Over the course of Sergio Luevano’s 19-year career in the heat treating industry, Sergio has leveled up from cad/drafter to mechanical engineer to engineering manager to regional technical director to product manager. Most of Sergio’s work has been in the aerospace, automotive, and military industries, with additional experience in aluminum and titanium composites.

In his role of day-to-day vacuum furnace builds and aftermarket fulfillment, Sergio has demonstrated his knowledge of project management and uses his extensive background in heat treat furnaces to deliver to clients’ vacuum furnaces built in the U.S.

Sergio is also responsible for understanding, growing, and updating the G-M Enterprises vacuum line to Nitrex’s standards and leading Nitrex in the world of vacuum furnaces. Sergio helps Nitrex to offer dozens of aftermarket hot zones annually and to grow tremendously in the manufacture and delivery of vacuum furnaces for aerospace and general heat treatment markets worldwide.

Sergio’s nomination is whole-heartedly supported by executives at Nitrex. In his various roles, Sergio created an augmented reality platform for ovens and furnaces, which Nitrex was able to offer to clients to advance capabilities in their controls while greatly improving their user experience; wrote “An In-Depth Look at Polymer Quenchants” (2019), an article about converting from oil quenches to polymer quenches; worked as West Coast representative for WIRCO, Tenaxol, and INEX; and made many presentations on quenching applications on behalf of Tenaxol in the United States and Mexico.

Sergio worked on a composite tent project where he and his team were able to design a furnace that could be erected around a part in six hours and disassembled in less than two hours after a complete cycle. In Sergio’s own words, this project stretched the limits of the composite world.

Another credit to Sergio’s management abilities was in working with Baker Furnace, Inc., where he used an existing product line to repurpose designs for managing industrial waste.

Sergio believes that product management is where he belongs. With his experience in engineering, sales, management, and finances, Sergio is able to take existing product lines and take them to the next level. One of the best parts of the job: seeing a finished product and the client’s reaction.

Nominated by: Nitrex, G-M Enterprises, a Nitrex Company