive drops and there is no sense of an impending crisis, but this kind of weakness doesn’t leave much wiggle room should there be a real recessionary trend. The overall sense of trepidation in the industrial sector is driving most of the current level of angst.”
Anne Goyer, Executive Director of IHEA
For a full copy of the 12-page report, contact Anne Goyer, Executive Director of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA). Email Anne by clicking here.
The monthly Executive Economic Summary, crafted for the member companies of the Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA), showed that the global economy is slowing but there continue to be signs of potential growth as well. All in all, this month’s report was less optimistic than previous reports, but, to quote the report, “At this point, there is data to support whatever mood you choose to be in.”
Five of the eleven indices were trending upward. Among the positive trending indices were new automobile and light truck sales, steel consumption, metal prices, factory orders, and the credit managers index. All of these indices push upward.
Purchasing Managers Index continues to slide
Six of the indices went south, including the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), capacity utilization, and durable goods. Housing and transportation also were soft.
According to IHEA’s economist, much of what we are seeing is a global slowing of the manufacturing economy. Citing concerns like Brexit and the looming trade war with China, the report indicates that much of what the global manufacturing economy is experiencing is bigger than the U.S.
The 12-page monthly report is comprised of an introductory summary page, and then one page each to analyze, in detail, eleven indices chosen specifically for their impact on the thermal processing market.
Anne Goyer, Executive Director of IHEA
To receive a copy of the report, contact Anne Goyer, Executive Director of IHEA.
Seven of the eleven economic indicators reported monthly by the Industrial Heating Equipment Association’s Executive Economic Summary trended upward while only four softened. Overall industry growth continues to be solid with only a few signs of slowing.
Among the upward movers are vehicle sales, new home starts, steel consumption, capacity utilization, and durable goods orders. These five and two others lead the way with positive growth albeit small movements upward.
The four indices that slumped were PMI, transportation, metal prices, and factory orders.
IHEA PMI July 2019
According to IHEA’s economist, the economy continues to be strong even though many had assumed there would be a more significant softening by this time. Although the southward moving indices are worrisome, the number and persistence of the positive indices lend confidence that the heat treat economy will continue strong in the months ahead.
The full report from IHEA is 12 pages in length and available to IHEA member companies. To see the full report, contact Anne Goyer at IHEA for details on membership in IHEA. Anne Goyer can be reached by email by clicking here. More information about IHEA can be found on the web at www.ihea.org.
The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) released its 12-page monthly Executive Economic Summary which contains an analysis of 11 key heat treat industry economic indicators. The organization has been providing this monthly report as a service to its members for several years, and it is a valuable source of economic data and analysis for companies supplying equipment, components, or consumables to the heat treating industry.
This month’s report was nearly evenly split between the eleven indices, with five moving upward and six moving downward.
According to IHEA economist, Chris Kuehl of the Armada Corporate Intelligence, the underlying concerns about tariffs and trade wars seems to be the primary inhibitor of greater economic growth. While nearly all of the indices are in the “growth” range of their curves, more of them are getting closer to the “contraction” range and could easily slip into contraction with additional dampening economic news.
IHEA CapEx 2019 05
Three of the five gainers were housing starts, capital investment, and PMI new orders, each showing modest gains.
Among the sliders, new automobile and light truck sales, steel consumption, and capacity utilization.
Generally, downward movements were stronger than upward movements this month, contributing to longer-term concern about a possible slow down in the economy.
Anne Goyer, Executive Director of IHEA
To receive a copy of the full, 12-page report, contact Anne Goyer, executive director of IHEA by clicking here.
The monthly economic report from the Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) showed continued signs of optimism for the heat treat economy. This month, like last month, the 11 indices reported on by the organization were mixed; five were up and six were modestly down.
Capital expenditures were up significantly in April.
Among those headed north were a triumvirate of manufacturing indices: capital expenditures, durable goods shipments, and factory orders. Industrial capacity utilization was slightly off but still higher than it was one year ago.
Other strong indices were home starts and steel consumption.
On the down side of the equation, new orders (PMI) dipped significantly as did the Credit Manager’s Index. The transportation index also dipped slightly.
In the full, twelve-page report, IHEA Economist, Chris Kuehl, goes into depth on each of the eleven indices explaining their potential impact on the heat treat industry and the causes for their upward or downward motion.
IHEA member companies receive the report free of charge each month as a benefit of membership.
The PMI, which measures new order activity, saw a significant dip in April.
To view the latest IHEA Executive Economic Summary, contact IHEA Executive Director, Anne Goyer by clicking here.
