November

November Issue 2005
www.themonty.com
Heat Treat News
Introduction
Energy Costs. It would be a waste of paper to explain to heat
treaters why this is the number one issue in the worldwide heat
treating industry these days, You guys pay the bills, you know far
better than we do what a crisis this is. So what is the solution?
Since you need a given amount of BTU's to heat treat a part this
part of the equation remains constant. What can be changed to
some extent is how efficiently you use that energy. I for one do not
believe that there is one single easy solution to this, rather a series
of small changes. Recently we've been mentioning on the website
www.themonty.com a number of ideas and we will continue to
do so. So far we've heard about recuperators (a tried and proven
solution), magnets (not so tried and proven), energy generators in
radiant tubes and a few other ideas including fuel injectors in Endo
generators (which is tried and proven). All of these ideas we will be
mentioning in the future and you can form your own opinions about
whether they get you any further ahead or not. What we would
very much appreciate is ideas from our readers, either
manufactures or heat treaters about what their experience has
been. Look forward to hearing from you!
Heat Treat News
Gibraltar Industries. The second largest commercial heat treater
in North America. The name Gibraltar is still unknown to many as their
heat treating operations go under the name Carolina Commercial HT in
the Southern US, B & W Heat Treating in Canada, Rock River in the
Chicago area, Pennsylvania Industrial Heat Treaters, Brazing Concepts
in Michigan and Ohio, Harbor Metal in the Midwest and Hi Temp Inc. in
Illinois and Indiana. Gibraltar's name comes up today because they
have just released their third quarter Sales and Earnings. While you
can get all the details at http://www.gibraltar1.com/ bottom line
is that sales are up and Gibraltar as a whole is doing well. We will add
that the heat treating portion of Gibraltar's business is probably
between $120 and $140 million US/year for all the different divisions.
October 31/05
Van Dorn, Update. To the individual that asked about the Klocker
Ion Nitriders at Van Dorn in Fountain Inn, SC. Sorry but it would
appear that they were cut up for scrap.
October 31/05
Van Dorn, Fountain Inn, SC. Within the past year a company
by the name of Van Dorn in Fountain Inn, SC closed down. All of the
equipment including 2 Klockner Ion Nitriders was apparently bought by
a used equipment dealer. Our question for today is; does anybody
know what happened to these units? A friend in the business might be
interested in purchasing them. If you do know please let us
know.
October 24/05
2
Pyrometry Specification Revision & Release. October
28/05
"I thought that many of your viewers to The Monty might be interested
in the Pyrometry Specification, AMS-2750 has been revised and
adopted as of September 2005. This specification governs pyrometric
requirements for thermal processing equipment used for heat treating
in the Aerospace, Automotive and to some extent, the Medical
Industries. The old revision, AMS-2750-C, was hard to understand and
could be interpreted 100 different ways. The new revised specification
is a complete re-write to make the standard more user friendly and to
reflect current heat treating capabilities of thermal processing
equipment. For those heat treating facilities who must comply with this
specification, there are numerous changes (for the better or worse?)
that will need to be addressed." Andrew Bassett, Doctor Furnace, Inc.
Used Equipment For Sale. Today we added an Abar 3Chamber Vacuum Aluminum Brazing Furnace. We have more
information & pictures about the Roller Hearth Normalizing Line &
added a T-M Vacuum Furnace. If you scroll through our used
equipment pages you'll find a wide assortment of items which include
two SBS Quench Oil Coolers in good shape for a quarter of the price
of new & an AFC mesh belt temper furnace 48" wide belt. It's in
good shape, has an asking price of $30,000, but between you and I,
all offers will be very seriously considered. October 28/05
Heat Treat Shops for Sale. With business good for most
commercial heat treaters, at least a few are thinking that this is a good
time to sell. If you check out are "Heat Treat Shops For Sale" page
you'll see that we currently have two for sale, one in the Midwest &
one in the Great Lakes Region. Plus a company looking to acquire a
small Commercial Heat Treat. Please keep us in mind if you have any
thoughts at all about selling your operation.
Business Opportunities. Today we added a company looking for
a Heat Treat Furnace Operator. We have companies looking for a
Regional Sales Representative, a Part Time Chief Engineer, a
Vacuum Furnace Designer, a Q.A. Manager, an Experienced Oil/
Vacuum Operators / Flame Straighteners in Florida, also a
company looking for Heat Treaters that have experience with a few
different type of furnaces. We also have a Field Service Tech. looking
for a position. October 28/05
Vac Aero New Order. A further indication that the new furnace
manufacturing business is picking up. We've learned that VAC AERO
3
Manufacturing Polska in Swiebodzin, Poland just landed a sizable order
from a major forgings producer in Russia. The contract involves four
furnaces, tooling, installation services and technology transfer and is
valued at more than 2.4 million Euro. The furnaces are based on
designs already in use at VAC AERO International's heat treating
facilities in Canada. VAC AERO Manufacturing Polska has been in
operation for less than a year and apparently their order books are
filling up quickly. October 27/05
Energy Costs/Magnets. This could either be an incredibly easy
way to cut gas costs or another crackpot scheme, but we're going to
find out once and for all. To back track, we told you recently that we
would be investigating different ways of saving on energy costs. It was
suggested to us that putting permanent magnets on gas lines
immediately
prior to the
burner
"broke
up"
the clusters
of
hydrocarbon
s
and
caused more
complete combustion resulting in lowering the amount of natural gas
required. Supposedly this reduction should be in the area of 5-10%.
We quickly located a manufacturer with some experience and have
arranged a "Beta" test which will take place within the next couple of
weeks. Results should be available very quickly thereafter. Again this
might be a waste of time, but in light of energy costs and the
simplicity of a test we feel it's well worthwhile. To give you an idea this
particular operation is using $200,000 worth of natural gas/month.
Even a 5% savings represents a very significant dollar amount which
of course goes right to the bottom line. By the way the heat treater
doing the test shared with us his energy costs. Currently they
represent roughly 30% of total sales dollars. This figure includes
electricity also, however the vast bulk is natural gas. Two years ago
this figure was more like 14%! Small wonder that heat treaters will
consider any idea, no matter how fetched, in an effort to cut back on
natural gas usage. October 26/05
Keith Grier/ Thermal Controls & Calibration. This news
item is an update to one we posted June 15/05. While all the details
are below the bottom line was that Keith Grier, one of the founders of
GM Enterprises (new vacuum furnaces) was leaving the company. No
surprise that Keith has remained in the industry and is President of a
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company by the name of Thermal Controls & Calibration doing service
work in La Verne, CA. Sounds like Keith is working hard and having
fun. If you would like to get in touch with him we're sure he would like
to
hear
from
you
jkgrier@verizon.net
GM Enterprises. When it comes to new vacuum furnaces I have
always assumed that GM was in the top 5 in terms of sales. Based in
California this company was co owned by Keith Grier, President and
Suresh Jhawar, Vice President (with according to rumor) Keith having
a slightly larger share. It would now appear that Keith has sold his
shares to Suresh (who now is President) and that at some point in the
near future will be moving on, although we do not know what his plans
are. On a side note Keith's son Brian worked with GM until not long
ago when he moved on to a company called Proteck Thermal Services
in California that do service work for the heat treat industry. I might
have met Brian once and can't remember much about him but I have
heard that he really knows his stuff and does a good job for his
customers. October 25/05
Heat Treat In House or Outsource? Always an ongoing
debate that we have mentioned frequently on "The Monty". You could
debate endlessly whether it makes more sense to do your heat
treating in house or to send it to a commercial operation but the
bottom line is there are so many variables that every situation is
different. At least once a month a company currently sending their
parts out to be heat treated approaches us about buying the
equipment to do the work in house. At a guess 80% of the time the
volumes just plain do not justify it, however having said that just a few
months ago we were approached by a company in the US Midwest that
was sending a large amount of work out to be vacuum heat treated. A
very brief look at the product and the volumes showed this to be a no
brainer, without a shadow of a doubt it made sense to buy a vacuum
furnace and start running product in house. Later on this week we're
going to be telling you the company, the product and a few numbers
showing why this case was so clear cut. To repeat a statement we've
made a number of times before; what is the number one reason that
companies consider bringing heat treating in house? Faster
turnarounds.
October 24/05
Specialty Pressed Components Inc. This news item is a
footnote to the one just below. Interesting news if you are involved in
the Powdered Metal Industry in the St. Mary’s, PA area.
October 24/05
5
"An investment group led by the Varischetti family of Brockway, Pa., is
expected to acquire PM parts maker Specialty Pressed Components
Inc. (SPC), Kersey, Pa., by the end of October. The family recently
purchased the assets of Brockway Pressed Metals Inc. and formed
Phoenix
Sintered
Metals,
Inc.
Founded in 1990, SPC has 20 employees operating out of an 11,000
sq. ft. plant. Its equipment includes 10 compacting presses up to 110
tons, 2 sizing presses, and 2 sintering furnaces. One of the furnaces is
a
high-temperature
design
with
a
ceramic
belt."
Brockway Pressed Metals. This good sized powdered metal
company in Brockway, PA was recently purchased by the Varischetti
family and some other investors and renamed Phoenix Sintered
Metals. The company has hired Bob Howard as CEO and has retained
several key managers from Brockway. Bob is the former vice president
of
operations
at Clarion
Sintered
Metals and
was
an
original
founder of Exotic Metals which later became Mascotech and is now a
Metaldyne facility specializing in Powder Forged connecting rods and
conventional P/M gears and structural parts. October 14/05
Van Dorn, Fountain Inn, SC. Within the past year a company
by the name of Van Dorn in Fountain Inn, SC closed down. All of the
equipment including 2 Klockner Ion Nitriders was apparently bought by
a used equipment dealer. Our question for today is; does anybody
know what happened to these units? A friend in the business might be
interested in purchasing them. If you do know please let us
know.
October 24/05
QC Manager/Salary. Recently a reader posed this question to us;
"What is the avg. pay for a Quality Manager in Heat Treat?" For
the answer we went to an experienced recruiter in the industry and
this was his response;
"I would say that a degreed Metallurgist who fills the role of a QA Mgr
will be looking at anywhere from 55-65K US/year. They may also be
involved in process work as well. For a QA Mgr who is only in charge of
ISO/QS/TS compliance, the rate goes down to 45-60K US/year."
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Editors note. Jim McNeal jamesm@ispards.com is Managing
Recruiter of ISP in San Diego, CA, a recruiting firm specializing in the
Heat Treating Industry. Jim will be contributing regularly to "The
Monty", addressing issues such as employment and salaries within the
Industry. October 21/05
Solar Manufacturing. The newest guys on the block when it
comes to building vacuum furnaces has this to say about their new
plant. October 21/05
"SOUDERTON, PA- After its conception in 2002, Solar Manufacturing
has experienced a surge in development, expanding from the visions
of CEO William Jones and five fellow pioneers to over 25 employees
and a need for increased space. This need was met last month when
all Solar Manufacturing employees moved from their location in Telford
Pa., to a newly renovated, 60,000 square foot building in Souderton,
Pa. Along with remodeled office space, the building includes a
manufacturing plant that has been cleaned and painted with new,
high-intensity lighting, a new water recirculation system for testing
furnaces, additional electrical power distribution and improved loading
docks to accommodate three trucks instead of one.
Conveniently located near quality fabricators and suppliers of
engineered products and services, Solar Manufacturing will to continue
to expand their production of vacuum furnaces and hot zone rebuilds.
Part of the renovated office area has been designated for the recently
created Solar Technology Center. Staffed by engineers, chemists, and
metallurgists, the Solar Technology Center will be used to perform
research and development to keep Solar Manufacturing in the forefront
of vacuum furnace innovations.
Please update your contact information for Solar Manufacturing. Our
offices are now located at 1983 Clearview Road, Souderton PA 18964.
You can reach us by phone at (267)384-5040 or FAX at (267)3845060.
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Jim Warner/American Steel Treating. A small change in the
HT Industry. It would appear that Jim, who was Plant Metallurgist at
Eaton in Auburn, Indiana (formerly Dana Clutch) is now working with
Roy Waits (owner of American). American Steel Treating, in
Perrysburg, Ohio we have mentioned on the site before as one of the
largest commercial heat treaters in North America and also as being
one of the nicest pusher installations that we have ever seen. October
20/05
Two of the Best Looking Women in the Heat Treating
Industry. The photo below was taken at the recent heat treat show
in Pittsburgh. Photography by none other than Lance Miller (MTI) it
shows from left to right; Lurch, Dale Montgomery (themonty.com),
and Debbi and John Hubbard of Bodycote International (commercial
heat treating). October 20/05
SECO/WARWICK/Annealing Furnaces. It would appear that
Seco has just commissioned another nice furnace installation, this time
in Russia of all places. October 20/05
"SECO/WARWICK with Alcoa SMP specialists, has completed the
commissioning of four aluminum coil annealing furnaces and
charge/transfer car at the ALCOA SMP plant in Samara, Russia. Each
tray type coil annealing furnace is rated for a 105,000 kilogram
(231,500 pound) load with a maximum operating temperature of
635°C (1200°F).
The furnaces utilize a mass flow heating design to eliminate the
potential problems of local overheating and physical damage of the
thin gauge foil caused by a high velocity horizontal airflow. Each
furnace is equipped with a by-pass cooler connected to the back wall
of the furnace to cool coils in a protective nitrogen atmosphere to
protect the coils from air infiltration. After the coils have completed
the heating cycle, the furnace fans direct the atmosphere to an
external chamber where gases pass through water-cooled coils, and
are then re-directed back into the heating chamber. By-pass coolers
reduce the cooling cycle time and eliminate the need to transfer the
coils into a separate chamber.
8
This system includes one driven charging/transfer car to service all the
furnaces. Specially designed trays with load support fixtures are used
to aid in heat transfer and loading/unloading of the coils."
FPM/Rexnord. Very seldom do we print unconfirmed rumors, you
can always believe what you read on "The Monty". However, today
we're going to break with this rule, to some extent, because we firmly
believe this "rumor" to be true. We have been told that FPM, one of
the largest commercial heat treaters in North America has received a
very nice order from Rexnord Chain Division in Milwaukee, WI to take
over their entire heat treating requirements. Further details say that
this order is estimated to be well in excess of 10 million pounds/year
and that the work will be run in the FPM plant in Milwaukee. Why
Rexnord would decide to outsource all their heat treating we do not
know but we would have to assume it has to do with current
philosophy
of
"concentrating
on
your
core
competencies".
Congratulations to FPM, this is a real success for them and we're very
pleased for them. October 19/05
Steven Sumner, Applied Process Inc.
On October 17, Steven became Plant Manager for
the Applied Process facility in Livonia, Michigan.
Previous to this Steve was in charge of heat
treating at MNP in Michigan so he's a well
experienced guy and will fit in well at Applied,
"Home of the Hostile Duck". October 19/05
"Applied Process Inc. is pleased to announce the
appointment of Steven Sumner as Plant Manager
of the Applied Process Inc. facility in Livonia,
Michigan. Steve is a Metallurgical Engineer with 18
years of heat treat experience. His prior roles have
included R&D technician, ISO/QS Management
representative, factory start-up engineer, and
plant management. Steve is currently pursuing a
graduate degree in industrial management. He will
report to AP’s Chief Operating Officer, John
Wagner. Steve is a welcome member to the AP
Team and is ready to serve AP’s current and future
customers in his new role."
Ted Beerman. We gather that Ted has parted ways with IMT
Duncan in Duncan, SC a good sized commercial heat treater. Ted is a
long time experienced heat treater that has been at this plant since
9
about 1995 or 1996 but in the industry for over 20. As you might be
aware IMT has gone through several owners over the years including
HTG and now Al Kalweit and Ted has seen them all. Not sure what Ted
is up to these days. October 19/05
Question. It didn't take long for an answer to the question below
about what happened to Sauders. Always feel free to ask us whatever
Heat Treating related questions come to mind. October 19/05
"I believe that all of the Sauder documentation is in the hands of Ipsen
International. I believe that they purchased the company back in the
late 80's. Sauder is the original company that developed the Pyro
Block insulation."
Question. So who knows anything about Sauders drop bottom
ovens? If you can help out I'm sure this gentleman would be eternally
grateful. October 18/05
"Would you please help me to find technical documentation of Dropbottom furnaces built by SAUDERS (the company no longer exists).
Maybe somebody is in possession of such documentation. Best
Regards, Mathias" mathias.zmuda@montupet.ca
Spuncast Inc., Watertown, WI. Users of cast alloy products
(grids, trays, radiant tubes etc) might or might not have heard of this
company. Foundries providing radiant tubes certainly will have. There
are not a lot of foundries around making centrifugally cast tubes so
Spuncast is part of a relatively small group. This is a good news item
in that we mention them today because their business has increased
80% between 2003 and 2004 and this year they are seeing an
increase of about 26%. All of which means they are just getting
started on an addition to the building and more manufacturing
capacity. With almost 150 employees this is a pretty good size
operation. Incidentally we should add that Spuncast also does some
heat treating in house in the form of annealing and stress
relieving.
October 18/05
10
Joe Greene/Praxair. It would appear that Joe has left Ipsen
International (new furnaces) and gone back to his previous company,
Praxair. Joe was originally the coating furnace specialist at Ipsen
(although we came across him several times when he was involved
with a large Vacuum Carburizing project at Stackpole) and then
subsequently was in charge of R & D after Dan Herring, the "Heat
Treat Doctor" left. Joe has gone back to work for his previous
employer, Praxair in Indianapolis as a process engineer in their
atomized powder manufacturing division. Joe is nobody's fool and we
have no doubt but that he will do well at anything he sets his mind
to.
October 17/05
Inductotherm Group. The world's largest manufacturer of new
Induction heating equipment. We're sure everybody loses track of all
the companies they own, a few (a very few) are Radyne, Lepel,
Calcarb, Consarc, Emsco and on and on. Suffice to say that they are
the big guys on the block when it comes to Induction heating. Looks
like they've made a change in their sales structure in that all (or
almost all) of the Induction Heating reps have been let go in favor of
direct sales people. At "The Monty" we're always biased in favor of
reps, however you could argue "direct" versus "rep" until you were
blue in the face and nothing would be decided. October 17/05
Thermetco. A couple of notes down we talk about this Montreal
based commercial heat treater and how they have joined a very small
group in their ability to carburize large gears (in their case up to 65" in
diameter). We didn't realize how select a group it is. A couple of
readers told us that to the best of their knowledge the only other
commercial shops were Metlab (in Wyndmoor, PA) and possibly one of
the Bodycote facilities. We're talking commercials of course, some of
the large gear manufacturers with captive heat treats can handle this
size (Timken in Canton, Ohio has the largest Surface batch IQ I've
ever seen) but commercials? Very, very few. We have to throw this in
also. After we posted the original note about Thermetco and their new
furnace it took a grand total of 1 day for them to receive a very
serious inquiry. Announcements on "The Monty" can not only bring you
bragging rights but also some serious new business. October 13/05
Energy Savings. In response to our notes about energy saving
ideas we've had a number of responses all the way from "tried and
true" to others that are radical to say the least. Two that really
intrigued us are a mini turbine/generator that can be placed in the gas
stream to generate electricity and the other is magnets. In the case of
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the turbines several people have heard of this technology and are
interested in more details, we're going to check it out and see what we
can find out. In the case of magnets we discussed this with a company
manufacturing magnets that while having very little experience in heat
treating does claim some real successes in applications such as boilers
and ovens. Fascinating concept! Basically, permanent magnets are
attached to the gas stream just in front of the burners. No modification
to the furnaces or gas stream is required and the manufacturer claims
that by creating more complete combustion, gas usage can be reduced
by at least 10%. At this point "The Monty" is going to set up a Beta
site and we'll let you know the results. We find this approach intriguing
enough and inexpensive enough to warrant a test although Diamond
HT in Rockford, Il had this to say "Gord, we tried the magnets on the
gas lines 2 years ago and they didn't work for us at all." At "The
Monty" we're optimists in spite of 30 years in this industry, we're going
to prove or disprove this "technology". October 13/05
Bodycote Highland Heights, OH. Let's see now, it was back in
May or June of this year that we told you about Bodycote (commercial
heat treating) ordering 9 large batch IQ furnaces from AFC/Holcroft in
Wixom, Michigan. These were destined for 3 different plants, Highland
Heights, Ohio, Indianapolis, Indiana and Kitchener, Ontario. If you
check out the Bodycote website http://www.bodycote.com/ under
the news section they will give you all the details about the Highland
Heights operation.
October 13/05
American Brazing/New Vacuum Furnaces. Located in
Cleveland, Ohio American Brazing is part of Paulo Products, a
commercial heat treater with 5 locations in North America. We have
always considered Paulo to be the third largest commercial in North
America (although as this is a privately owned company that doesn't
release sales figures this is certainly open to debate). The American
Brazing operation has just finished installing 2 brand new GM
Enterprises vacuum furnaces to this already very good sized vacuum
heat treater. We didn't know it until fairly recently but American
Brazing has to rank as one of the larger shops in North America in
terms of the number of vacuum furnaces. October 12/05
Energy Costs. As you will have noted from our comments down the
page we're looking for ideas, suggestions, tried and proven methods or
off the wall thoughts about saving on energy costs. Gregory
LeCompte, President of Pala Heat Treating LLC (a Commercial Heat
12
Treating company) has some good, common sense suggestions.
October 12/05
"I am responding to your request for information on what some
commercial and captive heat treat facilities are doing in order to
manage their natural gas and electricity consumption better. Our
company has implemented several energy saving ideas in the initial
furnace set-up, burner design, and peripheral devices attached after
set-up. An external study by an independent company has illustrated
that our choice to place furnace brick under our batch furnace has
saved us 3.5% do to heat retention remaining in the oil rather than
displacing into the ground beneath it. Our company has already
implemented a recuperating burner design in the installation of the
furnace. In our process, we preheat everything to 700 or 800 degrees.
This additional step saves an additional 4.2% in natural gas usage and
5.7% savings in our process time. The savings is above and beyond
the additional gas it takes to preheat the product. Finally, for all those
interested in new technologies out there. I must recommend that you
contact ITW. ITW has developed a mini turbine/generator that can be
placed in your gas stream. The generator uses the gas velocity to
generate useful electricity. We are going to be installing these in the
near future for two reasons. First and foremost is to save on electricity
consumed by the local power company. Secondly, we are installing
them for safety reasons. These generators will act as a back-up power
source in the event of an outage. This will give the furnace operator
more time to respond to the outage and it may also allow us to finish a
product cycle uninterrupted without having to scrap the product. I
hope this helps some new and old heat treaters out there. Most know
about furnace brick under the quench tank, recuperative burners, and
pre-heating their product. However, I would encourage partnerships to
form between furnace builders, heat treaters, government, and new
technology providers to develop these gadgets for faster
implementation into this industry that relies heavily in energy,
consistency, and ingenuity."
Solar Atmospheres, Western PA. Below is a picture of the
tour which had 15 or so take the trip from Pittsburgh to view the
facility and furnaces at Solar Atmospheres, Western, PA. Solar was one
of the companies that found the show very productive. By the way,
wouldn't swear to it but we would say that the fellow in the red shirt is
Johnny Hatchett of CCHT. October 12/05
13
New Hires. Always interesting to see how people move around
within the industry. We very recently ran across a couple of individuals
changing positions. Lynn Dietrich, a very experienced individual has
been hired by Ipsen International as a Field Service Engineer. John
Morgan was also recently hired as a Field Service Engineer by Phoenix
Induction. October 11/05
Delphi Bankruptcy. This past weekend Delphi, formerly part of
General Motors and the world's largest manufacturer of auto parts filed
for bankruptcy which can't have surprised many in the auto industry.
Quite frankly there are a number of news sources with more insight
than ourselves however keeping in mind that they are an enormous
captive heat treater we would be remiss in not at least mentioning it.
How this will affect the North American heat treating industry can only
be guessed at.
October 11/05
Pacific Scientific. We had an interesting question the other day.
Is Pacific Scientific still around? Occasionally we run across a used
batch IQ furnace made by Pacific, as a matter I fact I believe we have
one or two listed on our site but we did not have a clue what happened
to the company. After a bit of homework it would appear that they
were bought by Selas some time back and that Selas does indeed
support the line. If you need support, the contact at Selas is Tom
Pruszynski, phone 1 800 523-6500. October 10/05
14
Energy Costs. Hot topic these days as you would expect. Since
there is nothing we can do about the price of electricity or natural gas
that only leaves one possible solution, reducing the amount we use.
Not for a second do we at "The Monty" believe there is one simple
answer, rather it's going to be a series of small changes. We will be
doing some research into this and going to our readers for
suggestions. If you as a vendor have suggestions, such as different
insulation, different radiant tubes, recuperators, whatever we would be
very interested in hearing about them. We can in turn promise some
good free advertising for you. As a captive or commercial operation if
you would care to share your thoughts with the industry we would
appreciate hearing them. We're already checking out one new
technology that a large heat treater in Michigan mentioned to us. This
is how the equipment was described to us; "This company sells
magnets that clamp on the pipe and break up hydrocarbons in the CH4
and supposedly give us a 20% savings in fuel". We have no idea
whether or not this is a feasible technology or not but we'll research it
and give you our thoughts. October 10/05
Spectrograph Wanted. Not an item that we know a great deal
about, but a brand new heat treater is looking for a used
Spectrograph. No other details available but if you have such an item
surplus we would like to put you in touch with the potential buyer.
October 10/05
Thermetco. At the last heat treat show I had the opportunity to
meet, for the first time, Milenka Dentcheva-Kamenova, Metallurgist for
Thermetco in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (her photo is further down
this page). After we posted her picture she very kindly sent us a few
notes about herself and the company, which we've taken the liberty of
paraphrasing. Thermetco is one of the two largest commercial heat
treaters in Quebec, and is what we would consider a "general" heat
treat meaning a combination of batch IQ furnaces, vacuum, annealing
and stress relieving to name a few. All in all a clean, well run
organization. One very interesting note is a new pit carburizing furnace
which will be starting production November of this year. Interesting
because of the sheer size. It will be able to carburize and quench large
gears up to 65" in diameter and shafts up to 96" in length, which
means they join a very small group of heat treaters in North America
that can run this size of part. As far as Milenka goes she's been the
metallurgist at Thermetco for 11 years and loves the job. October
10/05
Vac Aero/Hightemp Furnaces. Within a matter of weeks an
agreement will be finalized between Vac Aero (new vacuum furnaces,
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Oakville, Ontario, Canada) and Hightemp Furnaces (new atmosphere
furnaces, Bangalore, India). While some signatures are still required
we have no hesitation in declaring this a done deal. The agreement will
mean Vac Aero is transferring technology information and
manufacturing experience to Hightemp Furnaces so Hightemp can
build and market new vacuum furnaces for the Indian market. As of
today a number of individuals from Hightemp have completed their
training at the Vac Aero facility in Oakville and are back in India
applying it to the new Hightemp vacuum heat treating facility. I have
no doubt but that this is a win/win situation for both companies.
At "The Monty" we are very pleased to say that we made this happen
by introducing the two companies after doing some industry
research. Should you or your company find yourself in need of a
partner, licensee or co build either overseas or domestic please let us
know and we'll see what we can do for you. One more service that we
at "The Monty" can offer.
October 7/05
Tom Farrell/Schwarzkopf Technologies LLC. Tom, VP of
Sales & Marketing of Schwarzkopf Technologies LLC (STC) has
announced his resignation from STC and will leave at the end of this
month. Schwarzkopf is best known in the heat treating industry for
supplying hot zones for vacuum furnaces. The note below fleshes
these
details
out
a
bit.
October
7/05
"Tom joined STC in 1997 as Marketing Manager, Fabricated Products.
With his extensive 22 year background in the furnace industry and
related fields, twelve published articles, his employment with Abar
Ipsen (Furnaces) and Wilson Instruments (Hardness Testers) he
enabled the growth of Schwarzkopf’s furnace segment by over a 5x
factor within four years time of his initial hiring. In 2002, he was
promoted to his present position as Vice President, Sales & Marketing.
His departure comes at a time where record sales and bookings give
STC a very bright business outlook. Tom will be leaving the Industry to
become President and COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Indiana
Limestone Company (ILC), the largest company of its kind in the US
with over 200 employees. ILC specializes in high-end limestone
building materials."
HUQ Heat Treat. It will probably not surprise many in the
commercial heat treating industry in Ontario that this small operation
very recently closed their doors for good. With 3 vacuum furnaces and
a batch IQ line this company has struggled for a number of years. I
still have found memories of HUQ as they were my very first customer
for a new vacuum when I was with VFS many moons ago. At this point
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all the equipment has been sold and the building taken over. October
6/05
Pittsburgh Materials Technology, Inc. A number of people
had the opportunity to tour this very interesting operation last week.
Probably the best way to describe this company is as
follows;
"PMTI is a small firm focused on the development of high temperature
materials. Because of their focus, they have a number of furnaces
that achieve high temperatures (>2,000 degrees F) and very low
vacuums (as low as E-10 torr)".
That's the brief description. What I got out of it is that companies
come to them to test high temperature materials and to some extent
test products. Owned by an individual by the name of Joe Giglio it's a
fascinating operation working in a very select market. If you ever get
the chance I'm sure Joe would love to show you what he's doing. In
the photo below we have from the left Bob Grammer, Grammer
Vacuum Technologies, Joe Giglio, his wife Joanne, Dale Montgomery
and Gord Montgomery. October 6/05
Gear Expo. October 16 – 19/05 are the dates set for this large
exposition held in Detroit, Michigan. While not strictly speaking a "heat
treat show" it is very well attended by the auto industry guys, which
means of course that they all have an interest in heat treating. When
you look at some of the heat treat companies that will be there you
can see that they take this seriously. A few notables are, Applied
Process (commercial heat treating), ALD-Holcroft (new furnaces),
Bodycote, (commercial heat treating), ECM (vacuum carburizing
furnaces), Ipsen (new furnaces), Specialty Steel Treating, (commercial
heat treating), Surface Combustion, (new furnaces), Woodworth,
(commercial heat treating) and Pyromaitre, (new technology
tempering furnaces). A very respectable list of some of the major
players in the heat treating industry. October 6/05
ASM Show, Pittsburgh, PA. Every single publication in the Heat
Treating Industry has to talk about and "dissect" the recent show in
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Pittsburgh and we at "The Monty" are no exception. In the North
American heat treating market, the largest in the world, these large
scale events are held once a year (ASM is every two years as is
Furnaces North America and they alternate years) which means a
limited number of opportunities for vendors and buyers to get
together. Certainly it's been argued that these events are an
anachronism, however, our personal feeling is that they offer
tremendous opportunities. Where else can you meet your competitors
(both the good and the evil ones), actually touch the latest technology,
talk to prospective new employees or employers and see 50 or 100 of
your customers at one time?
A great deal of debate has gone into whether this show was well
attended or not. We have not seen the actual attendance figures,
however, gut feel tells us that while it might not have been the best
attended ever in history it certainly was better than the last few "lean"
years. We've heard a number of complaints about this that or the
other thing (pricing, line ups and so on) but in our opinion the
organizers did a wonderful job. So look forward to seeing you at the
Furnaces North American Show, Reno, Nevada, Sept. 2006! October
5/05
Jammy Jang, GM, Powermax, Gord
Montgomery, Andy Chen Powermax.
Bruce Favors, Roger Jones,
Solar Atmospheres, Johnny
Hatchett, CCHT, Kyle Favors
SSI Sales Meeting
Roger Jones, Solar Atmospheres, Paul
Armitage, Service HT, Dale
Montgomery, "The Monty", Bob Hill
Solar Atmospheres.
Brigadier General TJ Wright,
Wirco, Dale Montgomery
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CHS-ASIA’S Equipment Division “Announcement”. CHS,
Asia is our buddy Randy Simmons. His company in Thailand would
appear to be doing well these days and the comments below are
further proof of that. Have to add that I have no idea who the end
customer in this case is. October 5/05
"CHS-Asia’s Equipment Division has received a new Furnace and
Quench tank facility order from a Military Installation located in
Singapore.
The furnace, A Pit type Furnace, dedicated to the heat treatment of
special forgings with a maximum gross weight of 3.5 tons. The load,
suspended on a special fixture, is charged to the furnace chamber,
with working dimensions of 1100mm Diameter x 3500mm Deep.
The furnace design with a maximum temperature of 1200 deg C and
fully programmable controls, enables a range of industrial heat
treatment applications to be achieved with optimization of both the
temperature uniformity and control in the heating and cooling
sequences. It is also complimented with a 25,000 Ltr Polymer quench
tank facility also with full control of Quenchant temperature and
agitation.
The facility is designed and manufactured by CHS-ASIA’s Equipment
Division at it’s new facilities in Singapore and is due to be
commissioned late November."
MP Steel, Kendallville, IN. It's a couple of months ago that this
commercial heat treater had a devastating fire. It would appear from
the note below from Don Burland, VP of Sales for MP that they have
been moving very quickly to get back into operation. October 4/05
"Just wanted to drop you a line regarding MP Steel. As you reported on
your website, MP Steel Indiana did experience a rather destructive fire
at one of our plants in Kendallville IN in July of this year. The majority
of the plant and equipment were wiped out in the fire. The fire did not
affect any of the heat treating activities at our plant two facility that
anneals/normalizes
castings
and
forgings.
I am pleased to inform you that we have begun the removal and
demolition process of the damaged equipment and building. We have
contracted services to construct a new building and as of last week
have signed an agreement with Surface Combustion to purchase three
new Super Allcase IQ equipment lines (including tempering furnaces,
endo generators, and washing units). The IQ furnaces feature top cool
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and variable speed quench capabilities. The next few weeks should be
quite active as construction of the building and installation of the
equipment begin. We fully anticipate being operational by January 1,
2006."
In Control. At it's peak this company was a reasonably good sized
systems integrator designing and installing control systems in the heat
treating industry. Located in Pelham, Alabama they at one time had
probably 20 employees. Unfortunately the economy has not treated
them well and just a few weeks ago they were forced to close their
doors. Always disappointing to see a good company close
down.
October 4/05
St. Mary's PA, Powdered Metal Industry. The report below
comes from the heart of the powdered metal industry in North
America, St. Mary's PA. We will add that while the individual who sent
us these comments would prefer that his name was not used we have
a very high opinion of his knowledge of the industry in this area.
October 3/05
"As for the hydrogen shortage situation (caused by Hurricane Katrina)
several of the local users of Hydrogen who use Air Products as their
hydrogen supplier, have been in panic mode. However it seems that
Air Products has been able to keep them supplied thus far although
there are no guarantees if shipments will continue. Users have made
some process changes to reduce hydrogen consumption in sintering.
Several companies in the area went looking for Endo generators and at
least one, Metco Industries found a used Rx generator and got it online rather quickly. It would not appear that any companies in the area
are bringing in new or used D/A units. It seems that many local PM
plants use Air Liquide as their supplier for both nitrogen and
hydrogen. There is a local Air Liquide separating facility which supplies
to many PM houses via a direct pipeline. There are also several others
in the area using BOC and a few who use Praxair. So, while there was
an early panic regarding hydrogen, there seems to have been only a
minor effect on the local PM industry as a whole thus far.
The question on the mind of many in the area is how the powder
suppliers are holding up. One of the larger suppliers of powder, QMP
has announced reduced iron powder production in the immediate
future. While none of the users appear to have been unable to get
powder shipped they are all very concerned as you would expect.
Foremost on the mind of everybody in the area (both captive and
commercial) is the price of natural gas. All of us are bracing for the
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impact that this will have on our next couple of quarters. Despite a
tremendous
effort
on
our
part
to
reduce
all
other expenses, I don't believe it will be possible to continue operating
without a price increase, something which our customers certainly do
not want to hear."
ASM Show, Pittsburgh, PA. A few more interesting photos of
the recent Heat Treating Show. October 3/05
Milenka
Dentcheva-Kamenova,
Thermetco, Gord
Montgomery.
Bob Grammer,
Herm Deary, VFS.
Myrt Jones, Solar
Manufacturing.
David Lorenz, Susan Lorenz,
Andrew Kowalski, Kowalski Heat Treating
Co., Cleveland, Ohio, Gord Montgomery.
Reps. Ed Boll, Pete Callert, Kyle Favors.
Thomas Wingens. Not recent news, but we hadn't realized that
Thomas is now with Bodycote International. Thomas previously was
Manger of the Vacuum Products Divisions at Ipsen International in
Rockford (new furnaces). He left the company, moved back to
Germany and from there we lost touch with him. Apparently he is
Business Development Director for Bodycote in Germany (for the past
6 months) working for Jan Elwart, Managing Director, Central Europe,
Bodycote. I believe we've posted photos of Jan on the site before, very
interesting guy with a good sense of humor.
October 3/05
ASM Show. The recent show in Pittsburgh, PA Sept. 26th to the
28th was without a doubt the largest get together of heat treaters in
North America in 2005. I always find it fascinating the amount of work
that goes into these get togethers, both on the part of the organizers
and the exhibitors. I have no idea what the actual attendance was and
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don't really care however the general consensus was that it was well
worthwhile for all involved. Over the course of the next few days we
will in addition to our regular news items be including photos from the
floor itself, sales meetings and the Rolled Alloy Party which was, as
always the main social event of the show. September 30/05
Doug Rutter,
Gleason Works, Rochester NY
& Josh Harvey, CF Thermal
Dale Montgomery,
The Monty & Matt Beingessner
B & W Saginaw, MI
Rob Proctor, Rolls
Royce Indianapolis & Jim
Oakes, SSI
Kyle Favors, CF
Thermal & Randy Simmons,
CHS-ASIA
Jim Demarest,
Pyromaitre & Mario Grenier,
Pyromaitre
Tony Elliott &
Andy Melville, FCC
Business Opportunities Page Costs. Just wanted to clarify
costs associated with our Business Opportunity page. If you are
looking for a job, then we will post an ad for you for FREE. If you are a
company looking to hire, there is a nominal cost. Please click here for
full details.
Disclaimer. This section is provided with the intention of sharing
information, rumors and news about the heat treat industry. We try to
insure that all of the information contained herein is correct but we
cannot guarantee it. If you feel that any of this information contained
in this section is incorrect please let us know and it will be changed or
removed immediately (a more detailed description of our publishing
policy is found on the "News Policy" page of this website).
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Used Equipment
Most items for sale have a price listed in either Canadian or US Funds.
For our American readers I would like to point out that the Canadian
dollar is worth approximately $.82 US which means when converting
to US Funds about 22% less. I will list for free any items my readers
would like - with the exception of used junk, which I would consider
vastly overpriced. Please price items realistically!
When listing equipment please E-mail victoria@themonty.com or
fax Victoria all pertinent information including asking price (which I
strongly recommend), age, condition and if possible photos. Before
listing we will require a signed copy of the "Terms and Conditions".
For sellers please keep in mind that this is NOT an exclusive sales
agreement - if we don't sell it we don't get paid - PERIOD.
Please visit us at www.themonty.com for the latest in used equipment.
“Notice: We have attempted to describe all equipment accurately from
the information we have available. Any mistakes are unintentional.
We do not guarantee the accuracy of the information, nor can we
guarantee the performance of the equipment or suitability to your
application. The equipment is sold as-is, where-is. We strongly
encourage your personal inspection of the equipment before
purchase.”
Business Opportunities
Please visit us at www.themonty.com for the latest is Business
Opportunities.
Buying or Selling of Heat Treat Shops
Shops for Sale
Commercial Heat Treat for Sale. Located in the US Midwest this
healthy, profitable company currently has sales between $3 and $4
million US. This shop specializes in Batch carburizing work. The owner
has decided he would like to pursue other interests although he and
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current management would be interested in staying on for a certain
period of time to help out the new owners. Please let us know at "The
Monty" by using our Feedback Form if you would like more details
about this operation. You will be required to sign a confidentiality
agreement.
Commercial Heat Treat Shop for Sale. This is a long established
commercial operation located in the US Great Lakes Region. Sales are
between $2 and $4 million US/year and it has always been profitable.
It runs a variety of processes including but not limited to Vacuum and
batch IQ work. Currently they have virtually all required quality
certifications. If this is of interest to you please let us know at "The
Monty" and following a signed non disclosure agreement we can give
you all the details. If interested, please use our Feedback Form
Looking to acquire Small Commercial Heat Treat. We are looking
to acquire a small commercial heat treat with sales of approx. 3 to 3
1/2 million per year. The company would need to be located in a big
market for heat treat where some added capital would grow the
business. We would require a diverse customer base and no single
customer accounting for more than 10-15% of the business. The
company would also need to be profitable with some existing depth.
If interested, please use our Feedback Form
One of the services that we offer at "The Monty" is putting buyers and
sellers of heat treat operations together. Since we started "The Monty"
we have been approached a number of times from both buyers and
sellers of heat treat shops about selling or buying. I am pleased to say
that we have been successful in a few instances. If you are interested
in selling your shop or are interested in buying a new operation. please
contact us and we'll be more than happy to help you out. Several
commonly asked questions are below;
1) Is my inquiry confidential? 100% guaranteed! In all cases both
potential buyer and seller will be required to sign a non-disclosure
agreement before the 2 parties are put in touch.
2) Is there a fee involved? We charge a modest finders fee for our
services. In some cases this is paid by the buyer, in other cases by the
vendor.
3) Will negotiations be conducted through WG Montgomery Ltd? No.
we put buyers and sellers together but we are not involved in the
negotiations.
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4) What happens if I have already been negotiating with a potential
buyer? Do I have to pay WG Montgomery Ltd. a finders fee? No. If you
have already been speaking with a potential buyer no finders fee
would be applicable, as we did not bring the buyer to the table.
5) How would WG Montgomery Ltd. go about finding a buyer for our
operation? We would first approach a number of potential buyers that
we have worked with in the past. In conjunction with this we would
also put a description of your shop on the site with an overview of your
capabilities but not enough details to identify the shop.
6) As a potential buyer what if I don't see what I'm looking for on your
site? Please let us know what you are looking for and we'll see what
we can do. I would like to stress that we are aware of a few shops for
sale which are not mentioned on our site.
7) For more details about our commission structure please let us know
at gord@themonty.com
In Parting,
We always enjoy comments, feedback and constructive criticism.
Thanks for your feedback and don’t hesitate to let us know your
thoughts. Don’t forget to visit us daily at www.themonty.com
Gord Montgomery,
W.G. Montgomery Limited
Phone: 905 822-4004 Fax: 905 403-0812
Email: gord@themonty.com
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