The privilege of unveiling the Heat Treat Today 40 Under 40 Class of 2019 comes with the disappointment that not every one of the nominees could be included in the final count, even though each young, up-and-coming, talented heat treating professional whose name was submitted is making a significant difference in their field. We will be back next year looking for candidates for the 40 Under 40 Class of 2020, and in fact, you can begin the process right now. Click here to nominate the young professional you have in mind who is not listed among the finalists or honorable mentions.
Consider this list a preview:
The 2019 Honorable Mentions
Andy Muto,
Paulo Heat Treating
Hiram Martinez,
Inductotherm HWM
Judith Levermann,
SMS Elotherm GmbH
Mitchell Kaltenbaugh,
Peters’ Heat Treating, Inc.
Ryan McLaughlin,
McLaughlin Furnace Group
Tee Rassieur,
Paulo Heat Treating
William Rassieur,
Sales Leader,
Paulo Heat Treating
Vadims Geza,
Chief Product Officer,
CENOS LLC
The individuals pictured are those we acknowledge in 2019 with an Honorable Mention for their contribution to their company, their dedication of service to their customers, their commitment to pursue skills and knowledge about their field. You should know that we at Heat Treat Today are rooting for you and have already rolled the names of any qualified Honorable Mentions into the nominations for the Class of 2020.
Heat Treat Today encourages the rest of you to keep your eyes open for young professionals you encounter within your heat treating sphere, especially in the captive heat treatment industry, who deserve recognition and encouragement to stick to the path that will take the industry to greater heights of technology, quality control, standards, and leadership.
Heat Treat Today is very pleased to present the 40 Under 40 Class of 2019. These enthusiastic, forward-thinking, skilled professionals are part of the reason the future of this industry is bright. We invite you to click to our newly unveiled page and read how Heat Treat Today’s 2nd class of 40 Under 40 is breaking barriers, saying yes to challenges, resolving the impossible, and reinforcing the culture of hard work and customer service.
Have a young professional in mind who should have been included? The nomination page will remain live to begin receiving submissions for the 40 Under 40 Class of 2020. Do it now!
Print copies of the Heat Treat Today Fall 2019 magazine have already been mailed out—we hear from many of you that you’ve received your issue—and if you’re at ASM’s Heat Treat Show next week, keep an eye out for your complimentary copy in your registration packet, or visit us at Booth #2123 and pick up a copy. This edition features the Class of 2019 40 Under 40, as well as the Honorable Mentions, and many articles pertinent to our industry such as 101 Heat TreatTips and samplings from our News Chatter feature.
In addition, you can sneak a peek at the digital version of the print edition by clicking here.
Thanks to all those who nominated individuals for this inaugural 40 Under 40 Class of 2019.
Heat TreatTodayis privileged to present the inaugural 40 Under 40 Class of 2019, a group of young, up-and-coming talent in the North American heat treat industry. On Friday, October 4, 2019, we will introduce this group of industry elite, significant contributors to the heat treat market.
Be sure to check back here on Friday, October 4, where you can read about how this class is breaking barriers, saying yes to challenges, resolving the impossible, and reinforcing the culture of hard work and customer service. They are the reason the future of this industry is bright!
Less than one week remains in the nomination period for Heat TreatToday’s Class of 2019 40 Under 40! The nomination process closes at midnight (EDT) on Wednesday, July 31, 2019, so if you have been considering submitting the name of a colleague, a client, or an employee but just haven’t gotten around to it, now is the time!
What you may not realize is that the benefits to being selected as a member of Heat Treat Today’s40 Under 40 are more than just a “one and done” recognition in the Heat Treat Show issue of Heat TreatToday’s print magazine. We will continue to point our audience to the 40 Under 40 landing page at our website, which will always feature the most current class of recipients. In addition, we request and publish interviews with 40 Under 40 members, highlighting their entry into the industry, what sparked their interest in heat treating, how their interest has grown, the remarkable projects they’ve enjoyed working on, and what words of wisdom they would share with other young professionals in the industry.
Michael Elmore, Heat Treat Engineer, with GKN Driveline
For example, Michael Elmore, Heat Treat Engineer, with GKN Driveline, remembered his early days in the industry this way: “When I came to GKN, I fell in love with heat treating,” said Elmore. “I expected this to be a puddle and it turned out to be more like jumping into an ocean. There’s so much more to it than I expected. . . . [Four years later,] I’m still finding out things I didn’t know. It goes deeper and deeper the longer I’m here, never hitting the bottom of what can be learned, done, or explored.”
Christina Somogye, Akron Steel Treating Company’s VP of Administration and Operations
Christina Somogye, Akron Steel Treating Company’s VP of Administration and Operations, grew up in the environment of metallurgy, steel treatment and manufacturing, and heat treating operations, so her thoughts on how companies can stay relevant in an industry that is changing rapidly due to technology, new materials, etc., are unique, and she offers this perspective: “There are many opportunities in large and small heat treating companies (commercial and captive) as well as the equipment, alloy, material suppliers and service industries that serve the heat treating companies. The knowledge of senior industry members is ready to be passed on to the next generation with tremendous opportunities for growth and technical expertise. Small, privately held businesses and large, multi-facility companies have the need to pass down this tribal knowledge for their continued success.”
Wei Guo, Principal Materials Engineer for The Timken Company
Wei Guo, Principal Materials Engineer for The Timken Company, reflected on his passion for this industry by drawing a parallel between a metallurgist crafting a heat treat recipe and “a famous cook developing a recipe for new cuisine.”
“One needs to control the ingredients, mixing sequence, baking time and cooking temperature combined with skill and expertise to obtain an optimized flavor and palate. The development of heat-treating process recipes is similar, relying on the metallurgist’s fundamental knowledge and experience of physical metallurgy. The most exciting aspect of thermal processing is the application of the knowledge and experience to create a heat treat process that produces the desired result and creates value to the company.”
How should a young professional find his or her way into the right niche in the industry? Wei gives this advice:
“Gain hands-on experience with practical heat treatment processes when trying to identify problems and challenges. . . . Determine an area of interest and drive . . . to learn/practice thermal processing skills. . . . Find a mentor; learning from a senior experienced metallurgist is always helpful. Many aspects of heat treatments cannot be learned from the textbook and might take a long time to figure them out on your own.”
“Heat treatment processing is a very dynamic world because many novel metallic materials are emerging every day,” says Wei. “We, not only young professionals, but everyone in this field need to keep abreast of the latest materials development and make ourselves ready for the new challenges.”
You haven’t nominated anyone yet for the Heat TreatToday 40 Under 40? Maybe you’re wondering what the benefits are to receiving this industry recognition?
Danielle Cote of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) was one of 40 recipients of Heat TreatToday’s Class of 2018 40 Under 40 award. Listen to this short message from Danielle about the importance of nominating someone for this year’s award.
“Thank you very much for this honor and recognition. I am proud to be among so many other wonderful contributors to heat treating.” ~ Lesley Frame, UConn
“Thank you very much! I am honored to have received this recognition from Heat Treat Today.” ~ Sean Tarpinian, JTEKT North America Corp
In 2018, Heat TreatTodayintroduced one of its most popular features, the 40 Under 40 Awards for young, up-and-coming talent in the North American heat treat industry. Click here for the 2018 recipients. Heat TreatTodayis posting occasional features of some of the 2018 recipients in anticipation of the 2019 40 Under 40 awardees to be presented in September (nominations are being accepted here). Today we feature Dr. Wei Guo of The Timken Company.
Wei Guo
The Timken Company
Principal Materials Engineer
Dr. Wei Guo was nominated from within The Timken Company. The following was provided by his colleague, Dr. Lee Rothleutner:
Dr. Wei Guo joined Timkin in 2018 and is on pace to have a prolific career in the area of heat treatment. Wei is continually leveraging both his industrial and academic heat treatment experience to implement new technologies at Timken while advancing the industry’s knowledge base. Wei has over 50 publications in the field of heat treatment and related fields, with his most recent contribution being available in the July/Aug issue of Thermal Processing magazine discussing residual stresses evolution.
When asked to describe what he finds interesting about metallurgy/thermal processing/heat treating, Wei Guo described the parallel between a metallurgist crafting a heat treat recipe and “a famous cook developing a recipe for new cuisine.”
“One needs to control the ingredients, mixing sequence, baking time and cooking temperature combined with skill and expertise to obtain an optimized flavor and palate. The development of heat-treating process recipes is similar, relying on the metallurgist’s fundamental knowledge and experience of physical metallurgy. The most exciting aspect of thermal processing is the application of the knowledge and experience to create a heat treat process that produces the desired result and creates value to the company.”
Wei recalls when he was a master student 10 years being a part of a team that developed a process in a lab for grain-oriented, electrical steels. That process has been formally deployed to four steel plants, promising the production of electrical steels with exceptional magnetic properties (high in magnetic induction and low in core loss). As a result, he found himself intrigued by metallurgy and heat treating.
Wei explains how heat treating fits into the processes at Timken:
“‘Stronger by design’ is the tag line of Timken and its bearing products. Heat treatment is critical to the production of quality, high performing bearings. Utilizing an improper heat treatment can result in a “garbage in- garbage out” effect; no matter how well the bearing design engineer optimizes the machining process and the mechanical design of bearing components, the production scrap rate and bearing performance may be negatively influenced. On the other hand, providing a proper heat treatment is the prerequisite to producing bearings with sufficient hardness and proper microstructure that meet the designer’s expectations. In my opinion, Timken is doing an excellent job expanding company knowledge and expertise with new heat treatment processes, beyond traditional through hardening and carburizing.”
With an eye to the future of the heat treating industry and what to expect out of new technology and advancements in metallurgy, Wei states:
“The heat treatment industry is trying to monitor residual stress and minimize the generation of undesirable residual stress during the manufacturing process that results in part distortion. However, distortion from these stresses and thermal gradients cannot be avoided. If the amount of distortion can be predicted by modeling and simulation, we can engineer a pre-heat treat shape that will result in the desired or expected post-heat treat shape. This concept has been referred to as “quench to fit”. Creating virtual heat treat processes based on data science and artificial intelligence can help select the best heat treatment method within a shorter amount of time. This might replace the current “one at a time” trial and error method currently employed and help the metallurgist obtain a high-throughput, high-quality heat treatment solution for the designated purpose.”
As the industry reels from the brain drain, it is noteworthy that many of our 40 Under 40 recipients agree with the bright future the industry promises for those entering the field in the next few years. Wei believes the industry is open to young professionals willing to learn.
“Because of the many process variables involved, everyone’s effort can make it better. To start with, [I recommend upcoming professionals] gain hands-on experience with practical heat treatment processes when trying to identify problems and challenges. I’d recommend that they determine an area of interest and drive themselves to learn/practice thermal processing skills. In addition, find a mentor; learning from a senior experienced metallurgist is always helpful. Many aspects of heat treatments cannot be learned from the textbook and might take a long time to figure them out on your own.”
“Heat treatment processing is a very dynamic world because many novel metallic materials are emerging every day,” Wei offers as a summary. “We, not only young professionals, but everyone in this field need to keep abreast of the latest materials development and make ourselves ready for the new challenges.”
15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current
Heat TreatToday offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
Leroy M. Ball has recently been appointed to the Board of Directors at Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI). Ball, 50, is president and CEO of Koppers Holdings Inc.
Heat TreatToday 2018 40 Under 40 recipient Matt Clinite of Ipsen USA has recently been promoted from Midwest Regional Sales Owner to Customer Service Sales Manager, effective immediately. Clinite joined the company in June 2014 as a Sales Engineer.
Vesuvius plc recently announced that it has acquired CCPI Inc., a specialty refractories producer focused on tundish (steel continuous casting) applications and aluminum. Based in Ohio, CCPI will become part of Vesuvius’ Advanced Refractories business unit.
Gasbarre has announced that the company will no longer be using the J.L. Becker name, but instead, are transitioning to its new name, Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems. Thermal Processing Systems is one of the three new business units that now comprise Gasbarre Products, Inc. The other two units are Powder Compaction Solutions and Manufacturing Technologies.
Marisa A. Oeltjen has been added to the Bluestreak I Bright AM™ team as customer success support specialist. Ryan Wenzel, working from Bluestreak I Bright AM™’s Northeast Ohio location, serves as a database analyst and key member of the tech support group.
Howard Kimberley has joined Aeromet International as Chief Executive Officer. Kimberley has extensive experience in the aerospace industry including senior executive positions at GKN and Hampson Industries, and most recently as CEO of international aerospace group Shimtech since its formation in 2011.
Abbott Furnace Company recently announced it will be hosting its Fifth Annual Continuous Brazing Symposium in Mexico this spring in Puebla, Mexico from May 21 – 23, 2019.
Leroy Ball joins Bd of Directors at ATI
Matt Clinite is promoted at Ipsen USA
Marisa A. Oeltjen, Bluestreak I Bright AM™
Ryan Wenzel, Bluestreak I Bright AM™
Howard Kimberley has joined Aeromet International as CEO
Equipment Chatter
A European manufacturer of investment castings for the medical industry recently purchased a gas-fired pusher furnace from Armil CFS, Inc. The 2-row pusher furnace will be used for the burnout and pre-heating of investment casting molds.
A midwestern facility of a US-based manufacturer of safety-critical fasteners and assembly solutions has purchased a new MB48-120 mesh belt furnace from AFC-Holcroft, replacing an older AFC-Holcroft installation. The new mesh belt furnace will be used in the production of metal fasteners.
Several orders have been met by SECO/WARWICK for various equipment and systems: 1) An American manufacturer of flat rolled aluminum sheet recently added a new SECO/WARWICK sow and T-bar preheat furnace system 2) The main producer of forgings in Central Europe for strategic markets recently invested in a single-chamber furnace type PEK. 3) A manufacturer of high quality matrix forgings, construction connectors and manual tools purchased a CaseMaster AFS – a multipurpose Sealed Quench chamber furnace, intended for thermal and thermo-chemical treatment in a controlled endothermic atmosphere. 4) SECO/WARWICK provided an additional atmosphere generator system to a supplier of engineered carbon and graphite solutions for severe service lubrication applications in the aerospace, petrochemical, energy, industrial, and defense sectors. 5) The company updated and simultaneously extended a box furnace’s productive longevity for a leading international participant in the field of precious metals and advanced materials.
Lindberg/MPH announced the shipment of a single-zone tube furnace to an engineering company in the nuclear power industry.
Armil CFS ships a gas-fired pusher furnace.
SECO/WARWICK makes several equipment transactions
Lindberg/MPH ships single-zone tube furnace
Kudos Chatter
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (PA) meets with Onex Inc and members of NWIRC
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (PA) recently met with Onex Inc and members of NWIRC with the purpose of hearing firsthand from Onex employees about NIST MEP’s impact on Pennsylvania’s manufacturing industry.
Dana Incorporated‘s motor and inverter joint venture, TM4, recently announced it has reached a major milestone with the production of its 12,000th TM4 SUMO™ electric powertrain for buses and commercial vehicles in China.
For the ninth time, The Timken Company, a world leader in engineered bearings and power transmission products, has been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. Ethisphere Institute is a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.
Special Mention
On Valentine’s Day, Thermcraft lost its founder, Mr. Morris L. Crafton, at 93. In 1971, Mr. Crafton and his wife Clara founded Thermcraft on the principle of providing the best customer service available in the thermal processing industry.
Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, Mr. Crafton grew up in North Carolina and served in the US Navy during WWII, and then after college, he was called again to serve his country during the Korean War. After his military service, Mr. Crafton moved his family to Washington, PA, where he ran a popcorn business and, in time, became a partner in a business that manufactured replacement heating elements for industrial and laboratory furnaces.
After returning to North Carolina, he decided to start his own company. With the full support of his wife Clara, they secured a small warehouse in downtown Winston Salem and began making replacement heating elements for industrial and laboratory furnace applications.
Thermcraft was moved to its current facility in 1979, just a few miles south to the edge of Winston Salem. Through new product development and various acquisitions, the Craftons began to grow Thermcraft into the company it is today.
Mr. Crafton lost Clara to cancer in 1995. He eventually turned the reigns of Thermcraft over to his son Tom, but that didn’t stop Mr. Crafton from being involved in the day-to-day business. He continued to drive himself to work well into his 92nd year, making mail runs and performing various other tasks. He enjoyed a daily walk through the factory, talking to his employees and staying on top of what was going on within his company.
Mr. Crafton will be missed by all who knew him. He will be remembered as a strong leader who was kind and generous to those around him. He had a great sense-of-humor and often left those he met with the saying, “glad you got to see me.”
“We are certainly glad we had the opportunity to meet you, Mr. Crafton,” is the sentiment of all at Thermcraft.
Heat TreatToday offers its condolences to the family of Mr. Morris Crafton and the team at Thermcraft.
Heat Treat Today is pleased to join in the announcements of growth and achievement throughout the industry by highlighting them here on our News Chatter page. Please send any information you feel may be of interest to manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments especially in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and energy sectors to the editor at editor@heattreattoday.com.
In 2018, Heat TreatToday introduced one of its most popular features, the 40 Under 40 Awards for young, up-and-coming talent in the North American heat treat industry. Click here for the 2018 recipients. Heat TreatToday is posting occasional features of some of the 2018 recipients in anticipation of the 2019 40 Under 40 awardees to be presented in September (nominations are being accepted here). Today we feature Christina Somogye of Akron Steel Treating Company.
Christina Somogye
Akron Steel Treating Company
VP of Administration and Operations; Shareholder in ASTC
Christina Somogye was nominated from within Akron Steel Treating Company. The following was provided by the nominator:
Christina graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from The Ohio State University and has also completed the MTI “Yes” Program. She has earned respect from her fellow employees, the customers and the vendors at Akron Steel Treating, being wise beyond her years. In January [2018], she purchased a 10% interest in ASTC and is an integral part of the succession plan. Christina balances her responsibilities at Akron Steel Treating Company with being wife to Aaron and mother to her 3-year-old daughter, Olivia. The family resides in Sarnia, Ontario.
Christina Somogye follows three generations of steel treaters at Akron Steel Treating Company, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2018. Her great-grandfather, Prosper P. Powell, founded the company in 1943, and her father, Joe Powell, is currently at the helm. In this way, Christina has grown up in the environment of metallurgy, steel treatment and manufacturing, and heat treating operations. Asked what interests her about the industry that compelled her to stay with the family business, she says, “I enjoy evaluating our racking procedures to optimize load size and ensure uniformity throughout the load with an ergonomic work set up for our employees.”
With the changes in the industry due to technology, new materials, etc., Christina is enthusiastic about the way ASTC is seeking innovative methods, equipment and processes to keep up.
“ASTC, especially our President, Joe Powell, has been very passionate about new heat treating process technology,” she says. “We are a licensee of the IntensiQuench® process. We work with fabricators to build new and unique equipment for ourselves and to prove out new heat treatment processes. Akron Steel Treating Company is the ‘skunk works’ for IHTS Akron, Joe’s heat treat and metallurgical consulting company.”
Heat treating is an industry that offers a unique path to invention, innovation, and discovery. Christina agrees that “there are many opportunities in large and small heat treating companies (commercial and captive) as well as the equipment, alloy, material suppliers and service industries that serve the heat treating companies. The knowledge of senior industry members is ready to be passed on to the next generation with tremendous opportunities for growth and technical expertise. Small, privately held businesses and large, multi-facility companies have the need to pass down this tribal knowledge for their continued success.”
In 2018, Heat TreatToday introduced one of its most popular features, the 40 Under 40 Awards for young, up-and-coming talent in the North American heat treat industry. Click here for the 2018 recipients. Heat Treat Today is posting occasional features of some of the 2018 recipients in anticipation of the 2019 40 Under 40 awardees to be presented in September (nominations are being accepted here). First on our list is also one of the first to have been nominated.
Michael Elmore
GKN Driveline
Heat Treat Engineer
Michael Elmore was nominated from within GKN Driveline. The following was provided by the nominator:
Michael continues to prove himself many times over by working to improve the heat treat and processes at GKN. He shows himself to be knowledgeable and takes great pride in what he does, working well with everyone in the department and always willing to help out. The heat treat department at our facility has already reaped rewards for his hard work. Michael’s work ethic is practiced daily, garnering him a great deal of respect.
Michael Elmore started at GKN Driveline right out of college with a little bit of familiarity with the territory, having worked for the company during a summer internship. That experience led him to shift his academic focus from design-based engineering to the type of process improvement work he encountered in the heat treat department at the automotive components manufacturer’s North Carolina facility.
“When I came to GKN, I fell in love with heat treating,” said Elmore. “I expected this to be a puddle and it turned out to be more like jumping into an ocean. There’s so much more to it than I expected.”
Michael worked with Jack Gerochowski, head of the heat treat department, whom he describes as “a heat treating genius”. He spent time in the metallurgical lab with Gerochowski, learning all about the process. GKN was in the process of creating the position of heat treat engineer and Elmore was the first to be hired. Four years later, “I’m still finding out things I didn’t know. It goes deeper and deeper the longer I’m here, never hitting the bottom of what can be learned, done, or explored.”
As an engineering student, he expected he would be doing a lot of design work on the field, but he states the work he does now with heat treating provides “more immediate satisfaction. We can help the company save money. GKN already has a top-notch heat treat department. I didn’t arrive and make any huge improvements — just a few tweaks here or there, like increasing checks, decreasing possibilities of a spill.”
The North Carolina facility employs over 1,800, with 25-30 in the heat treat department. Michael said the next new project in line at GKN Driveline is in Non-Destructive Testing using their first NDT equipment recently purchased from Forester Instruments (Pittsburgh). The heat treat department hopes to develop a new way of testing gears to eliminate inconsistencies, save money, and free up the metallurgy labs to do more exploratory work.
Asked what he would advise the next generation of heat treat professionals, Michael offered: “The possibilities are endless with heat treating, an industry that is instrumental in every aspect of life. There are broad opportunities and many different fields to work in. It’s very satisfactory being a part of making things better.”
He added, “I couldn’t do anything without all the support and training from Jack, and also Greg Cook, GKN maintenance manager for the heat treat department who nominated me for the 40 Under 40.”
The week that gave us Furnaces North America 2018 is winding down. This is also the week that Heat Treat Today launched its inaugural print edition, as well as a digital version of the print edition, with the popular 40 Under 40 feature, highlighting the Class of 2018, enthusiastic, forward-thinking, skilled professionals who are making a difference in the heat treating industry before they turn 41. We invited the 40 Under 40 ’18 members who were at FNA to visit us at the Heat Treat Today booth to pick up their own copy of the print magazine — and one for their moms, as well — and for a photo session to share with local or company media. We are posting the photos below that we were able to capture, plus a few others here from FNA 2018.
