Client needs often make for the greatest business opportunities. In 1986, the Lyman family ran into one such great opportunity. While the family business was busy building heat treating equipment, one of their clients faced a big need: They wanted a new continuous austempering line, but they were unable to bring it in-house. Seeing the opportunity, the Lymans struck a deal to build the line and place it in a new heat treating company: Eastern Metal Treating (EMT), which to this day remains a commercial heat treater born from making the best of an opportunity.
The opportunity to be a commercial heat treater offering continuous austempering jump-started the company, and it is now their claim to heat treating fame. Today, EMT is the largest-capacity commercial heat treat company able to perform the continuous austempering process in the Northeast. Designed and built by company personnel, the two mesh belt furnace systems have a capacity of 3,000 lbs/hr. Soon, there will be an additional 1,000 lbs/hr available for production as the team is currently refurbishing an existing mesh belt furnace system. Employees perform 95% of all equipment repairs to keep these systems running. During these repairs, a complete inventory of spare parts minimizes downtime to hours and days, rather than weeks or more.
Continuous mesh belt austempering is perfect for medium and high carbon steel stamped parts, making it the bread and butter of the automotive industry. Austempering at this company yields tough parts that are more ductile, less susceptible to distortion, and resistant to hydrogen embrittlement. Not only that, but the process also produces parts that are clean and bright with no scale or oxidation, which leads to minimizing or eliminating downstream processes. In EMT’s early days, the company heat treated large diameter rings used for the automatic transmissions of the Big Three car manufacturers. Bob Lyman notes how amazing it was to drive around knowing almost every car he saw contained parts his family business had contributed to manufacturing.
Today, the Lyman family is still making the best of all the opportunities available to them. Bob’s two sons, Bud and Michael Lyman, are preparing to take over the family business in the future, and the two currently handle plant management and quality assurance. As more business opportunities come their way, EMT is looking forward to taking them on and achieving excellence in quality and service.
Eastern Metal Treating, Inc.
28 Bacon Road
Enfield, CT 06082
info@easternmetaltreating.com
www.easternmetaltreating.com
Main image: Bob, Bud, and Michael Lyman | Image Credit: Eastern Metal Treating, Inc.
