A plant is expanding its heat treatment capacities with a dual-chamber vacuum furnace equipped with an oil quenching system and an advanced vacuum carburizing system.
The new device for Bodycote, a heat treater with U.S. locations, is for their Siechnice, Poland location. The furnace will expand its range of services and will be provided by SECO/WARWICK, a furnace provider with locations in North America.
Maciej Korecki Vice President of Business of the Vacuum Furnace Segment SECO/WARWICK
“These multi-chamber furnaces combine heat treatment in a vacuum with traditional oil quenching in dual- or triple-chamber configurations, enabling high efficiency, and delivering clean, oxide-free (IGO) parts. The Bodycote Group is a key partner for us, thanks to our shared commitment to advanced heat treatment technology,” said Maciej Korecki, vice president of the Vacuum Segment Group at SECO/WARWICK.
Dariusz Podgórski Vice President Bodycote Polska
“The dual-chamber [furnace] was the correct choice to meet the requirements for implementing sustainable development strategies and reducing CO₂ emissions. The new furnace will allow us to conduct cleaner carburizing processes without an endothermic atmosphere,” said Dariusz Podgórski, vice president of Bodycote Polska Sp. z o.o.
The features of the furnace include an oil quenching system ensuring fast and uniform cooling of the charge, as well as the FineCarb vacuum carburizing system, which allows for precise control of process results.
Press release is available in its original form here.
Atlas Holdings has announced the formation of Orion Steel following the completion of the acquisition of EVRAZ Inc. North America and EVRAZ Inc. NA Canada with their respective subsidiaries. The newly formed Orion Steel will be led by former U.S. Steel executive, Doug Matthews, who will serve as chief executive officer. Orion Steel is poised to become a central player in the North American steel market due to its focus on engineered steel products intended for rail, energy, infrastructure, and industrial.
Atlas announced the agreement in June of 2025 to acquire EVRAZ North America, a leading producer of engineered steel products in the United States and Canada for rail, energy, infrastructure, and industrial end markets. The new company, Orion Steel, includes Rocky Mountain Steel Mills in Pueblo, Colorado; Oregon Steel Mills in Portland, Oregon; and Interpro Pipe and Steel in Regina, Saskatchewan, and locations across Alberta, Canada.
Orion Steel’s website Source: Orion Steel
Collectively, Orion Steel employs 3,400 skilled associates across two electric arc furnace steel facilities, 12 steel product mills, and 17 scrap recycling facilities. They have a steelmaking capacity of 2.3 million tons and a finished steel capacity, including tubular products, of 3.5 million tons. Orion Steel products regularly contain more than 98% recycled scrap material, and Rocky Mountain Steel is the world’s largest solar-powered steel mill and the largest rail supplier in North America.
“As a well-capitalized strategic supplier, Orion Steel is poised to become a central player in the North American market, helping to ensure economic and security interests of the United States and Canada are advanced through significant, local production,” said Doug Matthews, CEO of Orion Steel. “I’ve been in this business for three decades and I am completely energized by this unique opportunity. This is a historic operation heading into a bold new chapter.
“I’ve seen the look in steelworkers’ eyes when they push an operation to new heights. We are going to see that same look from our team members across all Orion Steel facilities as we write the next chapter of this essential North American steelmaker,” added Matthews.
“Doug offers more than just decades of experience in operations, sales, marketing, and supply chain management. He brings a forward-thinking, hands-on approach that helped transform U.S. Steel’s commercial strategy and operations, and he has the deep belief that the heart of this business is the people on the ground, running the mills day in and day out — and he works to empower them to perform at their best.” Atlas Partner Sam Astor commented. “This is a critical time in the global steel market. We’re ready to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities, and we are excited to be playing a role in ensuring the long-term future of strategic steel production in the United States and Canada.”
Matthews began his 33 years with U.S. Steel rising through the ranks from plant leadership in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to operations leadership as a member of the executive team.
Former CEO of EVRAZ, Skip Herald, will continue his service as a member of the Orion Steel Board of Directors.
Press release is available in its original form here.
A heat treater in the U.S. Midwest anticipates greater heat treat abilities of ingots with a new gas-fired car bottom furnace. The furnace will be capable of handling both steel and aluminum ingots, with loads up to 150,000lb per cycle.
NUTEC Bickley designed the furnace to operate across a wide temperature range. The high levels of temperature uniformity to be delivered by the combustion system mean that this furnace will be qualified to undertake AMS2750 compliant surveys.
Arturo Arechavaleta, NUTEC Bickley’s vice president of Metal Furnaces, said: “Our customer for this important project has been serving the industry with a dedicated heat treat facility for many decades, and is a widely recognized and trusted name in steel and aluminum circles.”
The working dimensions of the furnace are 12ft w. by 35ft l. by 14ft 6in h. Normal operational temperatures range between 300°F (150°C) and 1650°F (900°C), with a maximum of 2000°F (1095°C). With burners firing above and below the load, there are 11 automatic control zones (five top, six bottom). The optimum approach to heat treat these heavy loads is pulse firing with variable excess air.
The furnace uses high-velocity nozzle-mix burners in a staggered configuration to fire above and below the load, maximizing heat transfer and providing optimum temperature uniformity. One of the IMPS® (Integrated Multizone Pulsing System) modes is Excess Air Firing. Among other things, it allows control over very low temperature while high turbulence is maintained to achieve temperature distribution.
In the Ratio Firing mode, the air and gas valves pulse in a synchronized pattern, from low to high fire in stoichiometric ratio, to ensure optimal fuel efficiency. This is made possible by using the kinetic energy generated by the flame speed and the rapid transition from low to high fire which increases entrainment and turbulence, thus promoting a better temperature distribution without the need for a high level of excess air.
Press release is available in its original form here.
A new reheating walking hearth furnace has been commissioned for Wieland Rolled Products North America. The new furnace has a processing capacity of up to 110 metric tons per hour and will support Wieland’s expansion plans in the production of high-grade copper products.
Greg Keown President Wieland Rolling & Recycling Source: Tenova
Wieland Rolled Products North America was delivered the furnace by Tenova, which is integrated with a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) deNOx emissions control system. The equipment will enable Wieland to expand the production of high-grade copper products, essential for several key industrial sectors. This installation is a key element of Wieland’s broader investment to upgrade and expand its East Alton, Illinois facility.
“We are pleased to continue our collaboration with Tenova as we enter the next phases of this expansion project. Their technology and project management expertise are expected to support our production goals and sustainability efforts,” said Greg Keown, president of Wieland Rolling & Recycling.
Francesco Memoli remarked, “This project is particularly meaningful for us because it integrates advanced combustion and fume treatment technologies to meet both performance and environmental targets. It’s a clear example of how we tailor heat treatment solutions to the unique requirements of non-ferrous production.”
Francesco Memoli President & CEO Tenova Inc. Source: Tenova
The furnace, engineered by Tenova Italimpianti, has a processing capacity of up to 110 metric tons per hour. Powered by a natural gas combustion system, it features Tenova’s proprietary TR Flat Flame Roof burners equipped with integrated recuperators and post-combustors. The configuration ensures a substantial 90% reduction in NOx emissions. This technology has already delivered positive environmental performance in both reheating and heat treatment applications.
Wieland’s expansion project includes a new hot rolling mill designed to increase production capacity for copper and copper alloy components used in electric vehicles (EVs), EV charging networks, and renewable energy systems.
Press release is available in its original form here.
Stack Metallurgical Services has added a new furnace to their Portland facility. The furnace adds significant capacity for stress relieving, sub-annealing, and high-temperature annealing, under protective atmosphere.
Source: Stack Metallurgical Services
The furnace has a working zone of 48″ W x 96″ L x 36″ H, it can handle up to 12,000 lbs, and is certified for temperatures up to 1650°F.
Jeff McLaughlin, owner of McLaughlin Furnace Group, was on-site to help commission the new equipment. Stack also partnered with Super Systems, Inc for charting, testing, and running simulated loads.
Kimberly Chaussee General Manager Stack Metallurgical Group
“We are very happy to partner with McLaughlin Furnaces to add this new equipment to Stack’s Portland facility. We’ve always taken a proactive approach to expanding our capabilities and capacity to stay ahead of our clients’ evolving needs. I want to thank Jeff McLaughlin and his team for designing, building, and commissioning this equipment on schedule — it’s been a seamless collaboration,” shared Kimberly Chaussee, general manager at Stack Metallurgical Group.
Stack plans for other significant short-term and long-term investments in both equipment and facilities. They are anticipating additional major announcements later this year. These ongoing investments reflect their commitment to meeting the needs of their clients.
SSAB is investing approximately $74 million to expand its heat treat capacity at its Axis, Alabama facility. The expansion will support the production of premium steel products.
Andy Bramstedt General Manager SSAB Alabama Source: Linkedin
“This expansion will bolster our capacity to produce high-strength steel brands such as Hardox and Strenx and will also increase SSAB Alabama’s truck shipping capacity.” said Andy Bramstedt, general manager of SSAB Alabama.
The project will encompass the construction of a new building equipped with a state-of-the-art tempering furnace, and improvements to the infrastructure.
“We have been working on this investment for a long time, and it is very gratifying to see it come to fruition. This investment will not only expand our capacity for niche products, which are in high demand, but also enable us to offer a broader product range from our Alabama facility,” said Kjell Baeckman, head of Sales Special Steels for SSAB.
Mobile Chamber President and CEO Bradley Byrne Source: Mobile Chamber
The expansion anticipates the creation of 12 new jobs in the local community.
Mobile Chamber president and CEO Bradley Byrne said, “By expanding production of high-strength, specialized steel, SSAB is reinforcing Mobile County’s role in driving innovation and supplying critical materials to key sectors across North and South America.”
This initiative is set to commence in 2025 and is expected to be completed in 2027.
Press release is available in its original form here.
Industrial Ceramic Products, Inc. (ICP) has been acquired by Allied Mineral Products, LLC (Allied). The acquisition includes all ICP’s product lines, equipment, facilities, grounds, and employee base. The deal will increase Allied’s capacity, applications, and expansion into precision, high-fired refractory shapes markets.
Paul Jamieson CEO Allied Mineral Products
“We have been each other’s’ customers and we have partnered with ICP on various projects for over 50 years. They have a strong management team, a highly tenured workforce and expertise in precision high-fired ceramic shapes. Their skill in manufacturing high quality ceramic refractory shapes is well known in our industry. Culturally we are very aligned,” said Paul Jamieson, president and CEO of Allied. “With this acquisition, we add a highly skilled workforce and plenty of room to grow and expand at ICP’s current location in Marysville. We will continue producing products under the ICP name for the foreseeable future.”
John Odenthal President ICP
“We recently celebrated ICP’s 89th year of quality manufacturing. We are proud of what we and our employees have accomplished over the years,” said John Odenthal, president of ICP. “As the marketplace continues to be more competitive, we realized we needed to align with a strong company to ensure we could continue to serve our customers and provide security for our employees. With this sale, we know our customers and employees will benefit, and that is especially important to us.”
ICP’s production facility in Marysville, OH, joins Allied’s existing U.S. manufacturing operations in Columbus, OH; Brownsville, TX; and Pell City, AL. Allied Mineral Products, LLC is a global manufacturer of monolithic refractories and precast, pre-fired refractory shapes. Headquartered in Columbus, OH, Allied serves a wide variety of industries with refractory solutions.
Press release is available in its original form here.
Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) has increased operations at their Monroe, Michigan facility with additional gas nitriding equipment.
Chad Clark Plant Manager Advanced Heat Treat Corp.
The new unit will be utilized in heat treatment for industries such as automotive, government and defense, plastics, power generation, and others. It will utilize UltraGlow® Gas Nitriding, which is a case-hardening process whereby nitrogen is diffused into the surface of a solid ferrous alloy by holding the metal at a suitable temperature in contact with a nitrogenous gas, usually ammonia.
AHTMichigan Plant Manager Chad Clark added, “Our mission statement is ‘Exceeding expectations with UltraGlowing results,’ so this is an example of us expanding capacity to provide our customers with great turnaround. We are pleased to offer additional capacity and look forward to the completion of our building expansion and additional equipment/services in the future.”
AHT can accommodate parts up to 400” inches in height, 160” in diameter and up to 60,000 lbs in weight. A few of the common materials used in gas nitriding processes are austenitic stainless steel; martensitic stainless steel; cast materials (gray/ductile/nodular iron); medium carbon steel; and low alloy/low carbon steel.
This equipment follows on the heels of a building expansion for AHT’s Monroe facility.
A walking beam furnace has been ordered for the in-house operations of the largest steel subsidiary of the Salzgitter Group. The furnace will improve their sustainability and production efforts and is being provided by a company with North American locations.
Tenova is crafting the furnace for Salzgitter Flachstahl. The furnace includes the discharging roller table, charging and discharging machine, and all related electrical, measuring, and control systems. It has a capacity of 320 t/h and is designed to process slabs — blocks of cast steel — in single and double-row configurations.
Antonio Catalano EVP, downstream business unit Tenova
“The new walking beam furnace is a keystone in our journey towards a more sustainable steel production,” stated Thomas Routschek, operations director of Hot Flat Products Division at Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH. “Thanks to Tenova’s advanced technology, we will be able to reduce our energy consumption by up to 30% during the process of reheating the slabs. This project represents a decisive step in minimizing our CO₂ footprint and enhancing the overall energy efficiency of our hot strip mill.”
“We are proud to strengthen our collaboration with one of Germany’s leading steel producers, supporting their goals for energy efficiency and sustainable production,” shared Antonio Catalano, EVP downstream business unit at Tenova.
The furnace features a combustion air pre-heating system to reduce overall energy consumption and will be equipped with hydrogen burners and oxygen injection zones, optimizing combustion efficiency and reducing fuel consumption. The heat recovery system will capture waste heat to generate steam that will be distributed throughout the plant, thereby reducing the overall plant energy demand.
Press release is available in its original form here.
Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines annually and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter is from theJune 2025 Buyers Guide print edition.
In 2025, procuring nearly anything has become a bit more “interesting,” shall we say, with the complete and total shake up of the world’s economy with hasty and heavy tariffs imposed by the U.S. on the rest of the world.
For posterity, let me record a few basic facts about what is happening. On April 2, 2025, newly re-elected U.S. President, Donald J. Trump, imposed what was described as “reciprocal tariffs” on nearly every country in the world. April 2 was chosen because President Trump did not want people to think that he was just kidding by imposing the tariffs on April 1, April Fools’ Day. All previous trade agreements were instantly and unilaterally eliminated.
The tariffs were, in fact, not truly reciprocal as one might simply understand that word. Instead, each nation’s actual tariffs were combined with their trade deficit and currency manipulation and then divided in half to arrive at what President Trump called “U.S.A. Discounted Reciprocal Tariffs.” No country escaped. Everyone had at least a 10% tariff. China was hit with a 34% reciprocal tariff – their calculated tariff was 67%. India received a 26% reciprocal tariff – their calculated tariff was 52%.
Roughly a week later, while the world was still reeling, all tariffs were reduced to 10% assuming the country did not retaliate. Only one country retaliated – China. China’s tariffs have ranged as high as 145% and as low as 30% as the two countries struggle to come to an agreement. It is safe to describe the relationship between the two countries as very tense.
Understanding Tariffs
Before exploring how these tariffs might impact the North America heat treating and thermal processing markets, let me first make two recommendations for anyone wanting to learn more about tariffs and good, sound economics.
The best book I’ve ever read about tariffs is an old classic book written by Frederic Bastiat entitled, Economic Sophisms. The book is spot on and simple and shows how tariffs are not generally helpful from an economic perspective. Bastiat was also the author of another great, short book called The Law. I recommend both.
Another excellent book that discusses tariffs is Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson, especially chapter eleven, “Who’s ‘Protected’ by Tariffs.”
Of course, economics aren’t the only reason a country imposes tariffs. Preserving industries critical to national defense is one such non-economic reason often cited for imposing tariffs.
The Upside of Tariffs
So, what are the potential impacts of tariffs on the North American thermal processing industry? Given that tariffs are, in essence, a tax, there are few true economic gains to be made. However, it is very possible that our commercial heat treater brothers and sisters may benefit significantly from tariffs, especially if more and more manufacturing returns to the U.S. This return of manufacturing would also potentially benefit many oven, furnace, and induction equipment manufacturers, as well as component suppliers. Any increase in manufacturing State-side will bode well for industry suppliers.
The Downside of Tariffs
The potential downsides are legion. The most notable? Instead of stimulating manufacturing in the U.S., it is possible that tariffs will start to significantly impact exports. If that happens, manufacturing will take it on the chin due to artificially restricted demand. Not only would this hurt many of the companies that read this publication and perform their own in-house thermal processing, but it will have the trickle-down effect of drying up demand for new furnaces, ovens, and components.
Tariffs also could be a real boon for furnace and oven manufacturers located within the borders of the U.S. Assuming the tariffs persist (which is doubtful), companies building furnaces in the U.S. will have a significant competitive advantage. However, the opposite is true for furnace manufacturers who build internationally and ship their equipment into the U.S. Currently, there are a significant number of international furnace manufacturers doing business in the U.S. These companies are at risk.
The Real Goal of Trump’s Tariffs
If the real goal of Trump’s tariffs is to lower all tariffs everywhere, this whole tariff chapter should end well, ultimately. If, however, President Trump really does “loooove tariffs” as he has claimed, the new Golden Age will not be as golden as it might have been.
