We’re celebrating getting to the “fringe” of the weekend with a Heat Treat Fringe Friday covering news about a Class A safety batch furnace delivered to a supplier to the medical industry. The components manufacturer needed equipment that would accommodate the doorway dimensions of its facility and found a Pennsylvania-based international industrial and laboratory furnace manufacturer able to design one to fit the specs.
While not exactly heat treat, “Fringe Friday” deals with interesting developments in one of our key markets: aerospace, automotive, medical, energy, or general manufacturing.
A supplier to the medical industry recently purchased a Class A safety oven from an international industrial and laboratory furnace manufacturer. The Pennsylvania-based provider designed the batch furnace for ease of move-in and installation, modified to an overall height of 79 inches and width of 45” to accommodate the ceiling height and doorway dimensions at the client’s facility.
Blue M® manufactured the furnace with a temperature range of 15°C (59°F) above ambient to 316°C (601°F). The temperature is controlled by a Watlow EZ Zone PM controller with advanced PID control algorithm. The controller offers TRU-TUNE™ adaptive control for tight control and auto-tune for a quick, efficient start up.
“Blue M offers customers the flexibility to request engineered-to-order modifications to our standard oven designs,” said Jonathan Young, product manager at Blue M. “This Class A oven features custom exterior dimensions to accommodate the customer’s facility ceiling height and doorways. This is the second unit with these special dimensions that this customer has ordered.”
The interior chamber has dimensions of a 48″ W x 24″ D x 48″ and is constructed with 304 stainless steel. All of the seams and ports of the interior chamber are Heli-Arc welded vapor tight to prevent fume infiltration and buildup of flammable materials between the chamber walls. The unit includes five (5) 304 stainless steel slotted shelves with rolled fronts for ease of product loading. Each shelf is capable of holding a 75lb product load.
Blue M is located in New Columbia, PA, owned by Thermal Product Solutions.
The press release is available in its original form here.
Redline Chambers, a U.S. manufacturer of vacuum chambers and systems for the aerospace, defense, energy, electronics, and medical industries, has been acquired by a global provider of thermal processing products and test solutions.
Located in Salt Lake City, UT and specializing in vacuum technology and leak testing solutions, Redline Chambers will support the continued growth of Thermal Product Solutions, LLC (TPS), within the vacuum chamber market.
Greg Jennings President and CEO Thermal Product Solutions, LLC Source: Thermal Product Solutions
TPS product offering for thermal processing and test solutions includes Baker Furnace, Blue M, Gruenberg, Tenney, Lindberg, MPH, Wisconsin Oven, and now Redline Chambers. "Redline’s ability to engineer and manufacture vacuum chambers and systems will bolster TPS’s ability to serve customers in this expanding market," commented Greg Jennings, president and CEO of TPS.
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A long-term agreement to supply materials used in the manufacture of naval nuclear reactor components has been signed between BWX Technologies, Inc., and Allegheny Technologies Incorporated.
Kennametal Inc. announced that it has formed a 3D printing materials and production business unit, Kennametal Additive Manufacturing, as part of its infrastructure segment. The new business unit combines the company’s longstanding expertise in materials science and wear-resistant solutions with additive manufacturing capabilities to supply high-performance metal additive powders and fully finished 3D printed parts for wear, erosion, corrosion, and high-temperature applications.
StandardAero Component Services celebrated the grand opening of the company’s 30,000 sq. ft. expansion of its Hillsboro, Ohio, engine component manufacturing and engine component repair facility. The additional working space and capital improvements included the building and additional equipment to support aerospace engine low-pressure turbine vane manufacturing. The Hillsboro location expansion completes StandardAero’s current plans for new building and expansion investments, which have also occurred at its Cincinnati, Miami and Kansas City locations over the last 18 months.
Equipment Chatter
A 30-ton tilting rotary furnace for aluminum recycling was installed by GHI at the new facility of Latem Aluminium in Villadangos, Spain.
No. 965, a 1350ºF (~733ºC) electrically-heated cabinet oven from Grieve, has been purchased for heat treating titanium at the customer’s facility.
Tangshan Zhengfeng Iron & Steel Co., LTD, in Hebei Province, China, recently commissioned three iRecovery® (intelligent waste heat recovery systems) from Tenova, a Techint Group company. Tenova iRecovery® systems will be applied downstream of the new Consteel® Evolution to recover the waste heat and to use it for the production of steam, which will then be available for the existing power plant.
A vacuum drying oven has been shipped to the aerospace industry by Tenney Environmental, a division of Thermal Product Solutions. This vacuum drying oven is designed to remove moisture from a large spacecraft engine after it goes through a washing process. The previous conventional method of drying took over 12 hours due to the intricacy of small diameter tubing, fine screen meshes, and other hard to get to areas. The vacuum drying oven will reduce that time to 4 hours. This vacuum drying oven utilizes radiant heat wrapped around the pressure walls to heat the product to approximately 100°F.
An electrically heated two-zone bottom flow conveyor oven was shipped to the consumer goods industry by Wisconsin Oven. This belt conveyor oven will be used to cure a latex barrier coating onto maple syrup bottles.
Exlabesa, an aluminum extrusion provider for the construction industry in Europe, recently ordered a multi-chamber PR130 melting furnace (complete with charging unit) for its Hertwich continuous homogenizing plant at its Padron (Spain) based facility. This furnace will increase its capacity to 60,000 tons from its Padron casthouse. The new furnace with a capacity of 130 tons per day is designed for a relatively wide range of scrap. The temperature level in the main chamber from which the melt is tapped for casting is about 1800°F (1000°C).
Walsin Yantai Stainless Steel Co. Ltd. has contracted with Primetals Technologies to design and manufacture a new stainless steel combination mill to convert billets from an existing plant into finished products with precision tolerance and surface quality. Located in Yantai, Shandong Province, China, the new mill project with Primetals Technologies will be completed in consortium with CERI Long Product Co. Ltd., including all electrics and automation to approach Industry 4.0. The combination mill will have a straight bar outlet, a bar-in-coil outlet, and a wire rod outlet.
A leading industrial engineering and manufacturing group recently completed several furnace projects for global clients. Fives was contracted by Habaş, a leading conglomerate in Turkey which operates in the field of industrial gases, steel, LPG, and heavy machine manufacturing, to design and supply a new generation slab reheating furnace, the Stein Digit@l Furnace®, for its hot strip mill, located in Izmir, Turkey. In addition, Shijiazhuang Iron & Steel Company within China’s HBIS Group ordered two Stein Digit@l Furnaces® from Fives to reheat blooms and billets. The walking beam furnace will have a production capacity of 130 tons per hour and will operate on natural gas. Fives was also selected by Yantai Walsin Stainless Steel to design and supply an ultra-low NOx emission furnace to reheat long products. Yantai Walsin Stainless Steel is a subsidiary of Walsin Lihwa, a world-leading manufacturer of stainless steel, power cables, and wires.
A 500°F (260°C) enhanced-duty walk-in oven was delivered by Lewco Inc., of Sandusky, Ohio, that will be used to dry various parts during a manufacturing process.
Kudos Chatter
Kaydon Ring & Steel, Inc. recently passed its Non-Destructive Testing Nadcap Audit, achieving 24-month merit, granting Aerospace NDT process accreditation. (Heather Szymanski Sr. Quality Engineer)
Flash Steelworks, located in Washington, Michigan, provides a patented process for heat-treating steel that leads to mass reduction, performance improvement, and cost savings. This distinction gained them a position among 24 semi-finalists for the 10th annual Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, where the top prize is $350,000.
Materials Solutions, a Siemens company specialized in additive manufacturing (AM), has achieved Nadcap accreditation for AM in the aerospace industry. The accreditation is reportedly the first by a UK company. Materials Solutions, which has its headquarters in Worcester, has provided AM parts and components to the aerospace industry since its founding in 2006. The business is a pioneer in the use of selective laser melting (SLM) technology for the manufacture of high-performance metal parts. SLM applications in the Materials Solutions factory range from high-temperature components found in gas turbines and jet engines, to tooling applications as well as lightweight structural components and hydraulic applications.
Heat TreatTodayis 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
A Baker’s Dozen Quick Heat TreatNewsItems to Keep You Current
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Personnel and Company Chatter
GE Additive has announced the opening of its Arcam EBM Center of Excellence in Gothenburg, Sweden. The new 15,000 square meter facility triples the floor space of Arcam EBM’s previous site in Mölndal with production, R&D, training facilities, and support functions all housed under one roof.
Northern Minerals Ltd., Australia, has signed a rare earths supply agreement with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp Materials Trading for 100% offtake from the Western Australia Browns Range pilot plant, which has already begun producing heavy rare earth carbonates. Under the terms of the agreement, Thyssenkrupp will purchase all heavy rare earth carbonates from the pilot plant and will serve as the exclusive sales partner of Northern Minerals. The two companies will jointly work on the implementation of separating technologies and future expansion of the Browns Range project.
Fluxtrol Inc. presented at the 2019 National Induction Heat Treatment Technology Seminar & Mr. Shen Qingtong Career 67th Anniversary Event in Luoyang City, Henan Province, China. The presentation was titled, “What is Happening When We Induction Scan Harden an Axle?”
Equipment Chatter
An international aerospace firm based in the southeastern United States recently purchased spray/dunk washers manufactured and shipped by Premier/BeaverMatic.
A universal oven (No. 841) was recently put to use heat treating at a customer’s facility, provided by Grieve Corporation.
The production facilities of China-based stainless steel producer Fuxin Special Steel Co Ltd, a part of Formosa Plastics Corporation, in Zhangzhou city in Fujian Province of China, were expanded by a new hot rolling mill as well as cold rolling mills including continuous annealing line and numerous finishing lines. The supply contract for coil transport logistics between the individual plants was awarded to AMOVA GmbH, a company of SMS group.
A hot stamping company in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently purchased an integrated three-chamber furnace from Lindberg/MPH. A recent video of the installed furnace (at Lindberg/MPH’s website) shows the integration with a robotic transfer system and a hydraulic press.
A rapid heating furnace was recently purchased by a research organization to be used for lightweight hot stamping & formed aluminum automotive component product development. Can-Eng Furnaces International Limited was awarded the contract for the equipment which will integrate the aluminum sheet heating furnace with existing equipment to support both automotive manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers throughout North America for the development of new safety-critical, lightweight structural components.
A company from within the pharmaceutical industry purchased a Gruenberg steam-heated granulation dryer from Thermal Product Solutions.
Kudos Chatter
Ipsen USA announces its next Corporate Academy class for training Field Service Engineers, part of a fast-track development strategy to continue increasing technical
service capacity in the field. Participants get 26 weeks of comprehensive classroom knowledge, hands-on troubleshooting experience, and on-the-job field training. expertise in servicing and maintaining furnace equipment.
The Cleveland Chapter of ASM International will be hosting its Season Kick-off Event on Friday, September 13, 2019, raising money for the Annual Scholarship Fund. The event will be a luncheon, followed by an 18-hole, shot-gun start golf tournament and ending with dinner and awards, at Briarwood Golf Course in Broadview Hgts, Ohio. For more information, contact Rosanne Brunello, incoming chair, at ASMInternational.org/cleveland. Non-golfers welcome to cheer and/or help.
Novelis and Georgia Institute of Technology recently established the Novelis Innovation Hub at Georgia Tech Company, committing $2.5 million to initiate transformational innovation through sponsored research.
On August 12, 2019, Parker Hannifin and ASM International officially dedicated two new laboratories located at ASM’s headquarters in Materials Park, Ohio. The Powder Characterization Lab and the Computed Tomography Lab were established due in large part to the partnership that Parker Hannifin formed with ASM, allowing key equipment to be acquired for use in the evaluation of additive manufactured metal parts. The Powder Characterization Lab focuses on the size, flow, and shape characteristics of metal powders. The laboratory utilizes a Freeman Powder Rheometer FT4, Horiba Partica LA-960, and a Retsch Technology Camsizer X2, in a total cleanroom environment. The Computed Tomography Lab focuses on non-destructive analysis of metallic parts by way of a Nikon XT H 225 ST CT scanner and an Olympus LEXT OLS5000 laser confocal microscope.
Heat TreatTodayis 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
A Baker’s Dozen Quick Heat TreatNews Items to Keep You Current
Heat TreatToday offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
James Herald has been appointed the president and CEO of EVRAZ North America, Chicago. He will replace Conrad Winkler, who is leaving the group to pursue other opportunities. Herald joins EVRAZ from AXIP Energy, where he served as CEO. He has more than 35 years of experience in the oil and gas and energy pipe industries.
Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) recently announced the addition of three new sales and metallurgy employees: Tim Zemaitis, Shane Seevell, and Katie Herron. Zemaitis, regional sales manager for AHT’s Michigan facility, joins the team with over 30 years of experience in heat treatment, metallurgy, and engineering. Seevell, regional sales manager in the corporate office located in Iowa, brings over 15 years of sales experience plus past heat treat experience working at AHT; and Herron, materials engineer & quality specialist in Alabama, rounds out the growing AHT team. Herron is a recent materials engineering graduate from the University of Alabama – Birmingham.
Meggitt, which specializes in high-performance components and subsystems for the aerospace, defense, and selected energy markets, has opened its newly expanded aerospace services and support center of excellence in Miami, Florida.
Virginia-based aluminum extruder Service Center Metals has been acquired by The Riverstone Group through its investment entity SCM Industries, LLC in Richmond.
L&T Technology Services, a leading global pure-play engineering services company has been selected as a strategic partner by United Technologies Corporation (UTC) for Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of UTC. Collins Aerospace comprises of the former UTC Aerospace Systems, Rockwell Collins, and BE Aerospace, and is one of the leading providers of intelligent solutions for the global aerospace and defense industries.
Equipment Chatter
A 2000°F (1093°C), gas-fired heavy-duty furnace from Grieve (No. 1042), is currently being used for heat treating at a customer’s facility. In addition, the No. 1047, a 350°F (177°C), bench oven, has been purchased from Grieve for curing plugs on the ends of cords at the customer’s facility.
A factory with multiple lines of (fixed) heat treating ovens recently purchased a temperature data logging solution from CAS DataLoggers for the purpose of automatically monitoring the oven temperatures with precise accuracy while also handling data transmission and enabling remote access.
A manufacturer of electronic components purchased a Blue M inert gas batch oven, with a temperature range of 59°F (15°C) above ambient to 1099°F (593°C), from Thermal Product Solutions.
A manufacturer in the oil and gas industry recently received a shipment of an electrically heated four-zone conveyor oven from Wisconsin Oven Corporation. Each chamber in this oven has a maximum temperature rating of 752°F (400°C). The oven has a guaranteed oven temperature uniformity of ±10.8°F at 590°F (±6°C at 310°C)) for a minimum of 6 minutes per heating chamber. In addition, Wisconsin Oven Corporation announced the shipment of an indirect natural gas-fired batch oven to a leading manufacturer in the aerospace industry. The batch oven will be used to cure composite materials and has a maximum oven operating temperature of 500°F.
Kudos Chatter
Onex, Inc., recently received the 2018 Pinnacle Award from Vesuvius. Only two contractor installer distributors were presented this award in 2018.
AK Steel has accepted an award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) High-Performance Computing for Materials (HPC4Mtls) Program. Researchers from AK Steel plan to work in collaboration with DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop microstructure-based transformation models to predict austenite stability in high strength steels in a project titled “Thermo-Mechanical Forming Process Development to Produce Tailored Strength Automotive Structural Components.”
Specitubes has received Nadcap accreditation for demonstrating its ongoing commitment to quality by satisfying customer requirements and industry specifications. The scope of this accreditation covers the heat-treating of seamless precision metallic tubes made in Samer (northern France) of Nickel and Cobalt Alloys, Austenitic Stainless Steels and Titanium Alloys. Typical applications include hydraulic and pneumatic ducting systems for aircraft.
thyssenkrupp has announced plans to build the world’s most advanced forging line in Homburg/Saarland, a new facility to produce forged front axles for trucks. This production expansion represents the biggest single investment ever made at thyssenkrupp’s Homburg site.
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
Onex is proud to receive the 2018 Pinnacle Award from Vesuvius. Only two contractor installer distributors were presented this award.
Heat TreatTodayoffers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
Roger Ross has been appointed the president of StandardAero‘s Airlines & Fleets division. He will be located at the company’s Scottsdale, Arizona, headquarters office and be responsible for the largest division of StandardAero, with multiple sites in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, and Australia.
An automotive wheel manufacturer based in Paris, Kentucky, announced the groundbreaking on its facility expansion to support plans to increase the production capacity of aluminum wheels. These expansions will introduce “cutting-edge technology and realization of high-level on-site capabilities” at Central Motor Wheel of America‘s manufacturing operations.
Greg Jennings has been appointed to the position of President and CEO at Thermal Product Solutions, LLC (TPS), a global manufacturer of thermal processing equipment. Jennings has held the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at TPS since 2013. During his time as CFO, he was instrumental during the acquisition of Wisconsin Oven Corporation and Baker Furnace.
Work is now underway to expand the heat treatment capacity at Saar-Blankstahl to expand the annealing capacity of its subsidiary, Saarstahl AG is responding to an expected increase in worldwide demand for heat-treated bar material and higher-quality steels.
Equipment Chatter
Six Gruenberg cleanroom ovens were shipped to the medical industry from Thermal Product Solutions.
An electrically heated top flow conveyor oven was sold by Wisconsin Oven Corporation to a global manufacturer in the machinery industry. The furnace will be used for curing “CPIG” material on plastic housings for electronic components.
An innovative contract manufacturer recently invested in a new aluminum extrusion press. Alexandria Industries will be able to increase its aluminum extrusion capabilities, extrude more complex product features, and hold tighter tolerances, while utilizing a variety of alloys. The press is made by Presezzi Extrusion Group (Vimercate, MB-Italy). Alexandria Industries will gain an extra 30 percent in extrusion capacity.
Kudos Chatter
Dr. Rod Martin, vice president of technology at Element, has been awarded the 2019 Leslie Holliday Prize from the British Composites Society (BCS). The prize is in recognition of Dr. Martin’s significant contribution to the field of composite materials.
BEAMIT SpA, Fornovo di Taro, Italy, has successfully passed a Nadcap audit for heat treating, receiving Nadcap accreditation as a result. The Additive Manufacturing bureau provides services for the AM of both metal and ceramic parts, and as of January 2018 had installed two high vacuum furnaces conforming to standard AMS2750.
Thinker Ventures recently completed a new website for Diablo Furnaces at diablofurnaces.com. The new site features a mobile-friendly responsive design that adapts for viewing on desktops, smartphones, and tablets. Diablo Furnaces is a heat treating solution provider that is able to complete custom furnace design.
Heat TreatTodayis 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
A Dozen & a Half Quick Heat TreatNews Items to Keep You Current
Heat TreatToday offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
Mike Woolery has recently joined Plibrico Company, LLC, as its purchasing manager. Woolery will report directly to the company’s Chief Financial Officer, Rob Wasieleski.
The recent acquisition of the SME Group by Dana Incorporated, as well as the Drive Systems segment of Oerlikon Group, including the Graziano and Fairfield brands, has resulted in the addition of five facilities throughout China.
Gasbarre Industrial Furnace Systems is pleased to announce the promotion of Mike Harrison to Engineering Manager for Gasbarre (formerly J.L. Becker), in Plymouth, MI.
A global investment firm recently announced that it has closed its purchase of StandardAero.The Carlyle Group completed the purchase from Veritas Capital. StandardAero is a global provider of repair and maintenance services to the aviation industry.
R. Joseph Stratman, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President of Nucor Corporation, recently announced plans to retire on June 8, 2019, after more than 29 years of service with Nucor. Effective May 19, 2019, MaryEmily Slate will be promoted to Executive Vice President and will assume responsibilities for the Tubular Products Group, logistics and certain joint ventures.
Saint-Gobain Coating Solutions, Amherst, N.Y., has recently appointed Tim Vitorino, a member of the ASM Thermal Spray Society, to the position of Product Manager for Thermal Spray Powders. In this role, he will have global responsibility for the current TSP portfolio and for new product development.
Mike Woolery, purchasing manager, Plibrico Industries
Dana Incorporated expands with new sites.
Mike Harrison, Engineering Manager,Gasbarre Industrial Furnace Systems
R. Joseph Stratman, retiring Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President of Nucor Corporation
MaryEmily Slate promoted to Executive Vice President, Nucor Corporation
Tim Vitorino, Product Manager for Thermal Spray Powders, Saint-Gobain Coating Solutions
Equipment Chatter
A modified shelf oven, No. 879 from Grieve Corporation, heats to 350°F (177°C) and is currently used for pre-heating bulk friction material in trays at the customer’s facility.
A continuous annealing and chemical pretreatment line for processing strip coils for the aluminum market has been contracted by Henan Tongren Aluminum Co. Ltd, which specializes in aluminum products. Tenova will deliver the new line, which will process automotive and aircraft aluminum alloys, family series 2XXX, 5XXX, 6XXX and 7XXX.
A new 12’ long car-bottom vacuum furnace with advanced pumping system and rapid cooling capability has been ordered for Solar Atmospheres’ Greenville, South Carolina, facility. The horizontal vacuum furnace has been manufactured by sister company Solar Manufacturing; installation is scheduled for early 2020.
Two CaseMaster Evolution® (CMe) vacuum furnaces have recently been delivered to an aerospace components manufacturer, and an additional CMefurnace has gone to a performance automotive manufacturer, from SECO/WARWICK Group.
No. 879 from Grieve Corporation
Continuous annealing and chemical pretreatment line, Tenova
Car-bottom vacuum furnace for Solar Atmospheres, manufactured by Solar Manufacturing
A Gruenberg explosion resistant truck-in oven has been shipped to the defense security industry by Thermal Product Solutions.
An electrically heated horizontal solution treat system with a maximum oven operating temperature of 1,100°F and a chiller system has been shipped to a manufacturer in the aerospace industry by Wisconsin Oven Corporation. Guaranteed temperature uniformity of ±10°F at set points of 870°F, 920°F, & 985°F was documented with a twelve (12) point profile test in an empty oven chamber under static operating conditions and was performed in accordance with BAC 5621F specifications.
A 2012°F (1100°C) crucible furnace has been shipped to a research and development laboratory in the nuclear industry by Lindberg/MPH. This crucible furnace will be used for a wide variety of laboratory melting applications, including annealing, ashing, carbon firing, ceramic firing, hardening, melting, nitriding, normalizing, sintering, solution treating, and stress relieving.
StandardAero recently celebrated the delivery of the company’s 500th CFM International CFM56-7B turbofan engine from its overhaul facility in Winnipeg, MB, Canada. This milestone engine powered a Boeing 737 Next Generation passenger jet operated by a major North American airline supported by StandardAero via offload agreements with its valued partner GE Aviation. StandardAero launched its CFM56-7B program in June 2009,
Precision Micro is now certified to ISO 13485 – the internationally recognized quality management system for medical device manufacturers. The accreditation was awarded following a successful site audit conducted by the British Standards Institution (BSI), the national standards body of the United Kingdom.
Stratolaunch Systems Corporation recently completed the first flight of the world’s largest all-composite aircraft, the Stratolaunch. With a dual fuselage design and wingspan greater than the length of an American football field, the Stratolaunch aircraft took flight at 0658 PDT from the Mojave Air and Space Port. Achieving a maximum speed of 189 miles per hour, the plane flew for 2.5 hours over the Mojave Desert at altitudes up to 17,000 feet. As part of the initial flight, the pilots evaluated aircraft performance and handling qualities before landing successfully back at the Mojave Air and Space Port.
JTEKT North America (JNA), a supplier of steering systems, driveline components and bearing technologies was recognized with an Excellent Award in Technology & Development from Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMNA) at its Annual Supplier Business Meeting (ABM) in March.
The leading producer of flat-rolled aluminum products recently hosted a ribbon cutting celebration to commemorate a $4.5 million investment at its facility in Warren, Ohio. Through this investment, Novelis, Inc., will provide greater versatility for pretreatments, improves operational efficiency and reduces costs over time.
StandardAero delivers 500th CM56-7B engine.
Precision Micro is now certified to ISO 13485.
Stratolauncher completes flight.
JTEKT receives award from Toyota. L-R: Arata Ito, Jennifer Cullum, Shannon Johnson, Gregg Malpede, Bob Young, Deb Schroeder
Heat TreatTodayis 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.
A Baker’s Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current
Heat TreatTodayoffers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
Kestrel Company, an investment corporation founded by Shelby Ray, has purchased the remaining assets of Eagle Steel Products from Shirley Ohta, who founded Eagle in 1982. The new ownership, led by Ray, expects to maintain its woman- and minority-owned business status. Eagle operates a steel and metal products warehousing and distribution facility in Louisville, Kentucky.Kestrel Company will be doing business as Eagle Steel & Metal Products.
Jerram Dawes has recently joined Phoenix Temperature Measurement (PhoenixTM) as Sales Manager, bringing 20 years experience of working for a well-known temperature profiling equipment supplier.
Kimberly A. Fields recently joined Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) as Executive Vice President with full P&L responsibility for the Flat-Rolled Products Group, succeeding Robert S. Wetherbee, who held this role until becoming ATI’s President and CEO. Ms. Fields brings 20 years of global experience with a focus on growth and operational excellence.
After almost 9 months away from the company, Ed Valykeo has recently returned to Pelican Wire as the company’s thermocouple specialist. With almost four decades of experience in the wire manufacturing space, Ed is recognized as an industry expert within the thermocouple wire manufacturing world. In his career, Ed has been an active member of ASTM for over twenty-five years and spent almost two decades in various technical positions at Hoskins Manufacturing, an industry pioneer.
American Posts LLC has acquired Ohio-Kentucky Steel, which provides slitting of steel and aluminum. American Posts, LLC was established in March 2005 and is the last manufacturer of steel u-posts in the United States.
Brelie Gear Co, Inc. has announced plans to build a new 36,800 sq. ft. facility on a recently purchased 4.3-acre site in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Brelie will be moving from their current plant in Milwaukee to the new, larger plant. The new larger space will continue to run as a full-service gear manufacturing facility that houses the latest in equipment technology and automation.
Sage Metals Private Ltd., a portfolio company of Delos Capital and a manufacturer of specialty metal products, has acquired Jayco Manufacturing. Based in Grand Prairie, Texas, Jayco is involved in the assembly, integration, and production of precision custom metal-formed components for a variety of industrial and consumer end markets.
Kestrel Company purchased the assets of Eagle Steel Products. The company is now Eagle Steel & Metal Products.
Jerram Dawes has recently joined Phoenix Temperature Measurement (PhoenixTM) as Sales Manager.
Kimberly A. Fields recently joined Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) as Executive Vice President.
Ed Valykeo has recently returned to Pelican Wire as the company’s thermocouple specialist.
Brelie Gear Co, Inc. has announced plans to build a new 36,800 sq. ft. facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Sage Metals Private Ltd. has acquired Jayco Manufacturing.
Equipment Chatter
A 2-zone indirect gas-fired heavy duty walk-in furnace was recently shipped to a global manufacturer in the composite industry. Wisconsin Oven Corporation announced that this project passed the stringent temperature uniformity requirements to meet BAC 5621 Class 1 Furnaces and Instrumentation Type D specifications.
A vacuum purge semi-continuous Active Only® CAB furnace was recently commissioned by SECO/WARWICK for a North American automotive aftermarket manufacturer.
Nucor Steel Marion, Inc., based in Marion, Ohio, granted SMS group the Final Acceptance Certificate (FAC) of the supplied walking beam furnace shortly after successful commissioning. The NOx content of this furnace is close to 25 parts per million. The furnace is designed according to innovative pre-fabrication methods and features proprietary SMS ZEROFlame burners.
Five Blue M Standard mechanical convection ovens were recently shipped to a global manufacturer of automotive parts by Thermal Product Solutions.
A 2-zone indirect gas-fired heavy duty walk-in oven shipped to a global manufacturer in the composite industry.
A vacuum purge semi-continuous Active Only® CAB furnace was delivered to a North American automotive aftermarket manufacturer.
Final Acceptance Certificate (FAC) was issued for a walking beam furnace shortly after successful commissioning.
Five Blue M Standard Mechanical Convection Ovens were recently shipped to a global manufacturer of automotive parts.
Kudos Chatter
The Powder Coating Institute (PCI) recently introduced the third video in the Powder Coating, A Better Kind of Paint consumer video series. Powder Coating: A Stronger Kind of Paint rounds out the “Stronger, Greener, Better” portion of the series. PCI also introduced a PCI Certification Program promotional video, which features three PCI certified companies sharing the benefits of certification and their experience with the process.
The HPC4Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) Program recently awarded nearly $3.8 million for thirteen projects designed to stimulate the use of high-performance supercomputing in U.S. manufacturing. These projects will address key challenges in U.S. manufacturing proposed in partnership with companies and improve energy efficiency across the manufacturing industry through applied research and development of energy technologies. Each of the thirteen newly selected projects will receive up to $300,000 to support work performed by the national lab partners and allow the partners to use HPC compute cycles. Awardees include: (1) Arconic Inc. will partner with ORNL to model rolling processes to observe the evolution of porosity in a project titled “Computational Modeling of Industrial Rolling Processes Incorporating Microstructure Evolution to Minimize Rework Energy Losses”. (2) United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) will partner with ORNL to understand microstructure evolution during heat treatment of additively manufactured parts in a project titled “Predictive Tools for Customizing Heat Treatment of Additively Manufactured Aerospace Components”. (3) Steel Manufacturing Simulation and Visualization Consortium (SMSVC) and ArcelorMittal USA will partner with ANL to improve the efficiency of the reheat furnace process in steel manufacturing in a project titled “Application of High-Performance Computing (HPC) to Optimize Reheat Furnace Efficiency in Steel Manufacturing”.
Heat TreatTodayis 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.
A Dozen Quick Heat TreatNews Items to Keep You Current
Heat TreatTodayoffers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
John Finch has joined Plibrico Company LLC as the Southeastern Territory Manager. Mr. Finch, an accomplished refractory professional and is an active member of several different industry and refractory associations.
Timothy C. Fish has joined the sales team at Solar Atmospheres of Western PA as Regional Sales Manager, focusing on the Midwest region.
Triumph Fabrications is being acquired by Arlington Capital Partners. Triumph consists of four companies that manufacture, coat, and assemble complex sheet metal components for fixed wing and rotorcraft platforms. Heat treating and annealing are included in the operations.
A new state-of-the-art aluminum billet manufacturing facility will be constructed in the Rapids East Commerce Center in the City of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. Matalco Inc., a member of the Giampaolo Group, will house the new facility in a 110,000 sq ft manufacturing plant, which at full production capacity, will produce in excess of 230 million pounds of high-quality aluminum billet. This is part of a larger investment plan to construct several greenfield aluminum remelt facilities for billet and rolling slab production in North America.
Equipment Chatter
A series of gas nitriding and tempering furnaces have been installed at a commercial heat treatment company specializing in mold & die steel heat treatment for its newly formed division. The horizontal gas nitriding furnaces supplied by JGEF Furnaces can produce a hard clean substrate onto which is deposited a duplex layer with high hardness values. The JGEF tempering furnace series will help the manufacturer achieve a pre-vacuum protective atmosphere for tempering, and the atmosphere in the furnace chamber will reduce the oxidative decarburization reaction of the heat-treated workpiece. The furnace has a load capacity of 11023 pounds and an operating temperature range of 302-1202°F
Grupo TTT, one of the leaders in heat and surface treatments, recently added a SECO/WARWICK vacuum heat treatment and brazing system equipped with high-pressure gas quench to their Bergara, Spain, facility to run a variety of processes. This is the fourth system purchased by Grupo TTT with an earlier installation in Europe, and two systems currently in operation in Mexico.
Three box furnaces have been shipped for installation by Lindberg/MPH. An unnamed customer purchased one Temperite™ Box Furnace and one Treet-All™ Box Furnace to work in tandem. The Temperite™ Box Furnace is configured for aging, annealing, austempering, baking, solution treating, and tempering applications, while the Treet-All™ Box Furnace is configured for annealing, ashing, austempering, brazing, preheating, and solution treating applications. In addition, Lindberg/MPH announced the shipment of one Treet-All™ Box Furnace to the technology industry. The maximum temperature rating of this light industrial box furnace is 2050°F.
A state-of-the-art continuous mesh belt heat treat system has been commissioned for the production of high-quality automotive fasteners. CAN-ENG Furnaces International Ltd was selected for a project in the Piedmont Region of Italy, one of four installation locations for this globally recognized producer of specialty automotive fasteners.
A Blue M Friction-Aire® Safety Oven, which provides a controlled heat source without heating elements, was recently shipped to a manufacturer of consumer products by Thermal Product Solutions.
Kudos Chatter
StandardAero’s Maryville, Tennessee facility recently completed and shipped its 10,000th auxiliary power unit (APU) repair since the nearly 25 years it has been providing APU MRO services to the industry. The specific 10,000th repair was on a Honeywell model 36-150RJ APU for a regional aircraft operator.
Allied Mineral Products has launched a new Chinese-language website. The website, alliedchina.com, targets the local business market in China while actively engaging existing customers. In Northern China, Allied’s manufacturing facility in Tianjin celebrated its 20th anniversary last year.
The ASM Materials Education Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 ASM Materials Genome Toolkit competition. As determined by an independent review committee, the undergraduate engineering departments at Georgia Institute of Technology, Louisiana Technological University, Montana Technological University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute will receive a three-year site license for a suite of Thermo-Calc software tools intended to aid in the instruction of computational materials design, an emerging engineering practice deemed essential to the success of the U.S. Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) and global leadership in manufacturing.
Heat TreatTodayis 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.
Heat TreatToday offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry.
Personnel and Company Chatter
Julien Noel has been named Vice President / General Manager of the Buehler worldwide division. ITW Test and Measurement Group President, Yahya Gharagozlou, made the announcement. Buehler is an ITW Company which manufactures scientific equipment and consumables for materials analysis.
A fourth vacuum aluminum brazing (VAB) furnace has been purchased by California Brazing, a Newark, California, heat treating company in order to expand the capability to service the aerospace sector.
Solar Atmospheres recently awarded the title of CEO Emeritus to Roger A. Jones, FASM. The honorary title was conferred by the company and announces his semi-retirement as Solar Atmospheres’ CEO, the culmination of 45 years of leadership and service to the vacuum heat treating industry.
A refractories supplier’s recently established partnership will result in the full-service distribution of the company’s products and services throughout several European countries. The Plibrico Company and Pli Group Europe GmbH, a highly experienced refractory distributor contractor based in Vienna, Austria, have entered into a new value-added distribution partnership will cover Austria, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, and Bulgaria.
The world’s largest aerospace company, the Boeing Company recently acquired Embraer SA, the commercial aircraft arm of a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, in a new $4.75 billion joint venture.
Equipment Chatter
Seven Gruenberg Glassware drying ovens were recently shipped to a university in the U.S. Midwest by Thermal Product Solutions, a manufacturer of thermal-processing equipment based in New Columbia, Pennsylvania.
A furnace equipment company based in Erie, Pennsylvania, recently designed and manufactured a front-loading forge furnace for a leading North American forging company. The furnace built by Onex, Inc., is one of the largest of its kind in North America with workspace dimensions measuring 26ft (W) x 20ft (D) x 14ft (H).
A heat treating services provider in the U.S. Northwest recently purchased a Meg-HIP hot isostatic press for heat treating and metal processing. Västerås, Sweden-based, Quintus Technologies installed the system at Stack Metallurgical Group in Albany, Oregon.
Kudos Chatter
Thermal-Vac Technology, Inc. has been awarded a 2018 Top Workplaces honor by The Orange County Register. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by research partner. The anonymous survey measures several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few.
AK Steel recently announced that it has accepted an award of up to $1.2 million from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Advanced Manufacturing Office program to investigate novel low-density steels in the laboratory, which could ultimately be used in automotive structural applications. The three-year project will be conducted in collaboration with DOE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Materials Science and Technology Division, and the Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center in the Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. The objective of the project is to conduct alloy design, laboratory validation, and testing of low-density steels that are alternatives to currently available advanced high strength steels and other lightweight metals.
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.
