Thermal-Vac Technology, Inc, based in Orange County, CA, is a southern California brazing, heat-treating, and finishing facility offering services to a wide customer base. Founded in 1985 by Steve Driscol, the 60-employee company is family-owned with second generation family members leading the business since 2012.
With an original facility of 5,500 square feet and 11 active customers, the company transformed into a multiple-location company across two states with over 80,000 square feet of campus footprint. By the end of the 2020 fiscal year, they had over 600 active customers with total sales of just under $12 million.
Vacuum furnace brazing is what the company was founded on, and additional services now include: aluminum dip brazing, induction and torch brazing and heat treating, atmosphere brazing and heat treating, copper and electrolytic nickel plating, specialized aluminide and silicide coatings, quench and temper, and much more.
Main industries served include aerospace, military, and medical. Thermal-Vac maintains strict quality regulations, with Nadcap and AS9100 accreditations. They specialize in highly technical, high-profile projects including missile defense, deep space exploration, medical devices, and others.
Customers have brought interesting projects over the years—everything from the space shuttle main engine to entirely new types of metal for the additive industry, to new types of coatings and oxidation resistance measures.
Partnering with NASA and aerospace leaders, the company works as a supplier on the critical SLS-Orion project to return Americans (including the first woman) to the moon and send astronauts to Mars in the early 2030s.
The company is proud of “The Thermal-Vac Advantage”: A commitment to being not only a one-stop provider of brazing, heat-treating, and finishing services, but also a fully committed and fully engaged partner.
With a focus on being straightforward, putting customers first by truly caring about them, and never giving up, they have maintained a team with less than 10 percent voluntary turnover for the past decade and was acknowledged as a 2018 Top Workplace by the Orange County Register.
Some of the company’s 2020/2021 accomplishments include being named as an Orange County Business Journal Companies That Care Nominee and an Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Business, among others. Three Thermal-Vac employees have also been recognized in Heat Treat Today’s 40 Under 40. The company has given over $25,000 to scholarship funds and non-profits, like Chrysalis.
The company plans to grow continually through a commitment to excellence and service and include new offerings via capacity increases in all major service lines. Focus on their passion helps to keep the right priorities in mind for customers: “We build good parts here; at a profit if we can, a loss if we must, but always good parts.” In the next five to 10 years, Thermal-Vac will be ushering in a new generation of heat treaters and will remain committed to bettering the industry through education, training, and providing expertise.
