Heat TreatTodaypublishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in Heat TreatToday‘sJune 2021 Buyers Guide print edition.
Doug Glenn Publisher and Founder Heat TreatToday
We’re seeing the backside of COVID as it slouches off into the sunset. Masks are coming off. People are standing less than six feet apart. Hands are being shaken as opposed to elbows being bumped. And planes, trains, buses, interstate highways, office buildings, and restaurants are starting to fill up again with real live people.
So are convention centers.
Such is the case in the North American heat treat industry. . . and none too soon. ASM International recently announced that their IMAT event which includes the long-standing Heat Treat Society sponsored Heat Treat Conference and Exposition (aka Heat Treat Show) will be live and face-to-face this coming September 14-16, in St. Louis. Amen and amen!
Heat Treat Today is one of the sponsors of the ASM Heat Treat Show, and we couldn’t be happier to get together with all of our friends and colleagues at this year’s event. On page 8 of this edition, Eric Hutton explains a bit more about the event. Be sure to read his column. This publication will be heavily promoting the Heat Treat Show as something good and worthy of your attendance. Considering that the last major face-to-face industry event was the 2019 ASM Heat Treat Show, it will be a real blessing to be back in a booth, shaking hands and catching up with industry colleagues, customers, and prospects.
“People are happier and make better decision when they are well informed” has been the driving force behind all that Heat Treat Todaydoes. Our goal is to help people become well informed, and with nearly 24 months since the last face-to-face event, there is certainly a lot of informing that needs to happen. That’s why we’re excited to be one of the key promoters of this year’s event. We hope that you’ll take the time to attend the show, and bring your entire heat treat department with you.
Another way we keep people well informed is by helping them connect with suppliers who can provide them with the equipment, supplies, components, and/or services that they need. That’s exactly what this month’s issue is all about – connecting buyers and sellers of heat treat equipment and services. This is Heat Treat Today's1st Annual Buyers Guide. We’re super pleased with how it has turned out, and we are absolutely certain that next year’s Heat Treat Buyers Guide will be even bigger and better.
In the Heat Treat Buyers Guide, you will be able to find ANY heat treat equipment, supplies, components, sub-systems, or heat treating services that is known to man. If not, let us know and we’ll see if we can add it to the list of improvements for next year. On page 6, our managing editor, Karen Gantzer, explains how to get the most out of this resource. That’s a page worth referencing.
And don’t forget, all of the information presented in this annual print version of the Heat Treat Buyers Guide is updated continually at www.HeatTreatBuyersGuide.com. In the online version, you’ll be able to access the very latest information. When this print issue was going to the printer, there were still a significant number of heat treat industry suppliers who had not updated their listings. By this time next year, there will definitely be more, so don’t forget to check out the online version of this Heat Treat Buyers Guide for the very latest.
If you don’t find what you’re looking for, please let us know. We’re always glad to help.
Whether it’s the Heat Treat Buyers Guide or the upcoming ASM Heat Treat Show, we hope you become and stay well informed in 2021. If there’s anything we can do to help, please let us know. We’re wishing you the very best in 2021 – a true face-to-face, closer than six feet, hand shaking, blessed year.
We see the expansion plans of companies related to the heat treat industry, and we are with you: How? Why? At this time?
Heat Treat Today’s Original Content article seeks to illuminate some of these questions and frame industry expansion in real terms, as well as share reasons to be hopeful for the future. Featured in this article are Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) Economic Specialist Dr. Chris Kuehl, Managing Director at Armanda Corporate Intelligence, and Jason Orosz, President of Nitrex Heat Treating Services (HTS).
“COVID-19 may own the spotlight today, but manufacturing’s tomorrow is getting some big-dollar investments.“
It is safe to say that manufacturers have taken encouragement from news of industry giants in the manufacturing industry announcing the status of their expansion plans. Last month, Industry Week covered several of these changes: Navistar International Corp. broke ground for a plant in San Antonio, TX; Canpack Group, based in Krakow, Poland, will build an aluminum beverage can plant in Pennsylvania; Tesla had already begun its Gigafactory located near Austin, Texas which is set to be operational by the end of 2021; and Nikola Corp. also broke ground on its 1 million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Coolidge, Arizona.
Ribbon Cutting with the Owners: Doug and Jackie Peters, Diana Wilkosz (VP), and Andy Wilkosz (President) (photo source: Peters’ Heat Treating, Inc.)
In the heat treat world, we’ve seen companies, like Peters’ Heat Treating and Nitrex, celebrating plant expansions, opening new facilities and breaking ground to expand existing ones. Jason Orosz, president of Nitrex Heat Treating Services (HTS), illuminates that there is a backstory to the titillating headlines: “[many] recently announced expansion plans… were being formulated well before COVID-19 hit, and are based on assumptions about future business levels for 2021, 2022, 2023, and so on.” He goes on to recognize that, “for many industries, this year’s contraction will be seen as more of a temporary, but severe, loss of business than a permanent reduction.”
Still, what does this trend of expansion in the automotive industry in North America mean?
Dr. Chris Kuehl IHEA Correspondent Managing Director at Armanda Corporate Intelligence
Dr. Chris Kuehl, managing director at Armada Corporate Intelligence and IHEA’s executive economic summaries author, indicates that one must consider existing circumstances before one can understand the transition. For instance, setting up production sites abroad, Kuehl notes, typically has lower production costs, more than simply lower wages. In certain locations, one does not adhere to the same magnitude of regulations and restrictions that are implemented in the U.S. Additionally, access to raw materials is priority, and “setting up shop” closer to those foreign resources has helped to diminish production costs in the past. Lastly, Kuehl points out that thoughtful location of production centers abroad can open up new market opportunities for companies.
Looking at the current rise in production centers in the U.S. may mean three things, says Kuehl. First, the role of technology in capital distribution: “Technology and robotics [have] reduced the importance of cheap labor. The company using machines can worry about other factors. Now, they can think more about transportation costs and access to their market.”
Second, “working overseas is harder now than it was,” Kuehl comments. In previous years, more countries have engaged in protectionism, and the trade wars of last year did not make life any easier. Now, COVID-19 is just another blow to international supply chains, having “stranded some 40% of global cargo and basically crushed the whole concept of JIT [just-in-time production system].”
Jason Orosz President Nitrex Heat Treating Services
This current disruption in the economy cannot be minimized. Orosz states that the current economic climate has impacted how capital is deployed, and can occur in construction being delayed, or perhaps firms holding their cash for any future, COVID-19-related disturbances.
And third: the new trend of “mass customization.” Instead of needing mass quantities of products being made cheaply — which drove the practice of “distance sourcing” — Kuehl highlights that the present “consumer wants infinite variety and specialization,” which, as it were “requires manufacturers be close to that market to understand what is needed and when.”
This trend of bringing supply-chains closer to home is cause for hope, though. “[I] think companies,” comments Orosz, “are optimistic that, going forward, an increasing portion of the supply chain for American multinationals will be U.S.-based vs. what may have been seen over the past few decades. If this trend proves true, it will certainly trickle down into the local industrial heating sector.”
[blockquote author=”Jason Orosz, President of Nitrex Heat Treating Systems” style=”1″]”Over the long term, expansion plans for stable, forward thinking manufacturing companies will proceed mostly unchanged. Of course, there are notable exceptions… but I think situations like that are the exception, not the rule.”[/blockquote]
From left to right : Groundbreaking with Tom Cooper (Vice President of Business Development), Bill Walter (Facility Manager), and Raja Gumber (Senior Account Manager)
Considering present events, Orosz notes that “over the long term, expansion plans for stable, forward thinking manufacturing companies will proceed mostly unchanged. Of course, there are notable exceptions like the passenger aerospace industry whose supply chain will be impacted for a number of years, but I think situations like that are the exception, not the rule.”
“Our expansion in Aurora is on track,” Orosz continues, as an anecdote to his point, “and we expect it to be operational mid-2021. Our main goals are to increase our overall production capacity and install the latest in new technology to ensure that the services we can offer our customers are on the leading edge of what’s possible metallurgically.”
Hope is the often idealized maxim of many societies: “Hope is the thing with feathers,” “we hope in the things unseen,” “our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” But in times of crisis, how many of us choose to do the hard and essential thing: hope?
Welcome to another episode of Heat Treat Radio, a periodic podcast where Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, discusses cutting-edge topics with industry-leading personalities. Below, you can either listen to the podcast by clicking on the audio play button, or you can read an edited version of the transcript. To see a complete list of other Heat Treat Radio episodes, click here.
In this conversation, Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, interviews Tom Morrison, CEO of the Metal Treating Institute (MTI) to reveal the new look of Furnaces North America(FNA)2020. The engaging online platform will allow heat treaters and suppliers to network, share information, "shake hands," and more virtually. Additionally, Tom will talk about how heat treaters can attend technical talks at the FNA 2020 Virtual.
The following transcript has been edited for your reading enjoyment.
DG: We want to talk about Furnaces North America which obviously in these COVID days has taken a little bit of a turn, right or left depending on how you want to look at it. My understanding is that Furnaces North America is moving from a live face to face event to a virtual event. Tell us why.
TM: For months we have been tracking the status and trends. Our executive team has been meeting every single week for months and really watching the trends and developments of COVID-19 and its impact on meetings. I'm a part of a number of forums and I'm connected with hundreds, if not thousands of associations, and everybody is canceling their meetings. So there is too much liability and risk and we don't want to our attendees and exhibitors in that moment with COVID-19 and just the dangers and stuff that are associated with it. There came a moment when we decided: “You know what? The timing is right for us to do this.” So we went virtual. Typically, about 1% of the industry attends a heat treat show. What we're very excited about is that we're going to be able to bring all that energy and excitement, that you'd experience live, into a virtual event, right to the front doorstep and computer screens of every captive and commercial heat treater, as well as suppliers in the marketplace. It is just an incredible and unique opportunity as we go into this digital age of training and trade shows in the future.
DG: Is it still going to be September 30 through October 2, but not full days, correct?
TM: That is correct. We've learned in watching other trade shows out there, and conferences that go virtual, that people don't sit on the computer for eight hours, but they can take breaks at their leisure and also you can watch at a pace you want. It's going to be September 30th through October 2nd You can actually go onto www.furnacesnorthamerica.com and click 'schedule' at the top, but it's going to from 11:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon.
DG: And just to be clear, that's going to be east coast time?
TM: Yes. That's kind of a funny story, Doug: When we were looking at the times, I said, yes, we can start at 9:00 in the morning. Because when you go to a live show, everybody is in the city under that time zone. But one of my very perceptive staff said, “Tom, if we do it at 9:00, the people on the west coast are going to be getting up and getting in there at 6:00 a.m.” So yes, it's going to be at 11:00 EST which will then make it 8:00 a.m. on the west coast.
DG: Tell me why else your team, yourself and some of the exhibitors you've talked to so far are excited about this new virtual event.
TM: The sponsors have stepped up. We had a webcast with over 100 exhibitors telling them about the transition and we had to transition our sponsorships from the live show to this show, and I think about the caliber of sponsor that came to the table within that first day selling out. We've got ECM USA, Gasbarre Furnace, Thermal Processing Systems, McLaughlin Furnaces, Super Systems, Surface Combustion, Honeywell in the burner market, RoMan Manufacturing in the power market. And think of vacuum technologies. Eight companies that jumped right out of the gate and said, “We believe in this and we think this is the future and we want to be a part of it and in the building of it.” That's where some of the excitement is coming from.
But the biggest excitement to me personally, and my staff and the leadership that are putting this on, is virtual meetings are never going to do away with live meetings. Live meetings, as soon as there's a vaccine, or we see it go away and people are comfortable getting back together, live meetings are going to come back to everywhere. It's just a matter of when. But while we're waiting for that to happen, the digital marketplace is going to grow like never before. I've had so many sales agents say that they have sold more furnace equipment in the past three or four months than they have in the previous 6 months, and they haven't seen a single customer. So I think there's a market for that. And so we're excited. This is a stepping stone into that marketplace and taking our furnace show to the 99% of the people that don't typically attend the show. Most people can't bring their seven furnace operators to a Furnaces North America, but now they can take the content and the trade show right to their computer screen which is really exciting.
DG: I want to ask you two questions, first about exhibitors and then about attendees. Let's knock it down to the very basics. Why should an exhibitor get involved?
TM: Exhibitors should get involved because this is an opportune step into the digital mode. Our booth fee for the exhibit show is only $1500 compared to if you came to the live show, the smallest you're going to pay is $5000 for everything, including travel up to 50 – 60K if you're one of the bigger companies. This gives any heat treat supplier an opportunity to get involved. If you consider that between industrial heating magazine as our media partner, we're going to have a $200,000 valued marketing campaign with direct mail, email, social media going for the next two and a half months until the show happens. There's going to be a lot of activity. We expect that we're going to have
Virtual Booth for Exhibitors
great attendance. So, an exhibitor that doesn't get involved in this is going to lose out on the one opportunity in the next 12 months to get new customers. That's what this show is about – connecting them to leads. Our platform, if they go onto www.furnacesnorthamerica.com and click on exhibitors, they can see a webcast of 38 minutes where we actually unveil the digital platform where they're going to be able to connect them with customers to build their digital exhibitor booth. I know that most exhibitors out there are used to that live handshake format, and some ask, “How do we shake hands through the computer?” Well, you're going to see how you do that if you go watch that video. Exhibitors should do it for one reason: leads, leads, leads. If you're not in the show, you're going to miss out on the opportunity to get access to leads that carry you into 2021.
[blocktext align="right"]"Exhibitors should do it for one reason: leads, leads, leads..."[/blocktext]DG: So I understand that every exhibitor will get a complete list of attendees at the conclusion of the show, but not with email addresses. Can you elaborate on what exhibitors have to do to capture email addresses?
TM: There is a box in your exhibit booth where it says contact needs more information and it gives you the ability to click on what you want to see more of from that exhibitor. When you click that, it's just like being in the live show – remember how they scan you badge? Well, it's like a badge scan. But here's the cool thing: On the day of the show, the exhibitors are watching their exhibit dashboard and anybody that is looking at your screen on their computer, you can see how many are looking at it. But if they click on anything in your booth, their demographic data and contact data go right into your real-time exhibit lead dashboard. And you can download those leads at any time. You get everything but the email. Now if they click on the 'contact me for more information', that's like scanning a badge and you get their email address at that very moment. At the end of the show, you're going to be able to download a list of the entire database of attendees to your computer right after the show so you can then reach out to them and contact them for sales. We're trying to make this very content rich and very data-driven rich and giving the exhibitors the information in real-time so they can follow up on it.
DG: Why should manufacturers with their own in-house heat treat be coming to the event?
TM: The cool thing about attendees is that in every shop, everybody has three or four people that really 'get' everything they need to know about being an effective employee. And then there are about four or five others that are always saying, “I wish I could be like them.” And the difference in those two employees traditionally is training knowledge. So the ability to bring the latest trends, technology to their computer screen and have them watch that, they're going to be a better employee because they're going to know more. One key thing that's going to be really cool about this show for attendees, is that we've made it affordable for everybody to be involved. Just like our live show, you can log in and register just to go look at the booths and the trade show. And that's very powerful. But here's what's going to happen. There's a space on the exhibit booth where you can watch product demonstrations and we're encouraging every exhibitor to do a 7 – 10 minutes product demonstration video and upload it to their booth. Let's say there are 100 exhibitors, your furnace operator, or your manager for that matter, can go in and watch every one of those product demonstrations on everything that you can imagine heat treat, that's going to be highly educational. And that is free. That is just if they go in and look at the booths. On an upgrade, you can upgrade to the conference session, in which there are 35 conference sessions and four live sessions, that when they happen, they're going to be recorded live and then they're going to be made available immediately after that.
FNA seminar in 2018
DG: Tell us about the highly informative and cutting edge content that will be covered in the technical sessions at Furnaces North America 2020 virtual event.
TM: Let me share with you what some of the sessions are. In the live format, we're going to be talking about the seven questions someone should always ask before buying heat treat equipment, the key behind managing and controlling distortion (that's a big issue and one of the most read things in your publication and Industrial Heating magazine), and the aerospace, automotive and agriculture. What's next for that? In the world of 3D printing technology, processes and materials that could impact more heat treating or less heat treating in a particular product. When you've got the coming economic boon, reshoring with all of this COVID-19, things happening in China and other countries, how many companies are going to reshore their products back to America? What does that mean for manufacturing, which can boost heat treating and the level that it is done in the states? That's the four live sessions. Then if we look at the technical track, there are four or five technical tracks that are going to be highly informative. We've got furnace equipment and controls, processes and quality, emerging technologies, furnace maintenance and operations and productivity; all key things to any captive and/or commercial heat treater in operating a productive business that maximizes through-put. Everything that we're doing this year is focused on helping a commercial or a captive to be very efficient. Here's what's happened. COVID has ransacked employeeship. People have had to let people go and they're operating on minimal staff in a lot of cases. So it's imperative that both captive and commercials learn how to operate with 20-30% staff, and you can only do that if your people know what they need to do knowledge-wise in order to that.
DG: Somebody potentially wanting to attend, let's say some captive heat treater or even a commercial heat treater, they can go on the website, I assume, and look now at what the topics are going to be, correct? They can see what the technical sessions will be.
TM: The entire Furnaces North America website has been transformed into our virtual show information. You can go there right now and look at everything – the schedule, if you want to exhibit, you can hover over exhibitor and click exhibit information and it gives you all the details, and then a place to click to sign up your exhibit booth and we'll get that set up for you. Registration is going to open August 1 for everyone.
[blocktext align="left"]"In the live format, we're going to be talking about the seven questions someone should always ask before buying heat treat equipment, the key behind managing and controlling distortion..."[/blocktext]I don't want to go too far without mentioning the pricing. We are so determined to get people that never attend a live event to get involved in the show, here's the special offer we're making. The first two people that register with any show (and you have to register at the same time) is only $199 and you get everything. You get the trade show, you get the live session, you get the 35 technical sessions. Everybody that registers after that for that show is only $49. Literally, for $500, a captive or commercial could register up to six people into the show. That is going to have a proton impact on that operation because that's six people that are more educated on what heat treating is about than they were before the show.
DG: So that's $199 per person for the first two, and then $49/person after that.
TM: That's correct. That way you can get it down to the furnace operators. Most people bring their managers, but if you could put your two managers in there and then get your six furnace operators in there, that's a really good deal.
DG: The show covers September 30, October 1 and 2; I assume $49 or $199 gets you into all three days, correct?
TM: That is correct. Once you're signed in, you'll have logged in for the entire show, all three days, all six hours each day, to do whatever you'd like to do.
DG: So, I'm a captive heat treater, I come to the show, I want to walk the exhibit hall. How do I do it?
FNA Virtual Lounge
TM: You're going to log in, and as soon as you log in, at the bottom you're going to see a place where you can go to the online networking lounge where you can actually meet people online. You can click on exhibit hall where when you click on the exhibitor, the exhibitor will pop up. You can look for them by category. There are 15 categories. There are air atmosphere furnaces, vacuum furnaces, control sensors, etc. Pick what you want and all the exhibitors will pop up. You can then go in and out of the booths from left to right. And here's the powerful thing about the system: there's a search engine that you can type in calibration, every discussion, every session and every exhibitor that is involved with calibration and have it in their description is going to pop up for you. We're making this really easy for you to get to the information, the sessions and/or the exhibitors that you want.
Here is the cool feature that is going to make this dynamic. When we were building out the system, we were wanting to make the online experience as close to the live experience as possible. So when you're looking at an exhibitor, and you like what they have to say and you want to speak to someone, you can click exhibit booth contact and that will pop up 6 people, or however many they have in the booth at that time. And when you click on one of them, clicking video call, just like you would a zoom or a skype and they're going to get a request. They're going to then click yes, and you're going to be talking to someone right on your screen live like you would a zoom call. You can see them, you can talk, you can virtual handshake if you want. But here's the other cool factor: If you want to see a presentation they have, they can share their screen with you and you can walk through a short little power point presentation.
Our goal is give attendees the opportunity to see the data that they need to make purchases that they're looking to make over the next 12 months or so.
DG: Let's wrap up with the details then. Let's say I want to be an exhibitor. Where do I need to go? When do I need to do it?
TM: Right now, you can go to www.furnacesnorthamerica.com, click on exhibitors and you'll see a space there where you can watch a video to tell you a little bit more about exhibiting at the show, or you can click down at the bottom where it says 'click here to get our booth', fill that out, and we will get your booth set up. On August 1st, the exhibit hall is going to open for the exhibitors to go out and get their digital booth customized. They get to pick colors. They can link up their videos and documents so you can see those.
DG: And if I'm thinking about attending, bringing my heat treat department, when and where?
TM: Same thing. August 1st, go to www.furnacesnorthamerica.com, click on attendees and click on register and then follow the prompts to register your team.
Doug Glenn, Heat Treat Today publisher and Heat Treat Radio host.
To find other Heat Treat Radio episodes, go to www.heattreattoday.com/radio and look in the list of Heat Treat Radio episodes listed.
HTT · Heat Treat Radio: Tom Morrison, CEO of the Metal Treating Institute
Welcome to another episode of Heat Treat Radio, a periodic podcast where Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, discusses cutting-edge topics with industry-leading personalities. Below, you can either listen to the podcast by clicking on the audio play button, or you can read an edited version of the transcript. To see a complete list of other Heat Treat Radio episodes, click here.
In this conversation, Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, interviews Carl Nicolia, President of PSNergy, to learn about how applying efficient combustion can drastically improve the performance of your machines. Click below to hear about high value solutions and where we stand in the "evolution" of combustive techniques.
The following transcript has been edited for your reading enjoyment.
DougGlenn (DG): Today's topic is combustion. It is not only an important feature, but also the core to heat treat as the key to high value solutions; that is, according to today's guest, Carl Nicolia (CN), the president of PSNergy. Carl wrote an article that appeared in a recent edition of Heat TreatToday entitled, The Science of Combustion in an Era of Uncertainty. Several of the points Carl dealt with in that article, we'll deal with today. Get ready to read why not all fire is created equal and why your company needs to evolve with the times and take advantage of the recent combustion efficiency technologies.
First page of Carl Nicolia's article from the June Automotive Issue, The Science of Combustion in an Era of Uncertainty: Darwin was right...Evolve or Perish.
DG: Carl, tell us about your background.
CN: I had a great career in larger global businesses - folks like GE and Chrysler Corporation. After that run, I had met several very smart people that had been in the combustion industry for some time and they had some unique ideas on how we could really truly help elevate the performance of heat treating operations. After doing some homework on the industry, the technology, and the opportunity there, we started PSNergy in May of 2013. Since then, we have been helping customers, really throughout North America, solve combustion issues and help deliver productivity to combustion operations. We are primarily focused on radiant tube combustion systems. We do some open fire work as well. The team itself brings over 40 years of combustion experience to the table. We were really formed on innovation around the fundamental sciences, mostly physics and heat treat, and with a huge obsession for customer satisfaction. We really like to take the approach of becoming part of the customer's team, not really being considered an outside resource, but more of a team member with them, and really develop and play for the long term. That's the background on how we got into the combustion industry.
DG: The immediate reason for us talking with you today is because in our June 2020 issue, on page 37, we had a very interesting article or column written by yourself entitled The Science of Combustion in an Era of Uncertainty: Darwin was right, Evolve or Perish. That was the name of the column. A little bit provocative and an interesting column. And, for those who might be reading this at a later point, we are on the, I want to say, the tail end of a Covid-19 pandemic, but some people might say we're in the middle of it. Nonetheless, that's why the article says, “in an era of uncertainty.” I want to talk to you a little about that column. You make this comment in there, and there are a couple of comments I want to ask you about, and then we'll move on to the more substantive stuff. You say, “All fire is not created equal.” This is an interesting comment. What did you mean by that?
CN: Our team has been having a lot of fun with the caveman references and the whole concept of evolution and when we thought about it, it really did apply well, especially in today's times. We won't get into whether we're at the beginning, middle or end of the Covid thing, but thinking about going from fire at the end of a club to modern combustion systems is a huge leap forward. It was a good way for us to think about and highlight the concept that all fire is not created equal. Just because the burners are firing and the furnace is hot, doesn't mean that you're burning efficiently. There is a big difference between well-tuned, well-balanced combustion systems, and not well-tuned and well-balanced. So in that reference, we talk about setting combustion appropriately: getting the right air/fuel ratio can mean the difference between, in a heat treater's case, profitability and loss or high quality and scrap. Balancing that combustion across the entire system can mean the difference in getting customers and providing the turnaround times that they need. Getting that combustion system balanced and tuned, and keeping that system balanced and tuned, are really essential to “getting the most out of your fire,” if you will. So we had some fun with that reference. You will see that carry through some our advertising in the months to come, as well.
(photo source: PSNergy)
DG: You make one other reference to Charles Darwin and a quote that he mentioned. The quote is not all that brief, but I wanted you to comment on it, if you could. It says “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent that survive. It's the one that is most adaptable to change. Intelligence is based on how efficient a species became at doing the things they need to survive.”
CN: That's a great quote, and again, we're having a little bit of fun with it, but especially in today's world. I know that many of your readers have been in operation for generations and those companies have found a way to get a little better, a little smarter, every day, every year, and have not gone through Covid-19, but I'm sure other different issues. I think having them focus on what's critical, really making smart investments, these are the type of things that help move their operations forward, help evolve their operation. That's the type of evolution we're talking about.
Evolution to us is small, impactful changes that make a big difference. Although today it might be difficult to imagine, end customers in automotive, construction, and off-highway vehicles are going to be back. And there is going to be pent-up demand. Productivity is going to be an issue in the months ahead. Our end customers, as they come back online and look for suppliers that can meet that rate with high quality and responsiveness, that's going to be a differentiator. And so, we think that thinking about that evolution now is really important. Making the changes now while you can and be responsive when the time comes, is the right move for us; that's the evolutionary piece.
DG: PSNergy, as you've already mentioned, really focuses in on combustion, combustion efficiency, furnace efficiency and that type of thing. On the second page of this article (page 38 in the June 2020 issue), you mention a case study in there where your crew went in and helped a contract commercial heat treater to improve some efficiency. Can you run down through that case study quickly and tell us what you guys were able to do to help them adapt and improve the type of fire they had in their organization?
CN: Sure. And this is a great story, but it is not a unique story for us. We have quite a few of these success stories around our products and services. We had a Midwest contract heat treating company that was interested in the ceramic waste heat recovery inserts. These are patented devices that we design here at PSNergy. They go into the exhaust leg of the radiant tube and they capture that energy that is normally lost out the exhaust, keeping that energy inside the furnace. In the process, it balances the tube temperature and really increases the productivity of the process.
[blocktext align="left"]Their recovery cycle was reduced by 25% ... And in that total cycle, they dropped gas consumption 5% which eventually led to an increase in output of that furnace by 10% ... the total cost to implement this was less than $10,000.[/blocktext]So, in this particular example, it was a 9-ft IQ furnace and it had four U-tubes, probably a pretty typical type of furnace that we might see in a lot of the contract heat treating manufacturers, like your audience. What we did was install inserts in the exhaust legs of the four tubes and then balanced and tuned the system. This entire process took less than one 8-hour shift to finish. As you can see, the results were really impressive. I always like to say at this point, this is not our data, this is customer data. Their recovery cycle was reduced by 25%. Now, a recovery cycle is from the time I close the door to the time I start my controlled cycle. 25% reduction. And in that total cycle, they dropped gas consumption 5% which eventually led to an increase in output of that furnace by 10%. What we love about this, and this is kind of the theme of the article really, is that the total cost to implement this was less than $10,000. This is a perfect example of high value solution. I hate to say 'low cost' because cost is relative, but this is high value. If I can deliver 25% improvement with less than $10,000, or if I can deliver 10% double-digit output increases for less than $10,000, that's a high value solution.
DG: At $2500/tube, and you had four tubes you were 'upgrading,' if you will, that's pretty impressive.
CN: The beauty of this was there were no piping changes, no construction, and no long downtime. By using the patented technology, the new technology that's out there, combined with our tech-enabled services (balancing and tuning), again using the latest in sensing technology and cloud computing, this customer was able to achieve significant performance improvement. What's awesome is that this is a pretty common story for us. When we do this, these are the types of numbers we can achieve.
DG: We kind of skimmed over a little bit about the inserts. Let’s take just a minute and make clear what exactly you're providing as far as the inserts primarily, and the services as well.
CN: The radiant tube inserts, we like to call them ceramic waste heat recovery devices or waste heat recovery inserts, are primarily silicon carbide and they are in a patented configuration that provides significant improvement in delivering energy through the tube into the load. And they do that by being the right material, (silicon carbide has a very high emissivity, having the right shape, where we take advantage of radiant energy transfer to the tube because of the shape of the insert, and having a wide open cross-section which does not put a lot of back pressure on the combustion system; we allow the combustion system to breathe. Inserts have been around for a long time. The big technology improvement here is having the right material and having it in the right configuration to maximize the amount of energy that is delivered in a radiant tube and minimize the effect on the combustion system.
DG: And are these inserts only for U-tubes?
CN: No, they can be applied on any radiant tube. We've applied them on straight tubes (or I-tubes), U-tubes, Trident® tubes, and W-tubes.
DG: You talk in the article about combustion efficiency and furnace efficiency. Can you elaborate on that and the difference between the two?
CN: We think about this relatively broadly. Combustion efficiency is getting the most energy out of the fuel you purchase, and ensure that you continue to get that same level of performance. This is happening at the combustion system level, the burners, if you will. This goes back to achieving optimal air/fuel ratios. And it is so important, yet often overlooked by a lot of people. The difference between 7% excess oxygen in the exhaust and 3% excess oxygen is significant. If you're at 7% excess oxygen, you're delivering 20% less energy to the furnace than you are at 3%. 20% is a huge, huge number. Especially when you're talking about the core process for heat treating operations, making heat. I think often times we forget that in heat treating, combustion is the core process. Anytime we're running through a heat treat operation, you have to have optimal combustion. And there are high value, easily implemented solutions out there that help you maintain and achieve the optimum combustion.
When we think about furnace efficiency, furnace efficiency is what our customers get paid for - getting energy from the combustion system to the product. And how well we do that, in our view, is furnace efficiency. Think about it this way: You could have a perfectly balanced and tuned combustion system (those four tubes on our example furnace can be tuned perfectly), but we can let, in that system, 40% of the energy escape out of the exhaust. So combustion efficiency might be high, but furnace efficiency is not optimal. That's where we think about implementing the ceramic waste heat recovery devices, for example. You could talk about textured tubes or bubble tubes as another example to help you get that energy from the combustion system into the load. Getting more of the energy produced in efficient combustion for that product being processed – that's the name of the game, and that's furnace efficiency as we see it.
DG: You and I were talking about a recent report that came out from ArcelorMittal regarding their “green movement.” Can you recap that, and maybe hit on the ability for small companies to also embrace the technology that some of these bigger companies are able to embrace?
CN: We found this very informative. ArcelorMittal issued their 2019 “integrated report,” where they discuss their corporate responsibility and sustainability initiatives in the US. They have ten sustainability development outcomes, and energy management is one of those ten key outcomes. ArcelorMittal highlighted the development of a low-cost oxygen sensor for furnaces that reduce fuel consumption by allowing plants to see that combustion performance and then tune for optimization. This goes back to our discussion: Furnace combustion performance is the core to these operations, and they're highlighting the value of getting combustion balanced and tuned correctly and keeping it correct.
Not everyone listening and reading, I'm sure, has the resources of ArcelorMittal, so luckily, PSNergy has developed this technology for everyday heat treating operations and any one of us can now apply this. In fact, the same leading edge sensing technology and cloud computing technology is what our service team uses to deliver our combustion engineering services, or balance and tuning, and that is also incorporated into our combustion monitoring and alerting system. We like to call that CMA. And installing CMA on your furnace is like having a dedicated technician taking combustion measurements every day. If something is starting to go out of tune, actions can be taken immediately before furnace performance is affected and alerts can be sent through the system. Daily reports are issued on combustion and so you know combustion is running well. And if it's not, you're deploying resources to get that out.
DG: So this combustion monitoring and alerting system is a cloud-based system?
CN: Yes, it is, but fundamentally, it is a sensor. It's oxygen monitoring and pressure monitoring that is installed on each individual tube of the furnace that records excess oxygen in the stack just as if you would stand there as a technician with a handheld meter, but this is all connected through the cloud which allows it to be accessible, which allows it to store the data for future trend analysis. We've been able to use that tool to identify failing motorized control valves, declining performance on combustion air fans, etc. There is so much that you can see over and above when you're starting to look at data over time versus a single point in time and that's where the cloud piece comes in. It starts with pulling the sample from the right spot in situ from the exhaust and having the highest level of sensing technology available on the oxygen side and then sending all of that up to the cloud for the analysis for the reporting. It basically is a tech standing there taking measurements every day and then you're able to then get a report that says this is where our combustion is, and I can take steps to do that.
DG: I've got a question about that. So you've got 24/7, 365 monitoring of the system, cloud-based, the reports are coming back to the people in the company only – and only to those people that need to know. Are these things that you guys are alerted to so that you call if something goes wrong, or is it basically just held in-house?
CN: It can be either. You have the option of adding our team into it and we can provide input. The one thing we have decided though is any time the system is deployed, we never want to see that system not functioning properly. We keep a close eye on it. The combustion measurements are only a small piece. There are also a lot of help measurements around the system itself, so we're able to keep an eye on the system. If something started to go wrong from a system standpoint, we haven't seen that yet, but if it ever does, we're able to send our technicians out to make sure that you don't get a break in that monitoring.
DG: Have you had any issues with companies being concerned about cybersecurity?
[blocktext align="right"]Get it right and keep it right and then get the most out of the gas that you purchase. Stop throwing away energy. [/blocktext]CN: Not yet. We deal with that in two ways. Number one is that the data we're taking is relatively agnostic. I'm going to see basically pressures and excess oxygen readings and it's not really associated with anything else. Typically, when we get an output through the customer's system, that is usually on the other side of their firewall so the system security is in place and we can have a clean channel out to our cloud. When customers are uncomfortable with that, we'll use cell technology to deliver that, so there is no interconnectivity to their system. We have thought that through. Some customers are more uncomfortable than others, but we've done it both ways, where we've connected through a portal in their system to get out to the internet and then we've also connected through cellular.
DG: Is it possible to have a completely contained system where there is no internet connectivity?
CN: No. Because a lot of the calculations and analysis is done in the cloud. It's not to say that we haven't been asked for that, and we are working on local displays for let's say a technician that just wants to walk up to the furnace and see how things are running; we do have provisions for that as well.
DG: “All fire is not created equal” we know that, so it sounds like PSEnergy has got some good options for people to help improve and maintain not only combustion efficiency but also furnace efficiency. The example you had in the article was for a commercial heat treater, but obviously this also applies to anybody who's doing any type of combustion heating, captive heat treaters, manufacturers or commercial.
What exactly would you emphasize to these manufacturers with their own in-house heat treating, or in the commercials, about the importance of combustion in the heat treating process?
CN: Combustion is really the core of their process. If I could leave you with a message that there are high value easily implemented solutions for achieving and maintaining that optimal combustion, then I think we've given the listeners and readers a little bit of value here. Get your combustion right and keep it right, and then look for that technology that is available out there that can help you get the most out of every BTU that you burn.
DG: Exactly. And the payback is almost a no-brainer in a lot of situations. Obviously, each situation is going to be unique, but the example you gave in the article, the payback was enormously good. It's certainly worth investigating.
CN: It is. It's always worth investigating when it's about achieving more output. When you can achieve more output and ring the cash register more and create more opportunities for selling additional product or new product capacity, those are easier ROIs. If we're just looking at wanting to save fuel, well sure, that pencils out in that case, it's just not the same sort of three-month turnaround or as quick.
In our case, we recommend three areas: Get combustion right and keep it right, with a tech-enabled service team and monitoring. I really wanted to point out, and we've heard this a hundred times– if it's not measured, it's not sustained. The core of heat treating is combustion, yet very few of us actually measure the performance of combustion. We might measure the output (temperature), but we don't measure excess oxygen, which is really the necessary metric to achieve the efficiency. The big steel example there kind of guides us. You should never wonder how well your combustion system is running. You should know with data. That's the core of your process.
So, get it right and keep it right and then get the most out of the gas that you purchase. Stop throwing away energy. Utilize these high value, easily implemented solutions and get the most out of it.
And the piece that we really didn't talk about was- train your team. There are combustion trainings out there. Ours is specifically geared towards combustion and really for heat treating operations, but train your team and talk about a common understanding and a common language around combustion. That dispels a lot of myths around combustion and exposes the team to the latest technologies and best practices.
Lastly, keep reading and listening to Heat TreatToday and Heat TreatRadio because that's the best way to stay informed on the latest technologies. You've got to keep up on it. All kidding aside, it is a really great way, the information that you guys provide is significant towards staying up on the technology.
DG: I appreciate that shameless promotion there. ~chuckles~
If someone wanted to get a little more information, what are you comfortable giving out as far as contact information for people to get a hold of you?
In today’s article, Heat Treat Today’s editorial staff has gathered noteworthy reflections of heat treaters who are looking to the past to offer hope to present circumstances. Read more to see that while the present seems paused with Covid-19, the past offers promise of growth and change through challenges.
Like many markets, the heat treating industry is seeking to make the best out of this summer of 2020, and even though the market is looking more positive by the day, there are many who still look for a sense of normalcy. However, with leaders looking at historical moments in heat treat, they remind us that while the present seems paused with Covid-19, the past offers promise of growth and change through the challenges of life.
Sceenshot of Bodycote’s “An Interactive History of Metallurgy” (photo source: https://www.bodycote.com/history-of-metal/)
A major reach into the past is a throwback to the 90th century BC called “An Interactive History of Metallurgy.” In this historical timeline, Bodycote presents an engaging look at copper, bronze, iron, and tin through the centuries. The developments include detailed information, mostly funneled from Wikipedia, like the fact that bronze alloy in 12th century English candlesticks contained a degree of silver, antimony, and arsenic. And the modern, continuous development of steel is believed to have begun in the carbon furnaces of Sub-Saharan African communities.
(photo source: SECO/WARWICK)
On June 30, 2020, SECO/WARWICK released an “anniversary reflection” to commemorate the achievements of the Group in the first half of 2020. Among these is the 10th anniversary of their Chinese branch which has now become a recognized leader of CAB systems in heat treat, creating furnaces for aluminum brazing in controlled atmospheres. They conclude their message with a word from Sławomir Woźniak, President of the ManagementBoard, saying, “We wish that health, patience and faith – embracing the world at large – will return to normal.”
Sanderson’s Weir (photo source: Shane Higgins on LinkedIn)
Finally, a recent LinkedIn post from Shane Higgins, Field Sales from Special Quality AlloysLtd, shared a lunch-time crowd favorite: Sanderson’s Weir, built in the 1580s. With two iron forges on either side of the River Don in Sheffield, this low dam was built to provide power to the industrial work. Changes in the nature of industry has allowed a 20-year project along the River Don in Sheffield and Rotherham to permit a fish pass for salmon after 200 years without. It is impressive that the location that once produced iron still houses metalworking business.
Heat Treat Today publishes four print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in Heat Treat Today‘s Automotive Heat Treating magazine, June 2020.
Doug Glenn, Publisher, Heat Treat Today
For the record, the 2020 North American heat treat industry has been severely impacted by COVID-19. Everyone I’ve talked to agrees that the reality of 2020 will pale in comparison to the hopes and dreams for 2020 back in January and February of this year. March and April usually bring spring-like optimism, but this year those two months were marked by a grinding of the US economy to a nearly complete standstill, the heat treat industry included. As one of our Latvian foreign exchange visitors said in his broken English, “NOT GOOD.” Thus, it has been; and thus, it is even as of this writing.
Every situation, however, is 20% situation and 80% what you make of it, so let me suggest four positive things that will come out of this historic economic tragedy.
#1 “Sheltering at home” for 6-8 weeks might help us all slow down. For the vast majority, we’ve all been slowly heated in the waters of busyness to the point where we think it is normal. During my recent conversation with the executive director of an industry association, this person said, “I’m in favor of anything that will help us all slow down.” This person was fully convinced that our “normal” pace is not healthy. Perhaps this person was right. One other individual I spoke to was “forced” to ignore work for two weeks. His company furloughed individuals and sternly warned them NOT to check emails while furloughed because the company could be sued if furloughed workers were actually working. The national market manager that told me this story did so from his personal cell phone while preparing to paint a room in his house. No work for him. Like many of us, he had to slow down.
#2 Interacting face-to-face with other human beings is important. I know that many of you introverts are loving the forced isolation, but even you must admit that after a week or more seeing no one, it would be nice to be able to at least go somewhere where you can actually see and talk to other human beings besides those with whom you are confined to quarters. My favorite example of this are all of the technologically savvy young people who live on their phones. As long as they have their phones, they’re content. Come to find out, many of these now homebound young ones are now MISSING SCHOOL, not so much for the academics, but more for the interaction with their peers – even if it is sitting next to each other with their heads in their phones! People matter. COVID is helping us remember.
#3 COVID, or more accurately, the RESPONSE to COVID, is helping us all remember just how quickly we can lose our freedoms. For many of us, we lost the freedom to go to work, we lost the freedom to freely assemble, we lost the freedom to travel where and when we like, we lost the freedom to walk around without a mask, we lost the freedom to walk up a grocery store aisle in either direction, and we’ve even lost the freedom to worship where and when we like. Some even argue that we’ve lost our freedom of speech! Try asserting the opinion that the actual COVID virus is not significantly more dangerous than a normal flu. Try it once; you’ll not do it again! Of course, most of these freedoms will be lost only temporarily and for a good cause – our safety. But please remember what King Mongkut (Yul Brynner in The King and I) said about finding safety from others, “Might they not protect me out of all I own?” Or take it from Ben Franklin – “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
#4 And finally, COVID is helping us all see just how quickly life can change … and this is a good thing … because it is true. We think we are safe, we think we are secure, we think that life will always be this way, we think we are in control. We are wrong. There’s only One in control – assuming you believe in God – and we are not Him. This might be a scary thought for some – to not be in control. But, it is better to live in an unpleasant reality than a dangerous fantasy. COVID is helping us deal with reality.
So, there’s a lot of good coming from this pandemic. Here’s to a more modestly paced life, here’s to time with friends and family, here’s to liberty, here’s to remembering Who’s in charge … and here’s to your health and safety and a return to a more “normal” North American heat treat market.
Welcome to another episode of Heat Treat Radio, a periodic podcast where Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, discusses cutting-edge topics with industry-leading personalities. Below, you can either listen to the podcast by clicking on the audio play button, or you can read an edited version of the transcript. To see a complete list of other Heat Treat Radioepisodes, click here.
In this conversation, Heat Treat Radio host, Doug Glenn, speaks with David Wolff of Nel Hydrogen about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected supply chains, specifically those relating to hydrogen generation. Click below to learn more about what risks the supply chain for hydrogen is facing, how the ongoing crisis may affect supply and employee safety, and what the benefits of on-site hydrogen generation are during this unusual time.
The following transcript has been edited for your reading enjoyment.
Doug Glenn (DG): We’re here today with David Wolff from Nel Hydrogen. Dave is the eastern regional sales manager, and we’ve had a couple of previous Heat Treat Radio episodes with Dave talking about on-site hydrogen generation; but in light of COVID-19 and all that has happened there, we wanted to revisit this issue.
David Wolff, eastern regional sales manager, Nel Hydrogen
David Wolff (DW): It’s been an amazing time, and I think we’re all shocked by the number of unexpected and wide-ranging effects of this COVID-19 event. We talked about discussing supply chain interruptions, which have been unbelievable and sometimes counterintuitive. You go to the grocery store these days and look at the shelves, the toilet paper, the rice, the meat, milk, and eggs, and they’re all empty. People talk about going to Amazon, and even PC monitors are sold out, thermometers and jigsaw puzzles. The most humorous is this world of zoom meetings. Even dress shirts and blouses are selling, but not pants and skirts. It is an interesting time.
I’ve been astounded by the wide-ranging effects on all businesses. I’ve just recently reviewed my recent business charge card bill, and the total amount that I charged in March and April was zero. That’s money that didn’t support restaurants, hotels, gasoline, airlines, and obviously their supply chain suffered. We’re seeing virtually every business running into raw material shortfall caused by shutdowns or logistics issues extreme in the supply chain: yeast for pizza, alcohol for chemicals and cleaners, metal parts for assembled machinery. Here in Connecticut, we have a small but healthy dairy industry, and it’s tragic to see logistics issues causing dairy farmers to dump milk [they] can’t sell, while bottled milk prices at the grocery store are surging upward.
DG: It’s definite that the impact, as you said, and said it well, has been wide ranging, in many ways somewhat devastating and somewhat counterintuitive. It’s hard to tell. But we want to talk specifically today and revisit for a bit on-site hydrogen generation based on what has been happening in light of these changes. What exactly are companies having to look at now that they weren’t having to look at before?
(source: Наркологическая Клиника on Pixabay)
DW: What we hear from companies is that they’re focused on two priorities. They’re focused on employee safety and the control of factors of production, their supply chain. So they want to bring people back in a safe fashion, and that’s requiring an immense amount of accommodation. And then they need to make sure that they have their raw material. Hydrogen is required for most types of heat treating, sintering, as a carrier gas in fuel for analytical equipment, semiconductor processing for chemicals, and for operation of power plants. Without hydrogen, these things do not happen. We’ve lived this through at Nel before.
Ten years ago, just post [Hurricane] Katrina, when delivered hydrogen was limited due to plant outages, Nel Hydrogen, which was then Proton On-Site, was actually contacted by the federal government to prioritize hydrogen generator deliveries to power plants because without hydrogen, power plants can’t operate, and we were under orders to prioritize electrical supply. So we’ve seen some aspects of this before.
DG: Let’s talk briefly about what some of the risks are for delivered hydrogen. What are we talking about here?
DW: There are new supply chain risks to consider. Most of us have seen this pretty personally. We haven’t purchased any gasoline in weeks, that’s why the price is low. In almost all cases, the hydrogen that is delivered to US customers is actually a co-product, or almost a byproduct, of the refinery processing of crude oil. It is not the primary product for the plant, it is a co-product. The excess hydrogen is then sold at relatively low prices to industrial gas providers for purification, packaging, and resale.
So if the gasoline is not in demand, the supply of hydrogen available for sale to the industrial gas suppliers will decline because it’s not being produced. So you have that risk of the basic hydrogen supply. You then have the fact that the hydrogen plant may be lower in business priority compared to other gases when it comes to staffing limitations. Right now oxygen is the focus of all the industrial gas companies, and I’m going to talk about some of the implications of that.
The other thing is that the U.S. supply chain for hydrogen, particularly in cylinders, has multiple steps. A failure in any step will result in shortfalls. For example, because of the cost and challenges of storage, the entire industrial gas industry runs with very lean inventories. You can’t just put industrial gases on the shelf; they need to be packaged or stored in tanks, and the amount of storage is very limited. So logistic hiccups very quickly result in shortages.
Cylinder and tube trailer distribution chains might become frozen because empties are not being returned from customers who are closed. Additionally, for cylinder hydrogen, cylinders have been taken out of hydrogen service and re-serviced into medical oxygen. The suppliers are encountering delays for cleaning and disinfection around delivery of cylinder hydrogen. And discussions about additional waves of COVID-19 and whether people have acquired resistance, and therefore can go back to work, are all delaying a return to a normal situation.
DG: Is it possible that some of the customers might experience limitations, hydrogen supply limitations, different than other customers?
(source: Luisella Planeta Leoni on Pixabay)
DW: It’s always tricky to guess, but my feeling is that the effect on the hydrogen supply is likely to be noticed by the smallest volume users first, and maybe most acutely. That’s because the cylinder hydrogen logistics are the most complicated, whereas liquid hydrogen is the least. Liquid hydrogen goes directly from the place of manufacture to the customer. And you’re limited there primarily by driver availability and travel challenges, whereas tube trailer and tube bank users depend on an additional stage of trans-fill from liquid to gas.
Now those are the same locations that are struggling to fill oxygen orders for hospitals, and in the industrial gas industry, nothing is more important than a hospital oxygen delivery. There it’s really a question of availability of staff and prioritization. But cylinder filling and distribution is by far the most equipment and people-intensive form of delivery because you’ve got liquid trans-fill, cylinder management, filling, QC, and local delivery all under great pressure because of resources and priorities. And then again, the issue of cylinder availability because every cylinder that can possibly be re-serviced is being re-serviced into oxygen service for hospitals.
Finally, for folks who are using forming gas in cylinder form in kind of low quantities, [there are] likely to be long delays because of the scarcity of the skilled people to do the blending and analysis required for performing gas blending.
DG: You’ve laid out nicely, I think, the potential risks of what’s going on with COVID-19 and how it may impact supply and even employee safety. Let’s do a quick review of the benefits of on-site generation as opposed to having it delivered in tubes or cylinders or whatever, and how does that impact our thinking as far as on-site hydrogen generation these days?
DW: If hydrogen is a raw material for you, hydrogen generation can enable you to make all of your hydrogen at your site automatically with little personnel attention, so it becomes a utility. The only raw material that you depend on to make that happen are electricity and water, which come into your facility in pipes and wires, and of all the logistics chains, electricity and water tend to be among the most reliable. So no trucks, no people, and so forth. And then hydrogen eliminates the space and compliance issues related to hydrogen deliveries and storage.
Finally, and this is not strictly related to COVID-19, but hydrogen generation will stabilize your hydrogen cost. So in a time when force majeure charges tend to crop up during times of difficult logistics, you don’t see those.
Click on the image above if you’d like to get your own download of this 18-page e-book.
DG: Dave, in addition to our two earlier podcasts together, and the eBook, Hydrogen Generation and its Benefits for Heat Treaters, which you can find on our website, where else would you direct people to find more information about on-site hydrogen generation?
DW: I would direct them, if they wish, to go to the nelhydrogen.com website for more details on our equipment.
DG: Any concluding thoughts? Anything else you want to leave us with?
DW: On-site hydrogen can’t be implemented overnight, so it makes sense to plan ahead. If this concept makes sense to you, we’d be happy to have a conversation. The current thinking is, this COVID-19 issue may be with us for months, and there is even talk of waves lasting years. So we will see this again. On-site hydrogen is a solution to many of the long-term problems we’ve identified that are associated with delivered and stored hydrogen. And if there is anything this strange COVID-19 experience has shown us, it’s the importance of supply chains for businesses, their employees, and their customers.
Whether the issue was [Hurricane] Katrina or COVID-19, supply and demand mismatches for hydrogen, or just the diminishing attractiveness of driving the trucks to deliver hydrogen, businesses may wish to control the factors of their own production.
Doug Glenn, Heat Treat Todaypublisher and Heat Treat Radiohost.
To find other Heat Treat Radioepisodes, go to www.heattreattoday.com/radio and look in the list of Heat Treat Radio episodes listed.
Businesses have been taking extra precautions lately for the well-being of their employees and customers. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that employers should have a COVID-19 health and safety plan to protect employees that includes placing barriers (e.g., sneeze guard) between employees and customers and employees working in close proximity.
GermBlock™ cough and sneeze shields (source: Rockford Systems, LLC)
Rockford Systems, a specialist in industrial combustion safety solutions for companies that use thermal processes in their industrial operations, is helping organizations protect employee health and safety by launching its new GermBlock™ line of cough and sneeze shields.
GermBlock™ shields, designed for industrial, commercial, clean room, and retail settings, limit the spread of airborne droplets resulting from coughing, sneezing or speaking from reaching a nearby person, therefore helping to mitigate COVID-19 infection.
Cubicle Shield (source: Rockford Systems LLC)
Constructed of heavy-duty clear 3/16" polycarbonate and 16-gauge 304 stainless steel framing with full penetration welds, the shields are offered in tabletop, floor standing, and extended-leg versions in popular sizes. The full penetration welds eliminate gaps or cracks that prevent bacterial build up. GermBlock™ shields are offered in standard, clean room, and custom models. The stainless-steel frame allows the shields to be washed down and sterilized per the CDC's recommendation for frequent cleaning.
GermBlock™ shields are 100% made in the USA. Orders can be turned around quickly to support customers with urgent bio protection needs.
A global manufacturer of thermal-processing and sterilizing equipment announced they are working with hospitals to prove the efficacy of their Gruenberg product line for dry heat sterilization on PPE and N95 masks for re-use.
Recent tests at a research hospital show positive results in the dry heat sterilization of masks, face shields, gowns and other PPE, with minimal deterioration of the material. During the process, Thermal Product Solutions, LLC (TPS) heated masks to a specified temperature for a calculated period of time that resulted in sterilization of the material. After the sterilization process, fit tests were performed on the masks that passed filtration efficacy, structural integrity, and mask fit. TPS is continuing to work with facilities to further confirm test results.
Greg Jennings, president and CEO, Thermal Product Systems
“We are dedicated to finding methods that aid in protecting the health and safety of all those serving on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said president and CEO Greg Jennings. “Our dry heat sterilizers have been used for decades in the decontamination and sterilization of all forms of microbial life and it only made sense to begin testing their efficacy on sterilizing PPE for hospitals and emergency personnel. We are looking to find additional testing partners quickly and ultimately receive FDA approval to help fight the COVID-19 spread.”
Picture 2: Gruenberg Truck- In Sterilizer (source: Thermal Product Solutions)
The Gruenberg sterilizers utilize convection airflow and dry heat for the process. Heat is absorbed by the item being sterilized for a period of time until it reaches the proper temperature needed to destroy microorganisms and achieve sterilization. Dry heat sterilizers range in size from small tabletop models (Picture 1) starting at 1.25 cubic feet (cf) to large truck-in models (Picture 2) offering 1,000cf of sterilization capacity.
Gruenberg’s smaller dry heat sterilizers feature a unique design where the process chamber is sealed throughout the entire cycle, containing any airborne particulates and sterilizing them. Larger chamber systems are easily customized and feature intake and exhaust HEPA filters and several door seal options.
Welcome to the inaugural column of Heat Treat Today‘s first offering of This Week in Heat TreatSocial Media. As you know, there is so much content available on the web that it’s next to impossible to sift through all of the articles and posts that flood our inboxes and notifications on a daily basis. So, Heat Treat Todayis here to bring you the latest in compelling, inspiring, and entertaining heat treat news from the different social media venues that you’ve just got to see and read!
1. Entropic Time (Backwards Billy Joel Parody) by A Capella Science
Let’s start your Friday off with this energetic, fun, and educational video that Paul Mason of Thermo-Calc Software shared. (And, you’ll be singing the song all day! You’re welcome!)
2. COVID-19
We have all been affected by the COVID-19 virus. It has produced experiences that none of us has ever ventured through before in our lifetime.
Additionally, many of the heat treat companies have shared their statuses and plans for business via social media posts. Here are a few of them:
3. What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?
Check out Abbott Furnace Company’s collaboration with Saint Mary’s Area Middle School to introduce kids to the world of manufacturing.
4. Reading and Podcast Corner
You may have a bit more time to catch up on the reading and podcast listening you’ve been yearning to do. May we recommend two brief articles written by industry experts and an informative podcast.
Check out Gerry McWeeney’s article, “Pros and Cons of Remote Monitoring in Heat Treat”
For those of you interested in medical devices.
And, for your listening pleasure, be sure to download the latest Heat Treat Radio episode entitled, Women in Heat Treat, with Ellen Conway Merrill and Rosanne Brunello. They will inspire you!
5. Launch into Your Weekend with a Reading by Jackson
No additional caption needed! Happy Friday, everyone!
(Editor’s Note: Users of Firefox may have difficulty playing the below video. If so, please use another browser like Chrome.)
Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in Heat Treat Today‘s June 2021 Buyers Guide print edition.
