Thermal Product Solutions

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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

Personnel and Company Chatter

  • Mike Paponetti recently accepted the position of Sales Manager at Solar Atmospheres South Carolina. Prior to accepting this position, Mike was the Regional Sales Manager at Solar’s Hermitage, Pennsylvania, facility.
  • Alliance Steel LLC has announced plans to relocate the company from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, to Gary, Indiana, where a new plant will allow the company to consolidate its multi-structure facility into a single-structure facility.
  • William M. Brown, Harris Corporation Chairman, President, and CEO, has been named chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) Board of Governors for 2019. He succeeds outgoing AIA Chairman Tom Kennedy, chairman and CEO of Raytheon.
  • A new 107000-square-foot facility will focus on additive manufacturing, advanced composites, assembly, and industry 4.0 processes for aerospace design and manufacturing. GKN Aerospace’s new Global Technology Centre in Bristol, United Kingdom, has received support through the UK Governments Aerospace Technology Institute.
  • A provider of heat treatments and specialist thermal processing services held an official opening ceremony last week at its brand new facility on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), Rotherham, Yorkshire. Bodycote‘s new advanced heat treatment center, now fully operational and supporting customer requirements, offers a range of heat treatment services and has been established to support the aerospace and power generation markets in the UK and Europe.
  • An Iowa-based foundry recently sold its operating assets to its Galesburg, Illinois-based sister company, Aluminum Castings Company, an aluminum sand castings foundry. The transition will include the relocation of the ALCAST Midwest Works LLC‘s heat treating and grinding operations back to the Fairfield facility from their Clarence, Missouri, facility.
  • A supplier of live tooling for the North American machine tool industry, Prospect Heights, Illinois-based Heimatec Inc., has become part of a new corporation, Platinum Tooling Technologies Inc.
  • German car maker Porsche AG and Schuler, Inc., a Canton, MI-based provider of metalforming technologies and products announced plans to build an innovative press shop together for the car factory of the future. The objective of Schuler and Porsche’s joint venture is to create a so-called Smart Press Shop as part of a networked Industry 4.0 approach. The new press shop’s pioneering technologies will enable the highly flexible production of complex car body parts; whereby the focus will be on aluminum body panels and small batch production.
  • Constellium contracted with Tri-Arrows Aluminum Holding Inc. (TAAH) for the supply of cold coils from its Logan plant in Kentucky for up to five years as part of its agreement with UACJ Corporation and TAAH, its U.S. subsidiary, to acquire TAAH’s 49% stake in Constellium-UACJ ABS, LLC. Constellium’s plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, will continue to ramp-up its Auto Body Sheet substrate capability to gradually become Bowling Green’s sole supplier of cold coils.

Equipment Chatter

  •  A Japanese customer has placed an order with EBNER to expand an existing HICON/H2® bell annealer facility. The facility, which spheroidizes and recrystallizes coils of steel strip, will be upgraded with two additional gas-fired heating bells.
  • A natural gas-fired conveyor oven was shipped to a supplier of the oil and gas industry by Wisconsin Oven Corporation. This conveyor oven will be used for the preheating and powder coating of couplings. This conveyor oven has sufficient capability to heat 1,000 pounds per hour of steel parts from 70° F to 1000° F. In addition, Wisconsin Oven Corporation announced the shipment of a natural gas-fired conveyor oven to a leader in the forging industry. This conveyor oven will be used as a preheating oven for aluminum billets.
  • A Gruenberg truck-in-oven was recently shipped to the oil and gas industry by Thermal Product Solutions. The truck in oven will be used to test parts used for downhole drilling.

Kudos Chatter

  • Alloy Engineering Company, an industry leader in the design and manufacture of alloy equipment for high-temperature and corrosive industrial applications, celebrated its 75th anniversary in the month of November. The Berea, Ohio, company’s equipment is used for both commercial and in-house heat treating, and for processes such as annealing, hardening, carbo-nitriding, carburizing, nitriding, tempering, brazing, and sintering.

    SMS Group has won the German Design Award in 2018.
  • Paulo is celebrating its milestone 75th year in business. The company was founded in 1943 in St. Louis, conceived originally as Paulo Products Company was originally conceived as a manufacturer with heat treatment provided as a secondary service. Helping customers succeed by offering thermal processing solutions is where the company excelled. Founders husband and wife Ben and Pauline Rassieur had previously worked for Central Mine Equipment Company. Pauline, after whom Paulo is named, was one of the first women to earn an engineering degree from the University of Missouri.
  • SMS Group has won the German Design Award 2019 in the category “Industry” for the additively manufactured 3D spray header. The component for which plant and mechanical engineering company SMS group has received the German Design Award 2019 in the category “Industry” is a spray head used to cool dies in forging presses.

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 sector to the editor at editor@heattreattoday.com.

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current Read More »

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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

Personnel and Company Chatter

  • AFC-Holcroft has announced the addition of Daniel Hill as the newest member of their sales team. Hill will be based out of the company’s headquarters in Wixom, Michigan, focusing on key account management as well as new lead generation. Hill will report to Tracy Dougherty, Sales Manager at AFC-Holcroft.
  • Solar Atmospheres’ CEO, Roger A. Jones, was awarded the distinguished honor of ASM Fellow (FASM) at the ASM Awards Dinner on Tuesday, October 16, 2018. According to ASM, “The honor of Fellow represents recognition of distinguished contributions in the field of materials science and engineering, and develops a broadly based forum for technical and professional leaders to serve as advisors to the Society.” Roger’s citation reads: “For advancing production vacuum thermal processes and procedures for large and heavy assemblies utilizing state of the art vacuum furnaces, for the enhancement of the overall heat treating industry.”
  • A company that specializes in automated manufacturing solutions for automotive manufacturers among other industries, Innovative Automation, has acquired Tridan International, which supplies machinery for the production of heat exchangers, evaporators and condensers commonly used in manufacturing. This acquisition includes all ongoing operations of the company from their 88,000 square foot facility in Danville, IL.
  • StandardAero, the world’s largest independent Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A Designated Overhaul Facility (DOF) with Distribution rights, has recently inducted the first five PT6A-68 engines at its Summerside facility on Prince Edward Island, Canada.  StandardAero has provided full-service support for the PT6A-68 since 2013 but is now in the process of transferring its support of the engine model to its Summerside facility, as part of the company’s Center of Excellence (COE) activity, announced in May 2018.
  • Caterpillar, Inc, has announced that a closed South Carolina casting facility will house its new $13.5 million, 103,000-square-foot building in Hodges where it will produce specialty castings for various engines and transmissions in Caterpillar’s line of products.
  • Schenck Process, which engages in the design, manufacture, and supply of applied measuring and process technology, announced the acquisition of Process Components Ltd, a UK based designer and manufacturer of powder processing and handling equipment, components and spare parts, and its subsidiaries.
  • Braidy Industries and its subsidiary Veloxint recently announced five new executive appointments. Julio Ramirez will take on the position of Chief Financial Officer at Braidy. At Veloxint, Major General Kevin McNeely (Ret.) joins as Chief Operations Officer; Dr. Phoebe Kwan will take on the role of Chief Commercial Officer; Dr. Judson “Jud” Marte will be Vice President of Product Development; and John Gaspervich joins Veloxint as Executive Vice President of Manufacturing.

Equipment Chatter

  • A forced air recirculating oven was supplied by Lucifer Furnaces to a manufacturer of medical & aerospace parts and will be used to heat treat 17-4 stainless steel.
  • A tool and die manufacturer recently expanded its in-house heat treat capabilities with a Vector® furnace, one of the SECO/VACUUM (a SECO/WARWICK Group company) flagship vacuum furnaces. The purchase process included validation tests of tooling dies in a similar nearby furnace with positive results. The furnace being delivered is a  horizontal, front-loading Vector furnace with a capacity of 2,650 lbs.
  • A leading provider of metal additive manufacturing (AM) solutions recently announced that a prominent Southeast Asian aerospace parts manufacturer has purchased a dual-purpose Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM®) and EB Welding System. Sciaky, Inc., a subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries, Inc. (PSI), provided the one-of-a-kind hybrid machine to be customized with special controls to switch from 3D printing to welding in a quick and easy process. The manufacturer will utilize the system to 3D print metal structures, as well as weld dissimilar materials and refractory alloys for these structures and other aerospace parts.
  • Four Gruenberg explosion resistant Class “A” truck-in-ovens were shipped to the pharmaceutical industry by Thermal Product Solutions. The pharmaceutical ovens are rated for Class A operation to handle processing solvents per the NFPA 86 specifications.
  • A continuous mesh belt conveyor furnace was shipped by Lindberg/MPH to the computer market. This conveyor furnace is configured for soldering process applications, provides a heating and cooling process environment under a nitrogen/hydrogen blended atmosphere, and will be heated to the customer’s specified temperature (maximum of 1000°C).
  • A leading supplier of the automobile industry received shipment of a natural gas-fired two zone conveyor oven from Wisconsin Oven Corporation. The conveyor oven will be used for stress relieving automotive springs and has the design capacity to heat approximately 11,000 pounds of springs per hour. The overall work chamber dimensions of this stress relieving oven are 11’3” wide x 24’3” long x 14’0” high. The maximum operating temperature is 650°C (1202° F) with guaranteed temperature uniformity of ±5°C at set points of 520°C (968° F) and 570° C (1058° F) to ensure the conveyor oven meets the CQI-9, 3rd edition process Table E for stress relieving/annealing.

Kudos Chatter

 

  • In 2019, AGMA will expand upon the legacy and success of Gear Expo, launching the Motion + Power Technology Expo (MPT Expo). The new show will continue its focus on gears and mechanical power transmission while adding fluid power and electric drive exhibitors to provide all power transmission options to our attendees
  • eldec LLC recently unveiled a new website for manufacturing professionals who use induction heating, brazing, shrink fitting, pre-heating for laser welding, or annealing in their manufacturing processes. The new site provides updates on company and product information, trade shows, and manufacturing and equipment maintenance tips. It can be accessed at www.inductionheatingexperts.com.

 

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.

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current Read More »

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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

Personnel and Company Chatter

  • Advanced Heat Treat Corp (AHT), which provides heat treat services and metallurgical solutions, announced today the addition of three new sales and marketing employees: Vasko Popovski, Jason Taylor, and Lindsey Newcomb. Popovski will focus on heat treat needs in the Great Lakes area. Taylor will cover sales in the southeast region of the country. Newcomb, Marketing Manager in the corporate office located in Iowa
  • Dr. Guido Kleinschmidt, who is a member of the Managing Board of SMS group GmbH, is the new President of METEC, the International Metallurgical Trade Fair and Congresses from 25 to 29 June 2019. He was elected unanimously at the recent meeting of the steering committee of the four trade fairs GIFA, METEC, THERMPROCESS, NEWCAST. The election was necessary because the former METEC President Marcel Fasswald had left SMS group to join Thyssengroup Industrial Solutions AG as Chief Operating Officer.
  • Giantonio Toldo, Operations Manager for Element Materials Technology (Element) Padova laboratory in Limena, Italy, has been appointed as the Vice President of the Italian Association for Metallurgy’s (AIM) Technical Committee for the Control and Characterization of Materials.
  • OMG Inc. recently announced four promotions in supply-chain management and operations: Wayne Ringenbach was promoted to director of Manufacturing, which includes heat treating; Brad Bedard was promoted to director of Supply Chain Management;  Chris Mowatt was promoted to director of Manufacturing Engineering; and Geri McCarthy was promoted to director of Operations.
  • Samuel, Son & Co., Mississauga, Ontario, has acquired Sierra Aluminum, Riverside, California. Sierra is a supplier of aluminum extrusions and related products to a number of end markets, including construction and transportation. Sachin Shivaram has been named president of Sierra Aluminum Group, following Ed Harris’s decision to retire from the company.

Equipment Chatter

  • A heat treating equipment supplier based in Plymouth, Michigan, recently shipped a pair of 36” x 48” x 36” electrically heated temper furnaces to a major drive supplier in the Southeast. Gasbarre Furnace Group/J. L. Becker designed the furnaces, which operate from 300°F to 850°F with a temperature uniformity of ±5°F, to preheat workloads prior to hardening and temper workloads after hardening.
  • An India-based conglomerate recently contracted Can-Eng Furnaces International Limited to design, manufacture, install, and commission an aluminum automotive casting heat treatment system for its new greenfield North American expansion in South Carolina. The new system will service three distinct aluminum product groups with unique treatment cycles.
  • A global manufacturer of thermal-processing equipment recently shipped a custom Gruenberg bench oven to the movable machinery industry. The bench oven is rated for Class B operation per the NFPA 86 specifications. Thermal Product Solutions (TPS) designed this bench oven to be used in the customer’s testing and product development department to process various mechanical apparatuses affixed to a Ling Dynamic Electronic Shaker. The maximum temperature rating of this Class B oven is 1022°F (550°C) and the work chamber dimensions are 36” W x 36” D x 36” H. In addition, TPS delivered a Gruenberg cabinet oven to the research and development industry. This Class B oven will process up to 5 gallons of water per batch from 1500 lbs of metal powder. The maximum temperature rating of this Class B cabinet oven is 250° F and the work chamber dimensions are 48” W x 48” D x 48” H. Both Gruenberg ovens are constructed from a structural steel frame that supports the fully welded 304 stainless steel chamber liner and the exterior sheet metal.
  • Grieve has built a 1,250°F, horizontal airflow cabinet oven used for heat treating at the customer’s facility. With workspace dimensions of 38" by 38" by 38", it has 12"-thick insulated walls comprising 2" of 2,300°F ceramic blanket and 10" of 10 lb./cu. ft. density Rockwool.
  • A vacuum space simulation system was recently shipped to a company that manufactures equipment for space. Tenney Environmental designed this system to test ionic thruster chips for space vehicle systems. The simulator will allow the customer to test their products in-house, while replicating outer space conditions. The dual cryopump vacuum system is sized specifically to maintain the high vacuum while the thrusters are firing inside the vessel.
  • An industrial manufacturer recently purchased a custom car bottom furnace from LEWCO, based in Sandusky, Ohio. The electrically heated oven, which is rated for a maximum temperature of 1,300°F., is used for annealing steel parts, featuring a workspace of 72”W x 140”D x 90”H, and manufactured and designed to NFPA 86 “Class B” standards.

Kudos Chatter

  • Liebherr-Aerospace Toulouse SAS, center of excellence for aerospace air management systems within the Liebherr Group, has obtained accreditation from NADCAP (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) for its Materials Testing Laboratory.
  • A leading provider of vacuum impregnation technology, Godfrey & Wing, passed its transition audit for ISO 9001:2015/IATF 16949 certification from Smithers Quality Assessments (SQA), an accredited third-party registrar. The IATF 16949:2016 certification is the recently published revision to ISO/TS 16949: 2009, one of the most widely used international standards in the automotive industry. The standard acts as a supplement to ISO 9001: 2015 for automotive quality management systems.
  • Bonnell Aluminum, a subsidiary of Tredegar Corporation also recently announced that its aluminum extrusion manufacturing facility in Newnan, Georgia, has achieved certification under IATF 16949:2016.
  • In January of 2018, Logik Precision Inc. (LPI), a CNC machining, water jet, EDM and welding/fabrication service provider primarily operating in the oil & gas industry, selected QMSC, which provides quality management consulting services and is the developer of QMS, to provide professional consulting services to transition the organization from ISO 9001:2008 to the current revision of 2015. QMSC performed gap audit, completed revisions to the quality management system, performed employee training, and represented LPI during the registrar audit which was conducted on July 11th and 12th. Logik Precision successfully demonstrated compliance and commitment to its quality program. The audit was closed with zero findings and no observations. QMSC will provide ongoing fractional Quality Director services to assist LPI with continuous improvement.

 

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.

15 Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current Read More »

A Baker’s Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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A Baker’s Dozen Quick Heat Treat News Items to Keep You Current

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

Personnel and Company Chatter

  • Based in Lima, Ohio, Heat Treating Technologies recently installed its third heat treating furnace as the final step of a $3 million expansion project, to be used to process parts for agriculture and automotive industries.
  • Mark Hemsath has been hired as director of nitriding and special vacuum furnaces at SECO/VACUUM Technologies, LLC. Hemsath has previously worked with SECO/WARWICK Corp. and Advanced Heat Treat Corporation in Waterloo IA, and operated his own heat treat furnace manufacturing and alloy fabricating company. He will be the primary contact for gas nitriding furnace applications in North America and will handle special vacuum furnace products throughout North America.
  • The new president and chief executive officer of Norsk Titanium AS, an aerospace-grade titanium components manufacturer based in Plattsburgh, New York, will be Michael J. Canario.
  • A company that manufactures high-temperature refractories and specializes in the toll firing business serving a variety of industries such as aerospace, automotive and petrochemical recently completed the task of relining the bricks on one of their roller hearth kilns, which can now reach greater operating temperatures – up to 2,650 ºF (1,454ºC). In addition, Ipsen Ceramics has also announced a collaboration with ceramics distributor, Carpenter Brothers, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Equipment Chatter

  • PJSC Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works’ (“MMK”) most powerful unit, hot-rolled products Mill 2000, produced 527,500 tonnes of metal in May 2018, setting an all-time record for monthly output. It was the highest production volume at the mill since its commissioning in 1994, beating the previous monthly record of 526.2 ths tonnes set in January 2015.
  • Solar Atmospheres of Western PA recently continued its merit status for NADCAP Nondestructive Testing for penetrant inspection. Solar Atmospheres specializes in Method A (water washable) Fluorescent Penetrant inspection and is able to accommodate parts of varying sizes in their world class NDT cell. Solar has its own in-house Level 3 inspector as well as six Level 2 inspectors and one Level 1 inspector.
  • Professional fastener manufacturer ARP is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2018. “It was 1968 when Gary Holzapfel—whose background was in aerospace fastener manufacturing—developed some bolts and studs for his racer friends that were a marked improvement over what was available at the time. This lead to the founding of Automotive Racing Products Inc. … ARP proudly does everything in-house, which includes engineering, R&D, forging, heat-treating, machining, finishing, packaging and distribution in its ISO 9001:2008 and AS9100 registered California facilities.”

Heat Treat Today celebrates with our heat treatment industry partners by highlighting their accomplishments and announcements 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 Read More »

New Heat Treat Facility in Wisconsin to Accommodate Expanding Operations

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Dave Strand, president and CEO of Thermal Product Solutions

A leading industrial furnace manufacturer recently opened a new facility in East Troy, Wisconsin, accommodating oven product lines and providing additional manufacturing space for expanding operations. The company will be investing $1.5 million in equipment and renovation work at the building.

Wisconsin Oven Corporation and parent company Thermal Product Solutions (TPS) celebrated the opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included company officials, as well as local, regional, state leaders.  It was announced at the ceremony that the new 130,000 sq ft facility will be named after Bruce Champion, a former vice president of operations for Wisconsin Oven, who played a key role in the company’s success.

“Wisconsin Oven Corporation is pleased that the community and local leaders were able to join us today to celebrate the opening of our recently purchased facility,” said Dave Strand, president and CEO of TPS. “This 130,000-square-foot facility will soon see massive renovations and production, which will result in more employment throughout the region.”

 

 

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