The Michigan expansion of a furnace manufacturer and heat treating company has advanced with the erection of the entire steel structure in one week. The new 20,000-sq-ft building for Solar Atmospheres of Michigan Inc. will not only house additional vacuum and air furnaces but will also serve as a new shipping and receiving space.
Solar Atmospheres, headquartered in Souderton, PA, relocated equipment to its Michigan facility in April, 2024, where the ten vacuum furnaces are fully operational. The expansion project, which began in July, 2024, will more than double the company’s current footprint in Chesterfield, MI, and is on track for completion by the end of 2024.
The press release is available in its original form here.
Follow the development of this story in the previous Heat TreatToday posts found here, here, and here.
The SECO/WARWICK Group, the parent company of SECO/VACUUM Technologiesand SECO/WARWICK USA, has announced plans to bolster its production capacity in the U.S., increasing its footprint and workforce. The expansion will include relocating a portion of its manufacturing and a metallurgical lab for vacuum furnaces from its headquarters site in Poland to Crawford County, Pennsylvania.
The 120,000-sq ft facility located in Meadville, PA, will house equipment for furnace production and serve the company’s North American customers through the addition of parts, service, and training capacity, resulting in an increase in its heat treat manufacturing workforce. an international furnace manufacturer
SECO/WARWICK Group announced that this expansion received support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through a $2 million package of matching fund grants from the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) through its Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program (RACP). The primary use and intent of RACP funds is for reimbursement of eligible construction costs which SECO/WARWICK Group companies will match on a 1:1 basis. The Commonwealth will also provide an additional $69 thousand in matching funds for job training through the Workforce & Economic Development Network (WEDnet).
Employees of SECO/VACUUM Technologies and SECO/WARWICK at the announcement of the Meadville, PA, site expansion, held jointly by The SECO/WARWICK Group and the Commonwealth of PA Department of Community and Economic Development Source: Heat Treat Today
State, county and local officials as well as representatives from the international and US-based offices of the SECO/WARWICK Group were present at an event marking the expansion.
“Governor Shapiro is committed to making Pennsylvania an economic leader by investing in the growth of businesses like SECO/VACUUM and SECO/WARWICK,” stated the Commonwealth in the grant award letter. “In addition to the financing package outlined above, the Governor’s Action Team is prepared to provide both companies with any assistance that may be required throughout the application process, as well as to coordinate the involvement of all other state agencies in the project.”
“We look forward to working with our local partners including the City of Meadville, the Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County (EPACC), the Workforce and Economic Development Network (WEDnet), and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) to make this expansion happen!” said Piotr Zawistowski, president and managing director of SECO/VACUUM.
Pictured in feature image (L to R): Don Marteeny, vice president of engineering; Slawomir Wozniak, president and CEO, SECO/WARWICK Group; Piotr Zawistowski, president and managing director of SECO VACUUM Technologies
The press release is available in its original form here.
A company developing advanced alternative renewable energy technologies large-scale industrial applications is expanding their heat treat capabilities with two identical vacuum furnaces.
The Research and Development team of Solar Manufacturing, Solar Atmospheres, assisted the client’s engineers to verify the process in the Mentor® Pro vacuum furnace prior to sending this furnace. Solar Manufacturing shipped the identical vacuum furnaces and assisted the company’s engineers to verify the molybdenum shielded hot zone operation of the new equipment at the developer’s facility. The furnace’s internal gas quenching system processes workloads to quench at 2 bar positive pressure in either nitrogen or argon gas, a flexibility that assists the company in achieving results across a wide range of metallurgical applications.
The client also finds benefit from the compact design of the Mentor® Pro features a molybdenum shielded hot zone measuring 18” wide x 18” high x 36” deep, capable of temperatures up to 2500°F, and a workload weight capacity of up to 1,000 lbs.
The press release is available in its original form here.
A U.S.-based automotive manufacturer is expanding its production capacity for brazing stainless heat exchangers with the order of a single-chamber vacuum furnace. The equipment will be integrated into an existing line’s thermal process operations, which is located at their Mexico facility.
Peter Zawistowski Managing Director SECO/VACUUM TECHNOLOGIES, USA Source: SECO/WARWICK
The heat treater ordered the furnace from SECO/VACUUM specifically for immediate delivery, allowing brazing of automotive components to begin without delay.
“We built this furnace to be ready to be shipped and put into operation very quickly, which is just the solution they were looking for,” said Piotr Zawistowski, managing director of SECO/VACUUM.
The press release is available in its original form here.
Robert (Bob) Hill, FASM President Solar Atmospheres of Michigan Source: Solar Atmospheres
After successfully relocating and commissioning ten vacuum furnaces into their current facility, Solar Atmospheresof Michigan Inc. is poised for further expansion. Bulldozers have commenced work on a new 20,000-square-foot building, which will more than double the current footprint at their Chesterfield, Michigan, location.
Bob Hill, president of Solar Atmospheres of Michigan, commented, “This expansion will create a larger shipping and receiving area to better serve our customers’ needs and position us for future growth. Come watch us grow!”
Source: Solar Atmospheres
This press release is available in its original form here.
A global manufacturer of aircraft parts has ordered a single-chamber vacuum furnace for brazing jet engine parts. The new equipment will replace a 30-year-old unit previously operating in its Poland-based plant.
Jędrzej Malinowski Sales Manager SECO/WARWICK Group Source: LinkedIn
The new Vector® vacuum furnace is being supplied by SECO/WARWICK, which also manufactured the retiring equipment. The upgrade is based on a standard Vector vacuum furnace with a working space of 900 x 900 x 1200 mm, with screen insulation and metal heating elements. The solution has been adapted to industry specific needs and can heat treat jet engine components, such as complex gears or main shafts.
“This unit is distinguished by the ability to carry out efficient and clean high vacuum processes thanks to the use of a molybdenum heating chamber and a very efficient pumping system. This ensures very high purity and the dynamics required for brazing processes. Another big advantage is the very good temperature uniformity in the molybdenum heating chamber and compliance with the strict requirements of industry standards such as AMS2750,” said Jędrzej Malinowski, sales manager, SECO/WARWICK Group.
The press release is available in its original form here.
Nine heat treat furnaces are set to modernize the operations of a manufacturer’s heat treat facilities. This move is intended to create cleaner, safer, more cost-effective operations while also allowing for finer process control and a reduced carbon footprint.
The nine furnaces are being fabricated by SECO/VACUUM, a division of SECO/WARWICK Group: three Vector® vacuum furnaces and six tempering furnaces with supporting auxiliary systems. This returning heat treat client currently operates twelve SECO/VACUUM furnaces at their various locations throughout North America. They will incorporate the new furnaces as a continuation of their strategic planning to modernize all facilities from atmospheric heat treatment to vacuum processes.
Piotr Zawistowski Managing Director SECO/VACUUM TECHNOLOGIES, USA Source: SECO/WARWICK
Each of the nine units are front-loading, horizontally configured furnaces with a 36″ x 36″ x 48″ working volume and a 3300 lb. capacity. The Vector® is a single-chamber gas quenching vacuum furnace using high pressure quench (2 to 25 bar) which can be applied to a variety of heat treating processes and applications. These particular Vectors will be used primarily for hardening. Tempering is a process primarily used to increase the toughness of hardened ferrous-alloy parts. The tempering process is typically applied after a hardening process.
Heat treating operations will have to shut down entirely during the modernization changeover. To minimize disruption, SECO/VACUUM will also serve as the general contractor, overseeing the installation of the new furnaces, auxiliary systems, wiring, piping, and ventilation needed prior to commissioning and operator training.
“It is a testament to our commitment to our partner’s success that they not only continue to return for more furnaces, but that they place their trust us in to manage the entire project in order to get them back to serving their customers,” said Piotr Zawistowski, managing director at SECO/VACUUM.
The press release is available in its original form here.
François Studer SA, a Swiss commercial heat treater with 45 years of experience, will advance their hardening capabilities with the order of two furnaces: a vacuum furnace with 15 bar abs high-pressure gas hardening and a furnace for tempering with vacuum purging.
The new solutions from SECO/WARWICK will help increase processing capacity while maintaining the processed element’s high precision and quality. This is important to the heat treater, a hardening plant that processes two truckloads of charges every day.
“We are constantly developing,” commented Francois Studer, CEO of Francois Studer S.A. “We needed to add the capacity to utilize vacuum carburizing, pre-nitriding for carburizing technology and low-pressure carbonitriding, and the new Vector fits these needs perfectly. The retort furnace, on the other hand, significantly increases the hardening plant’s processing capacity in terms of time-consuming tempering and nitriding processes using ZeroFlow technology.”
The vacuum furnace on order by the hardening plant enables efficient processes to be carried out at a vacuum level in both medium and high ranges. The round heating chamber allows for oversized loads. Combined with dedicated LPC, HPGQ technology and a high vacuum system, the furnace will meet the heat treater’s requirements for hardening and carburizing a wide range of various parts.
Maciej Korecki Vice President of Business of the Vacuum Furnace Segment SECO/WARWICK
The partial pressure system used helps to prevent evaporation and sublimation of alloying elements from the load surface during the vacuum heat treatment or vacuum brazing process. Partial pressure control is important when processing many materials to prevent the heating chamber evaporation and contamination. Isothermal quenching provides control of the cooling process by automatically managing the load temperature and the gas blower motor control using a frequency converter. The carburizing and low pressure carbonitriding (LPCN) options, which the furnace for François Studer SA is equipped with, enables precision processing to increase the steel surface hardness during the entire thermal process.
“The Vector furnace will streamline and increase the hardening process capacity and improve process efficiency. The advantage of this product is a large working space which can be adjusted to an oversized load, using the round heating chamber’s advantages. This is the so-called golden mean for many commercial heat treaters, also because it can be equipped with numerous additional options. With limited production areas, multifunctional, failure-free furnaces are worth their weight in gold for commercial heat treatment,” added Maciej Korecki, VP of the Vacuum Furnaces Team at SECO/WARWICK.
The second furnace on order is a horizontal retort furnace for gas nitriding using ZeroFlow technology and for high tempering with vacuum purging.
The press release is available in its original form here.
A nitriding service provider in Brazil will increase their production line with a single-chamber vacuum furnace from a manufacturer with North American locations.
Peter Lutz, president of Nitrion do Brasil says, “We were looking for a solution that would help not only increase our metal processing capabilities, but also efficiency and effectiveness.”
The SECO/WARWICK Vector vacuum furnace will operate in a new production hall and will handle Nitrion do Brasil’s increasing order volume. This order is a result of cooperation between SECO/WARWICK and their strategic partner in Brazil, Combustol.
Maciej Korecki Vice President of Business of the Vacuum Furnace Segment SECO/WARWICK
“Combustol supports SECO/WARWICK not only in sales but also in service activities and the supply of spare parts. Such a partner in such a remote location is a huge advantage,” commented Maciej Korecki, VP of the Vacuum Furnaces Segment in the SECO/WARWICK Group. He added, “[Nitrion do Brasil] bought a furnace that we could deliver quickly.”
The furnace on order will solve the commercial heat treater’s problem of hardening larger elements, because the furnace is equipped with a large working space. This will affect the process economics (energy savings and the graphite chamber’s increased efficiency) as well as the process cleanliness and speed. The furnace is equipped with convection heating – a system that improves the heat transfer efficiency when heating at lower temperatures, as well as directional cooling, which allows the system to efficiently cool parts with problematic shapes in various ways.
Solar Atmospheres, Inc. announced their most recent acquisition, Certified Metal Craft (CMC) located in El Cajon (an East County suburb of San Diego). With nearly 55 years of serving the Southern California region, CMC and the Wiederkehr Family have established themselves as a source for heat treating and brazing services. With the addition of CMC to the Solar Family of Companies, CMC establishes Solar’s 6th nationwide location and bolsters their West Coast presence.
Derek Dennis President Solar Atmospheres California
CMC has extensive capabilities to include vacuum, aluminum, atmospheric, endothermic, salt bath and cryogenic processing and currently employs 25 dedicated employees. Servicing the aerospace, medical, and commercial markets, CMC is Nadcap-accredited and holds a long list of customer and prime approvals. Tim Wiederkehr will immediately assume the role of V.P. of Operations and report to Derek Dennis, president of Solar Atmospheres of California, Inc.
Derek Dennis states “Solar is excited to welcome the dedicated CMC team into the growing nation of Solar companies.” He adds, “Together, we will continue to grow our west coast footprint while solidifying our industry leading approach of being the ‘go-to’ choice for all heat treating & brazing needs with an unwavering commitment to honesty and integrity in all relationships.”
This press release is available in its original form here.
