Constellium

Amsterdam Auto Aluminum Supplier Increases North American Footprint

An Amsterdam-based aluminum supplier recently announced the opening of its new automotive structures plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, to supply aluminum crash management systems and structural components to automakers in Mexico.

Paul Warton, president of Constellium’s Automotive Structures and Industry

Constellium’s new facility in San Luis Potosí houses the latest technology for forming, machining, welding, and heat-treating aluminum automotive components, along with a state-of-the-art quality lab, in order to respond to the automotive industry’s expectation that “more than 5 million vehicles will be assembled annually in Mexico by 2020, making it one of the largest markets for automobile production,” according to company officials.

“It is an exciting day for Constellium as we expand our footprint in North America to better serve our customers and become part of the growing automotive industry in Mexico,” said Paul Warton, president of Constellium’s Automotive Structures and Industry business unit. “The San Luis Potosí plant is well-positioned to serve multiple customers, and to provide advanced aluminum solutions as the industry trend to electric vehicles gains momentum.”

The Governor of the State Juan Manuel Carreras López was present at the grand opening, along with the Secretary of Economic Development of the Government of the State, Gustavo Puente Orozco; the delegate of the Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare Edgar Durón Puente; and Octavio Martínez Angulo, general director of the plant.

Last year Constellium opened a new plant in White, Georgia, to supply automakers in the southeast U.S., in addition to its existing location in Van Buren, Michigan. A new joint venture (Constellium-Can Art) plant near Windsor, Ontario, Canada, called Astrex, produces aluminum extrusions for Constellium’s automotive projects in North America.

 

 

Amsterdam Auto Aluminum Supplier Increases North American Footprint Read More »

A Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items To Keep You Current

 

 

 

A Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items To Keep You Current

The heat treat industry is one of people transitioning and companies executing business, achieving goals, and receiving acknowledgments. Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.

Personnel and Company Changes and Moves

D. Scott MacKenzie, PhD., vice-president, IFHTSE

    • At the Executive Council meeting of the International Federation of Heat Treating and Surface Engineering (IFHTSE), D. Scott MacKenzie, PhD., was elected to serve as vice-president for a two-year term (January 1, 2018, to January 1, 2020). MacKenzie, a research scientist in metallurgy with Houghton International, Inc., in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, has been the ASM representative to IFHTSE since 2015.

      New team members at Paulo: (left) Mike Neumann, plant manager, Kansas City facility; (right) Kathy Neumann, director of corporate safety
    • Paulo has announced two additions to their Kansas City team. Mike Neumann, who brings 20 years of progressive experience in the heat treating industry, joins Paulo as the plant manager for the Kansas City location, which serves the automotive/heavy truck, aerospace, and railway industries and has a diverse offering of heat treating equipment. Kathy Neumann, who has extensive experience managing multi-plant safety programs for commercial heat treatment and traditional manufacturing companies, joins Paulo as the Director of Corporate Safety based at the Kansas City facility.
    • The Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF) has announced that Arthur (Bud) Jones, of Symmco, Inc., Sykesville, Pennsylvania, has been appointed president of the Center for Powder Metallurgy Technology. Jones succeeds Jeff Hamilton of American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc (AAM) – Powertrain, who had completed two terms.

      William Jones, owner of Solar Manufacturing, Inc.

      Solar Manufacturing Incorporated, an industry leader in manufacturing advanced industrial vacuum furnaces, is relocating its headquarters to Sellersville, Pennsylvania. The Sellersville Borough Council recently granted unanimous preliminary and final approval for the new building located on a combined 8.5 acres; the manufacturing area will occupy 40,000 square feet of the facility with an additional 17,500 square feet of office space. There is the option of an extra 22,500 square foot addition to the manufacturing building in the future. "I am thrilled to see this project moving forward for our new headquarters.  This new facility will provide us the space we need to grow and consolidate all our staff in one facility," said William Jones, who along with his wife, Myrtle Jones, owns Solar Manufacturing, Inc.  Gorski Engineering is scheduled to begin breaking ground for the new eight million dollar facility in the spring of 2018, with completion and occupancy later that fall.

       

       Equipment Transactions

    • Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) has purchased a gas nitride unit to expand its capacity for UltraGlow® Gas Nitriding and UltraOx® surface treatment solutions at its facility in Waterloo, Iowa. This new, large, state-of-the-art gas nitride/high temperature unit will also allow increased capacity of currently offered services including gas ferritic nitrocarburizing (FNC) and stress relief.
    • Aerospace heat treating manufacturer Delta H Technologies LLC of Columbus, Ohio, recently supplied a high-temperature heat treating furnace to a major aircraft MRO. The thermal equipment is capable of heat treating titanium, A286, PH stainless steel, and tool steels in an air or argon atmosphere. "This system complements our popular dual chamber aerospace heat treat (DCAHT serie) furnaces for aircraft aluminum," said Ellen Conway Merrill, vice president of Delta H. "Specifically, it provides a complete heat treating furnace system designed exclusively for aircraft MRO back shops, military, aircraft OEMs, and parts manufacturers."

Twin ovens developed by Ramada Aços and BMI

  • Ramada Aços has developed "Twin Ovens" in partnership with BMI Fours Industriels, with the first copies already operating at their facilities in Portugal. The furnaces work in an integrated energy management system with only one vacuum pump for both ovens. This solution allows a reduction of the consumption of electrical energy, as well as of the costs of maintenance. The designers plan to integrate a third furnace. The twin ovens have a capacity of over 1,750 lbs. each, increased by 14%, and a temperature of up to 1400ºF.

    Ipsen USA's MetalMaster® vacuum furnace
  • Ipsen USA recently shipped 15 furnaces to eight states in the United States, as well as Asia and Europe, to support customers in additive manufacturing, aerospace, commercial heat treating, medical and MIM industries. The shipments included: 1) nine TITAN® vacuum furnaces, including three TITAN DS (debinding and sintering) unites, two TITAN LT (low temperature) unitls and several H2- and H6-sized furnaces, all equipped with PdMetrics® predictive maintenance software; 2) three horizontal MetalMaster® vacuum furnaces, each with a work zone of 36" x 30" x 48" and load capacity of 2,000 lbs; 3) two horizontal TurboTreater® furnaces; and 4) one vacuum aluminum brazing furnace with a 1,500-pound load capacity and an all-metal, radiation-shielded hot zone for the aerospace industry.

Accreditations, Certifications, Patents, and More

  • Houston Heat Treat, a heat treat service provider located in the Houston, Texas, area, was granted the ABS Certificate of Heat Treatment Facility and Process Approval through the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), January 12, 2018. ABS Approved Quality Assurance Plan includes process and test requirements for ABS and non-ABS grades: carbon and low alloy steels. Processes include annealing, normalizing, quenching and tempering.
  • SIFCO Industries Inc’s Cleveland location became the first United States forging manufacturer to obtain NADCAP Metallic Materials Manufacturing certification. The scope of the audit undertaken to obtain this certification included forging equipment and processes to ensure consistency of manufacture. Other processes audited covered billet cutting, preparation, and heating, as well as post-forging operations. With mandates on the horizon from aerospace industry leaders, SIFCO proactively obtained the accreditation to ensure alignment with customers’ supplier quality requirements.

    Far left RJ Sciortino (BAE Systems), 3rd from left Dr. Bryan Cheeseman (ARL), 2nd from right Ken Blake (accepting the award for Constellium)
  • Constellium N.V. was awarded the 2017 Defense Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Achievement Award in the category of Enhancing Military Capability for its contributions as part of the U.S. Army’s Affordable Protection from Objective Threats (APOT) ManTech program. This prestigious award recognizes individuals from government and the private sector whose ManTech projects result in system enhancements to improve military performance. Constellium was nominated for its efforts in development and maturation of the industrial scale processing of aluminum armor plate for forming single piece combat vehicle hulls.  A collaborative team consisting of BAE Systems Land & Armaments, ARL and Constellium developed, fabricated and demonstrated enhanced hull solutions applicable to tracked combat vehicles (military tanks).

Guill Tool & Engineering certified for defense and aerospace industries.

  • Guill Tool & Engineering, a tool and die and precision machining company for the extrusion and defense industries based in West Warwick, Rhode Island, announced it has been certified by NQA for AS9100:2016 and ISO 9001:2015.  AS9100:2016 is the quality management standard specific to the aerospace industry.

 

 

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.

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Constellium to Probe U.S. Electric Vehicle Market

 

Jean-Marc Germain, CEO of Constellium

Source: Automotive News

Dutch aluminum producer Constellium NV, formerly Alcan, explores technological and manufacturing shifts in the electric vehicle industry as part of its rapidly forming network in North America.

“For vehicles to carry electric batteries,” says CEO Jean-Mark Germain, “they will be designed with aluminum structures to hold them. And those structures must do more than traditional metal body structures. They must provide thermal transfer capabilities to keep the battery cool or keep it warm in cold weather. So the structure actually becomes part of the power source.”

Read more here, “EV Bodies: ‘Part of the power source'”, about plans for Constellium’s new Georgia plant to supply engineered aluminum body structures to several automakers in the Southeast.

Constellium to Probe U.S. Electric Vehicle Market Read More »

Advanced Aluminum Armor Alloys

  Source:  Light Metal Age

Aluminum armor solutions have been in existence for the past 60 years, almost since the start of the Aluminum Association circa 1954. These plate products were developed for armored personnel carriers, either wheeled or tracked. Armored vehicles serve an important function as reconnaissance, ambulance, scout, or infantry delivery vehicles. One of the first armored vehicles, which used aluminum armor, was the M113 armored personnel vehicle (Figure 1). The M113 introduced new aluminum armor that made the vehicle much lighter than earlier vehicles; it was thick enough to protect the crew and passengers against small arms fire, but light enough that the vehicle was air transportable.

Read more:  Advanced Aluminum Armor Alloys by Michael Niedzinski, Constellium

Advanced Aluminum Armor Alloys Read More »

Constellium to Feature High Speed Thermal Treatment

Jean-Marc Germain – CEO Constellium

Constellium N.V. (NYSE and Euronext: CSTM) announced today the official opening of a new state-of-the-art finishing line at its plant in Neuf-Brisach, France, for a total €180 million investment. The new line is designed to meet the growing demand for aluminium automotive body sheet.

With a production capacity of 100,000 tons, the new 240m (787-foot) long finishing line features high-speed thermal treatment, precise temperature control, highly efficient quenching process as well as greater flexibility on the thickness of processed alloys. This diverse range of innovative technologies will enable Constellium to manufacture high-quality aluminium products for automotive closure inners, outers and Body-in-White. The new finishing line is in the final stage of the qualification phase and has already started commercial production.

“On the heels of the launch of our new manufacturing plant with our joint venture partner UACJ Corporation in Bowling Green in the US, the opening of the new finishing line in Neuf-Brisach is another critical step in the execution of our worldwide automotive growth strategy,” said Jean-Marc Germain, Chief Executive Officer of Constellium. “It shows our continued commitment to serving the needs of automakers with our advanced aluminium products and solutions.”

 “We are thrilled to announce the capacity expansion of our plant in Neuf-Brisach with the opening of a best-in-class automotive finishing line,” said Arnaud Jouron, President of Constellium’s Packaging and Automotive Rolled Products business unit. “With top-notch technologies, a long-standing automotive expertise among our staff on both sides of the ocean, and an additional line located in the heart of Europe, we are well positioned to capture the growth for automotive body sheet in Europe and across the globe.”

Built in 1967, the Neuf-Brisach plant is an integrated aluminium rolling, finishing and recycling facility. In Neuf-Brisach, Constellium designs and produces a wide portfolio of coil and sheet products for automotive OEMs as well as food and beverage can customers. Adding to the production capacity of aluminium automotive body sheet in Neuf-Brisach, the opening of this additional finishing line is expected to significantly boost Constellium’s automotive body-sheet production capacity in Europe to meet anticipated automotive market growth.

In Europe, stricter regulation of vehicles’ CO2 emission have resulted in an increasing demand for aluminium. With the rising importance of lightweighting, aluminium automotive body sheet volumes are expected to reach 700,000 tons in 2020, up from 230,000 tons in 2012.

Constellium to Feature High Speed Thermal Treatment Read More »

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