Chad Clark

Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.

Personnel and Company Chatter

• The Grieve Corporation mourns the loss of its longtime president, P.J. “Pat” Calabrese, who died on February 17, 2018, in Lake Forest, Illinois, at the age of 90. Pat was president of Grieve from 1958 until his retirement in 2008, having worked closely with the company’s founder, Price Grieve. Pat was born in Chicago, graduated in 1949 from the University of Illinois with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, and was awarded that school’s prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001. He also held a number of positions with various industrial, business, and Catholic charitable organizations. Pat began his career at Grieve in 1958 as National Sales Manager, becoming President in 1968 and finally Chairman in 2006, following the death of Mr. Grieve. During his tenure as President, the company grew steadily to become a global supplier of heat processing equipment for virtually every industry in every industrialized country in the world.
• Advanced Heat Treat Corp (AHT), recently announced the appointment of Chad Clark as plant manager of the Monroe, Michigan, facility. He is well-versed in many aspects of AHT’s business, having been with the company for 15 years. Clark will lead all Monroe, Michigan, operations and guide the strategic direction of the plant. He will also be actively communicating with customers and leading the facility’s project management.
• The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) announced that Devinder Ahuja, senior vice president and chief financial officer (CFO), Novelis Inc., has been named to the NAM Board of Directors. Founded in 1895, the NAM is the largest industrial trade association in the United States with 14,000 members. “I am honored to join the NAM Board to advocate policies that will ensure our continued growth and success as manufacturers,” said Ahuja. “Policymakers need to understand how their actions affect the more than 12 million men and women employed in manufacturing.”

Equipment Chatter

• An inert atmosphere floor furnace was recently built to specifications by The Grieve Corporation. The No. 854 is a special high-temperature, 2200°F electrically-heated, inert atmosphere floor furnace being used for various heat treating applications at the customer’s facility. Workspace dimensions measure 24” wide x 48” deep x 24” high. Special inert atmosphere construction on No. 854 includes a continuously welded outer shell, high-temperature door gasket, sealed heater terminal boxes, inert atmosphere inlet, outlet, and flowmeter.
• An India-based conglomerate recently awarded a contract to Can-Eng Furnaces International Limited to design, manufacture, install, and commission an aluminum automotive casting heat treatment system for their new green field North American expansion in South Carolina, chosen largely due to specific demands of the company’s new line of die-cast, lightweight aluminum automotive components.
• An auto parts manufacturer has ordered a continuous controlled atmosphere brazing line for battery coolers from SECO/WARWICK. This is RAAL S.C.’s third line purchased from western Pennsylvania-based vacuum furnace supplier. RAAL is a manufacturer of complete cooling systems and brazed heat exchangers made of aluminum alloys and stainless steel: radiators, oil coolers, air coolers, condensers and evaporators, designed for agricultural, construction, industrial equipment and automotive applications.
• An American commercial heat treating plant recently purchased a horizontal, high-pressure vacuum furnace from REMIX of Poland. P&L Heat Treating, Inc., of Youngstown, Ohio, began production with the furnace, enhancing the company’s capabilities in the heat treatment of aluminum extrusion dies used in the automotive industry, as well as parts for aviation, nuclear, and other industries. A unique design feature of the REMIX Vacuum is its four-zone system of cooling nozzles which facilitates precise control of cooling gases into the work zone. and allows optimized positive pressure quenching of all load sizes.
• A general purpose box furnace was recently delivered to a manufacturer of precision metal stampings in the U.S. Midwest. Model HL7-M24, built and sold by Lucifer Furnaces, has chamber dimensions of 12”H x 18”W x 24”D and heats to 2300°F. The furnace, which is part of Lucifer’s standard, general purpose, Series 7000 box furnace lines, will be used to heat treat D2 and A2 steel under air atmosphere.
• A Greek aluminum producer recently ordered a four-stand aluminum tandem hot finishing mill for its plant near Athens. ElvalHalcor S.A., the newly merged business of Elval Hellenic Aluminium Industry S.A. and Halcor Metal Works S.A., will boost its output of prime aluminum flat-rolled products at its Oinofyta facility with the new line from SMS Group. This investment allows for the increase of ElvalHalcor’s supply for industrial, transportation and architectural applications and sets the base for expansion in the automotive and aerospace sectors. Start of production of the new hot rolling line will be in 2020.

Kudos Chatter

• Deltech Furnaces, Inc. recently announced that it has achieved ISO 9001:2015 certification for the quality management system implemented at its Denver, Colo., location. The scope of Deltech’s certification includes the “design and manufacture of electric laboratory and production scale furnaces and related control systems.