ThermTech

Heat Treater Expands Capabilities with Multiple Furnaces

/ FEATURED NEWS, HARDENING NEWS, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, QUENCHING NEWS, TEMPERING NEWS

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ThermTech, heat treat service provider in Waukesha, WI, has increased their capabilities to provide services for the medical, aerospace, mining and oil, nuclear, and agricultural industries.

Jason Kupkovits, vice president of Sales & Strategic Direction at the company, commented on that ThermTech will be continuing their 40 years of quality assurance, turnaround time, on-site engineering, and customer service standards.

Ben Gasbarre
Executive Vice President of Sales
Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems

Partnering with Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems, ThermTech significantly increased their normalizing, annealing, stress relieving, tempering, and neutral hardening capacity through the acquisition of three new furnaces. These three furnaces --- now fully operational --- include: a dual zone, direct-fired box austenitizing furnace; a large batch tempering furnace; and an additional tempering furnace. These furnaces are compliant with AMS2750 at different class certifications.

ThermTech has also added two additional vacuum furnaces from Ipsen, USA. The furnaces have dimensions of 36” wide x 36” tall x 48” long with capabilities of quenching up to 6 bars of pressure utilizing nitrogen or argon gas as the quench medium. These large vacuum furnaces are AMS class 3 (+/-15°F) certified capable of AMS2750.

ThermTech added a solution annealing furnace from Williams Industrial Service to give their operational aluminum line additional heat treat capabilities. This line is capable of a sub-15 second transfer to air blast quench, a water quench range of 55°F up to boiling, a sub-7 second transfer to water quench which exceeds AMS 2770/AMS2771 specifications, as well as load thermocouple monitoring during the solution treatment, quenching, and aging.

Daniel Hill, PE
Sales Engineer
AFC-Holcroft
Source: AFC-Holcroft

Another recent acquisition includes a new austempering/marquenching furnace from Michigan based AFC-Holcroft. This furnace can handle a single part racked in the vertical orientation up to 56" long. The working dimension of the furnace is 36" W x 72" L x 56" H and is capable of operating with salt temperatures ranging from 350°F -- 750°F. "The UBQA system is an environmentally friendly ‘green technology,’" commented Dan Hill, sales engineer at AFC-Holcroft, "which can be used to impart resistance to distorting, cracking or warping of heat-treated components.” Applicable processes include marquenching, austempering, and carburizing with additional washing and tempering capacity accompanying the new marquenching/austempering furnace. Installation is expected in early 2023.

The heat treat service provider's long-term strategy is to increase growth in the Midwest and on a national scale. This includes adding more workers and integrating the use of a robotics handling systems, which is expected to be installed in late 2022.

Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com

 

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Message from the Editor: Wonder

/ EDITOR, FEATURED NEWS

Seeing behind the scenes of everyday processes, seeing the previously unknown "how," can be an "Aha" moment. Karen Gantzer, senior editor and associate publisher of Heat Treat Today, shares about two such "Aha" experiences for the Heat Treat Today team. 

This article first appeared in Heat Treat Today's August 2022 Automotive print edition. Feel free to contact Karen Gantzer at karen@heattreattoday.com if you have a question, comment, or any editorial contribution you’d like to submit.

Karen Gantzer
Senior Editor, Associate Publisher
Heat Treat Today

It was the summer between my junior and senior year at college. I had secured a sports internship at WLWT, a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The opportunity to experience many behind the scene and front of the camera exposures was invaluable and rewarding. One memory that has stuck with me all these years was the first time I saw the meteorologist’s segment from behind the camera while she was on the newscast. She was standing in front of a green screen with a monitor off to the side explaining weather fronts and forecasts. I stood there in wonder. It looked totally different from the station side of things and today, I can’t watch a weather segment without thinking of the blank green screen!

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Have you ever had that experience? Completely blown away by seeing a common or everyday product, process, or presentation whose behind the scenes production was, until the point you saw it, unknown to you. I suppose one could describe it as an “Aha” moment. Well, in early June, the Heat Treat Today team had one of those memory-making trips that we’ll not soon forget.

We had the privilege of visiting the fine folks at ThermTech in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Mary Springer and Chuck Hartwig along with their experienced team shared their expertise and insights as they led us on tours of their facility. How fun it was to see some of the industry vocabulary we put on paper come to life! To actually see everything from the fiery furnaces and the products being heat treated to the pre-furnace parts prep and huge baskets that are used, it was a moment that connected the industry words we work with to the actual processes. We will not forget the sights, smells, temperatures, kindness, and generosity of our time at ThermTech.

Heat Treat Today Team: Doug, Bethany, Lauren, Michelle G-P, Alyssa, Karen, Michelle R., Ellen

The next day, the Heat Treat Today team was graciously hosted by the Quad Graphics folks who print our eight annual magazines. Being divided into a few smaller groups, we each had our own

Quad expert who toured us through the vast and expansive printing facility. To see the incredible precision that it takes to get each magazine from our PDFs to the tangible copies you hold in your hands is truly a sight to behold. From the massive rolls of paper being stored wherever there is available floor space (and, yes, there is a paper shortage) to witnessing the inking, folding, and binding processes gave us all pause to: first recognize the importance for accuracy in our processes, and second to marvel at the many highly skilled individuals it takes to produce each issue. Truly “Aha” moments!

I’m thankful for the opportunity we had to experience these visits as a team and that we can still marvel and appreciate those once unknown processes.

When I view baskets when running errands that remind me of the ones at ThermTech, I’ll remember what and how they do what they do. And, it’s safe to say, when I look at any magazine on the rack, I will see all the machinations it went through from conception to publication. What a grand time to be alive!

Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com

 

Message from the Editor: Wonder Read More »

ThermTech

/ FEATURED NEWS, MTI MEMBER PROFILES

If ThermTech was a person, they would make it into Heat Treat Today's 40 Under 40 Class of 2022 as a notable company at 40 years old. In May, ThermTech of Waukesha, Wisconsin celebrated 40 years, having been founded in 1982 by Charles E. Wiberg. Wiberg’s previous company, Midland Metal, was sold in 1980 and he used his industry knowledge to start ThermTech and in turn worked with his son and daughter, Steven Wiberg and Mary Wiberg Springer, who now own and run the company.

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The company specializes in everything except induction hardening, and they have three operating business units: carburizing/bath unit, vacuum/tool steel unit, and the austemper/foundry products unit. ThermTech believes in investing in their people, so that they will invest in the company. This has proven to be true as over 70 of their 137 employees have over 10 years of experience.

ThermTech has grown significantly since the beginning when they had only a couple of used furnaces, including two Ipsen T11s from the 60s. Mary and Steve’s father always told them to “Witness the turtle: he moves forward slowly with his neck fully extended.” Though it may be slow movement, their goal is to never stop moving forward. Every couple of years they take on equipment and physical expansion projects. Current projects include a new office facility and a new austemper line for the austempering facility.

This Waukesha company serves the automotive and aerospace industries as well as military, mining, agriculture (heavy equipment), and construction (housing). Processes include hardening, tempering, vacuum treatments, annealing, and surface treatments such as flame hardening, carburizing, and
more. They can also perform blast cleaning, cryogenic treatments, normalizing, straightening, and stress relieving.

ThermTech Waukesha, WI 
Source: ThermTech

The company focuses on partnering with customers on the front end of projects to help them understand complex specifications. Their job launch team is composed of metallurgical engineers, quality experts, and people with excellent practical knowledge. The internal maintenance department is headed by an engineer with 30 years in the industry.

Many different things can pass through a heat treatment facility, whether that be parts up to 6,000 lbs., parts that have come from all over the world, or a robot! Right now, the company is most excited about their first robot which they will receive in September. They are eager to see how robotic technology can help during this labor shortage, hopefully gaining efficiency and decreasing costs.

ThermTech wants to be known as a company that does not live in the past, but moves forward in innovation, vitality, and creativity driven by a core of younger employees in the management group, always striving for quality, fair pricing, excellent service, and technical partnership.

As they look to the future, the team plans to continue taking on new customer challenges and serving them into the next century as the hands of the third generation and many dedicated staff guide the company forward with innovation and efficiency.

Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.com

 

ThermTech Read More »

20 Quick Heat Treat News Chatter Items to Keep You Current

/ FEATURED NEWS, HEAT TREAT NEWS INDUSTRIES

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

Personnel & Company Chatter

  • Bharat Forge America Inc. will build an aluminum forging plant to manufacture automobile components in Sanford, North Carolina.
  • Ipsen USA recently announced the completion of an initiative to expand aftermarket services across the United States and Canada. Five regional sales engineers (RSEs) were hired over the last six months to assist customers with replacement parts, retrofits, upgrades, service, and technical support for any brand of atmosphere or vacuum heat-treating system.
  • An industrial heating technology company, Kanthal, recently launched an additive manufacturing service that will produce heating elements and components, as well as developing a new iron-chromium-aluminum alloy called Kanthal AM100.
  • GKN Aerospace has been selected as a key supplier on the new Gulfstream G700 business jet. The company is using its expertise in the design and manufacture of business jet empennages and thermoplastic components on the advanced aircraft. The rudder and elevators that are part of the empennage, as well as the floorboards, feature the latest thermoplastic technology. GKN Aerospace also produces the bonded fuselage panels for the new fuselage.
  • A ribbon-cutting ceremony recently marked the opening the new corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility of Process Cooling Systems, Inc. in Massachusetts.
  • Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems recently partnered with Humberto Bastidas from Thermal Technic Furnace Solutions.  Gasbarre will be working with Humberto and his team to launch a Spanish version of Gasbarre.com in the coming weeks and will assist with other marketing efforts in that region.

Equipment Chatter

  • A manufacturer of products from carbon recently provided large, custom Sigrabond Performance CFC fixtures to a North American aerospace company. By replacing the current alloy fixture with the new CFC fixtures from SGL Carbon, the customer increased part/fixture weight ratio from 62/38 to 87/13.
  • Two electrically heated multi-zone curing ovens were recently shipped to the composites industry by Wisconsin Oven for the purpose of curing carbon fiber threads.
  • A Model FB1046 floor-standing box furnace has been shipped by L&L Special Furnace Co, Inc., to a worldwide leader of high tech aerospace and associated components located in the Southeastern United States. The furnace will be used for processing aerospace parts and various thermal applications.
  • Danieli Olivotto Ferrè recently started up a tube roller hearth annealing furnace at Tenaris Tamsa, in Veracruz, part of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of steel pipe for the energy and automotive industries. The furnace is designed to treat steel tubes coming from cold or hot processing with a maximum throughput of 5 tons/h. The flexible furnace is able to perform different heat-treatment cycles, including normalizing, annealing, tempering and stress relieving. In addition, Danieli has been selected to supply the new electric arc furnace (EAF) melt shop and plate-/steckel-mill, as well as an electrical and automation package provided by Danieli Automation, for Nucor Corporation and its new greenfield plate steel mill complex in Brandenburg, Kentucky.
  • Dana Incorporated announced the expansion of a joint engineering agreement with Fendt, a worldwide brand of AGCO.  Over the past three years, the companies have co-developed advanced Spicer® 980 independent suspended axles for the new Fendt 900 Vario series of large tractors.
  • Allegheny Technologies Incorporated announced it signed another 1-year agreement to extend and expand carbon steel hot-rolling conversion services for NLMK USA at its world-class hot rolling and processing facility, or HRPF, located in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania.
  • A global leading stainless steel manufacturer with headquarters in Spain, Acerinox, S.A., has reached an agreement for the acquisition from Lindsay Goldberg Vogel GmbH and Falcon Metals BV. of VDM Metals Holding GmbH, with headquarters in Germany and leading producer of specialty alloys.
  • A vacuum furnace for processing additive manufactured parts has been shipped to a large science and technology laboratory by Solar Manufacturing. The lab requires the furnace to further research and development work.
  • Through its subsidiary, Tenova Goodfellow Inc., Canada, Tenova installed and commissioned a peak shaver at VINA Kyoei Steel, Vietnam, providing continuous improvement for melt shop operations.

Kudos Chatter

  • A Ph.D. student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, Lewis Print is the inaugural winner of an international student award in industrial heating, the Kanthal® Student Award, presented by industrial heating technology company Kanthal. The award has been made for his work on the development of new technology for the production of silicon carbide (SiC) heating elements used in high-temperature industrial processes operating in the range 2012°F-2912°F (1100°C-1600°C).
  • At the October fall meeting in Vancouver, Canada, the Metal Treating Institute (MTI) recognized Mary Springer from Thermtech in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with the Heritage Award. The Heritage Award is MTI’s most prestigious award.
  • The Center for Materials Processing Data (CMPD) recently announced three organizations have committed to the Center’s inaugural Industry Member class: Pratt & Whitney (a founding industry member), MTS Systems Corporation, and Weber Metals. This commitment, operating to solidify its formation, has allowed CMPD to greenlight a pilot project focused on the material flow behavior as a function of temperature, strain rate, composition, and prior microstructure processing.
  • Pelican Wire was named the winner of the 25th annual Southwest Florida Blue Chip Community Business Award at this year’s luncheon and awards ceremony. Chosen by an independent panel of judges, the criteria are centered around overcoming adversity to achieve success.
  • ASB Industries, Barberton, Ohio, announced that Charles Kay, ASB vice president, was recognized as an ASM Fellow at the annual ASM Awards Banquet in October. The award citation states, “For global technical leadership in innovative thermal spray technologies, mentoring thermal spray practitioners, and sustained dedicated volunteer service to the thermal spray community.”

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 editor@heattreattoday.com

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

News Chatter Follow Up: Heat Treat Facility Groundbreaking to Accommodate Equipment

/ MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT, MANUFACTURING HEAT TREAT NEWS

 

As we reported last week in the News Chatter edition of September 21, 2018, a Wisconsin-based, heat treating company recently broke ground on an addition to its operations in order to accommodate newly purchased equipment.

ThermTech of Waukesha expects to construction to be completed on the 13,000-sq-ft facility in December 2018 with an opening soon after.

In plans submitted to the city, the company “had to make a quick decision on the purchase” of a large heat-treating furnace. “We are incredibly busy, and need the capacity. That said, we also realized that the equipment would not fit in any of our current locations.”

ThermTech provided Heat Treat Today photos of the groundbreaking ceremony, prompting this follow-up post.

Photo caption: 

News Chatter Follow Up: Heat Treat Facility Groundbreaking to Accommodate Equipment 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

  • ThermTech of Waukesha, Wisconsin, celebrates the groundbreaking of a 10,500-square-foot manufacturing addition. Construction is expected to be completed in December 2018. 
  • An Ohio-based engineering firm, Dana Incorporated, announced a new series of Brevini™ heavy-duty winch drives for marine and offshore applications.  This new series of lightweight winch drives have been engineered with a sealing system designed to withstand harsh marine environments, and with improved power density, housing made from either cast iron or steel, and high-radial load bearings to deliver reliable lifting performance for heavy loads.
  • Brunel University London opened its Advanced Metal Processing Centre (AMPC) at the Brunel Center for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST), which will enable R&D activity to enable innovations, such as lightweight car parts, to make the leap from the lab to full-scale industrial trials. The 1,500 sq m AMPC facility includes industrial and pilot-scale equipment for processing and fabrication of extruded metals (novel bending processes, machining, and advanced joining); additional casting processes (gravity die casting and sand casting, etc.), and supporting materials characterization technologies (strength and fatigue testing and 3D x-ray tomography).
  • A global leader in manufacturing and overhauling aerospace structures, systems, and components, Triumph Group, Inc., based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, recently announced that its Aerospace Structures business has been awarded a multi-year airframe component contract for Lockheed Martin’s C130J Super Hercules program. Under initial terms of the contract, Triumph Fabrications in San Diego, California will provide 108 different part numbers for the C130J program. The parts include fabricated sheet metal structures made from a combination of aluminum, steel and titanium materials that will be fitted to the nacelle, wing and fuselage sections of the aircraft.
  • Aerospace equipment manufacturer Liebherr Aerospace has been awarded another contract from Boeing Commercial Airplanes for their 777 and 777X programs. Liebherr-Aerospace will deliver two electronic components of the main gear steering system for the two wide-bodies: the main gear steering control unit and the nose gear steering position transducer.
  • Engineered bearings and power transmission manufacturer, The Timken Company, based in Canton, Ohio, recently completed the acquisition of Rollon Group, a leader in engineered linear motion products. Rollon specializes in the design and manufacture of engineered linear guides, telescopic rails and linear actuators used in a wide range of industries such as passenger rail, aerospace, packaging and logistics, medical and automation.
  • Gear Motions, which has divisional offices in central New York, recently appointed to executive positions: Dan Bartelli to Director of Operations of Nixon Gear, a division of Gear Motions, and Anna Pastore to Corporate Controller. Bartelli, who began his career as a machinist, also recently celebrated his 30th anniversary with Nixon Gear, a division of Gear Motions. He is responsible for all Nixon Gear Division Operations including Manufacturing, Quality, and Engineering. Pastore previously served as Director of Finance for Cascade & Maverik Lacrosse, and Vice President of Finance of the Produce and Technology Division at Agway.
  • Worthington Industries, a metals manufacturing firm based in Columbus, Ohio, announced today that Mark Russell, president and COO is retiring. Andy Rose has been named president and will continue as chief financial officer (CFO). Geoff Gilmore has been named vice president and chief operating officer (COO) and will also continue to lead the Pressure Cylinders business.

Equipment Chatter

  • An electric box furnace has been supplied to a plant located in Louisiana that is a global supplier of large industrial valves for various industries. L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc., shipped this furnace, which is the fifth supplied by the company to this facility. The furnace is used to both heat treat and temper various rings and seals deployed in the manufacturing of valves used in the power-generation field. It is also used for general heat treating of various steels prior to machining.
  • Two furnaces have recently been shipped to customers from Grieve Corporation. No. 1040 is a 2200°F (1204°C), inert atmosphere pit furnace, currently used for heat treating automotive parts in baskets at the customer’s facility. No. 989 is an electrically heated, 2,000°F (1,093°C) inert atmosphere furnace from Grieve, used to process fabricated parts at the customer’s facility.
  • A leader in the technology industry recently purchased an electrically heated enhanced duty walk-in oven from Wisconsin Oven Corporation to be used for composite curing small parts. The batch oven has the capability to heat 16,000 pounds of a composite material from 70° F to 350° F within 6-7 hours.

Kudos Chatter

  • Akron Steel Treating celebrated its 75th anniversary August 31, 2018, with guests, officials, employees, customers, and suppliers in attendance, as well as the deputy mayor for economic development, Samuel D. DeShazior, who presented AST president Joseph Powell with a letter of congratulations from Mayor Daniel Horrigan. Joe’s grandfather, Prosper P. Powell, founded the company in 1943, and his daughter, Christina Somogye, recently purchased a 10% interest in ASTC and is an integral part of the succession plan.

  • For the second year in a row, GKN Aerospace has received a supplier award from Spirit AeroSystems. Spirit recognized GKN Aerospace with a Collaboration Values Partner award for superior performance at the 2018 Spirit AeroSystems supplier recognition banquet in Wichita, Kansas. In addition, GKN Aerospace also recently announced via Stratasys that the company is improving production times and removing design constraints for multiple tooling applications since integrating additive manufacturing at its Filton manufacturing site in the UK.
  • Retech Systems, a SECO/WARWICK company based in Mendocino County, California, recently won North Bay Maker Award for “best manufacturing process innovation”.
  • Induction heating company Ambrell Corporation is the honoree for the Global Advancement Award and Ambrell President Tony Mazzullo is a finalist for CEO of the Year at the Technology and Manufacturing Awards, created by the Rochester Business Journal and Rochester Technology and Manufacturing Association. The Global Advancement Award is given to a company that demonstrates dynamic growth through expansion of export opportunities and participation in new global markets. The CEO of the Year demonstrates leadership in the industry, commitment to staff development, and dedication to the Greater Rochester/Finger Lakes Region. Tony Mazzullo is one of two finalists and the winner will be announced on October 23rd.

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 »

ThermTech Expands Heat-Treat Furnace Line to Support Oil & Gas Industry

/ CARBURIZING, ENERGY HEAT TREAT, FEATURED NEWS, HARDENING

ThermTech, based in Waukesha, WI, recently added a batch integral quench furnace to their atmosphere heat-treat furnace line. The expansion is in response to an increase in demand for carburizing, carbonitriding, and neutral hardening services from their oil & gas and heavy equipment industry clients.  ThermTech acquired the ATLAS furnace from Ipsen USA, adding to existing atmosphere furnace and ancillary equipment already in operation.

ThermTech Expands Heat-Treat Furnace Line to Support Oil & Gas Industry Read More »

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