Heat Treat Today offers News Chatter, a feature highlighting representative moves, transactions, and kudos from around the industry. Enjoy these 48 news bites to stay up to date on all things heat treat.
Equipment Chatter
- UPC-Marathon’s gas generator was recently installed for Jomarca, one of the biggest manufacturers of fasteners, bolts, nuts, and fixing elements in Brazil.
- KÜNNE Group orders the world’s first wire annealing furnace, from WS Wärmeprozesstechnik GmbH, with an innovative heating concept of burners which can use both natural gas and hydrogen.
- L&L Special Furnace Co., Inc.’s retort furnace with an Inconel 602CA alloy retort has been shipped from Pennsylvania to a leading manufacturer of motor laminations, located in the U.S. Midwest
- Nel Hydrogen Electrolyser AS, a subsidiary of Nel ASA, has signed a contract for 40 MW of alkaline electrolyser equipment for about € 11 million with Bondalti for its first phase of the H2 Enable project in Estarreja, Portugal.
- Heat Treatments, a commercial heat treater in New Zealand has recently expanded its operations by adding another Nitrex nitrocarburizing system.
- SECO/WARWICK will supply a Vector® vacuum furnace to a South American international manufacturer of weapons and military equipment.
- Stahl Gerlafingen ordered from Danieli a K-Weld machine as well as a 2-MW Automation Q-Heat-system.
- Rungta Mines Limited selected two Danieli high-speed bar and wire rod mills that will apply in-line heat treatment to the bars.
- A service hardening plant in Spain has purchased a Vector® vacuum furnace from SECO/WARWICK.
Company and Personnel Chatter
- Retech, a SECO/WARWICK Group division, will expand into a Buffalo, NY, building that will house fabrication, welding, small assemblies, and other manufacturing machinery.
- Thomas Hansmann succeeds Hans Ferkel as CTO and member of the Managing Board at SMS group GmbH.
- SECO/WARWICK USA, a SECO/WARWICK Group division, has outgrown its century-old current Meadville office and is moving into the recently rehabilitated Crawford Business Park, just about two miles away.
- The Nadcap program — which provides critical process accreditations of suppliers in the aviation, defense, and space industries — is developing a new task group for additive manufacturing (AM).
- Rockford Combustion, a company in the fuel-train management and combustion safety industry, launched a newly revamped website providing educational, engineering, and e-commerce resources to enterprises that rely on fuel-fired burners for their thermal processes.
- Solar Atmospheres of California announces Airbus approval for heat treating.
- Drew Daugherty takes on a new role as manager of National Sales at Paulo.
- NUTEC Fibers Division has a new president — Gerardo Muraira. He was promoted from his previous role as general manager at NUTEC, Inc.
- Marc DeBruyne recently joined SECO/VACUUM as manager of Process Development for the new R&D heat treat shop going in next door to the furnace assembly shop.
- SMS group GmbH and Tata Steel have signed a memorandum of understanding to make arrangements for conducting a joint industrial demonstration of SMS’s innovative EASyMelt (Electric-Assisted Syngas smelter) technology.
- The SECO/WARWICK Group is the winner of the Social Responsibility Program Leaders and the Emblem in the category of ECO Company (Polish: EKO Firma) 2023.
- SMS group GmbH is implementing a strategic generational change: Jochen Burg is taking over as chair of the Managing Board on October 1, 2023; and Fabíola Fernandez becomes the new CFO of SMS group as of January 1, 2024.
- The team at Wakefield Thermal is pleased to announce a new partnership with Johnson Company, a manufacturer’s representative.
- Benjamin Golding takes on the responsibility as Chairman of the Board of ENRX Group.
- Steven Sumner has joined Nitrex Heat Treat Services as director of Sales.
- Alexy Metals announces the acquisition of Tampa-based AMP Rings, Inc., a manufacturer of industrial rings, brazing preforms, and precision engineering components.
- Steelhead Technologies announces the grand opening of their brand new office at 2140 Grand River Annex in Brighton, MI.
- Chad Schondelmayer is the new vice president of Operations with RoMan Manufacturing, Bobbi Warren is the new chief financial officer, Shea Hickman is the new chief people officer, and Kurt Hofman is president and chief technology officer.
Kudos Chatter
- On March 22–24, 2023, the second China Heat Treatment Congress (CHTC) and first HIP Users Conference was held in Suzhou, China and was attended by 320+ industry professionals.
- RoMan Manufacturing’s new production building will also house RoMan University, a comprehensive training and development program, as well as the Department of Labor approved apprenticeship program.
- Solar Atmospheres and Vulcan Springs, along with the PMA Mid-Atlantic District, hosted a plant tour “extravaganza.”
- Congratulations to President/ CEO Mark Kaiser on his 24-year anniversary with Lindquist Machine Corporation.
- This year is a very special one, celebrating 150 years of SMS group GmbH.
- RoMan Manufacturing has been awarded the Employer of Choice award in Western Michigan.
- Bill Cowell will be retiring after being with Advanced Heat Treat Corp. since 1999, most recently as the vice president of Plasma/Ion Nitriding.
- Recently in Fives North American Combustion, Inc.’s Cleveland laboratory, they ran over 12 continuous hours with a newly commissioned hydrogen fuel infrastructure.
- The CanCham Mexico Business Community recognizes and congratulates NITREX for its first 10 years full of growth and many achievements.
- Phoenix Heat Treating receives Pratt & Whitney New Customer Approval CPW 21-24
- Nitrex has been awarded the TOP 10 SPACE SOLUTIONS PROVIDER IN APAC 2023 by the Aerospace Defense Review for expertise in aerospace surface treatment solutions.
- Solar Atmospheres hosted over 40 high school students enrolled in the Summer Engineering Institute at Lehigh University.
- Metallurgical engineering professor Zhigang Zak Fang is a recent recipient of the prestigious Humboldt Research Award for developing a breakthrough technology that can produce high-quality, low-carbon emitting titanium powder at a significantly reduced cost.
- The Metal Powder Industries Federation’s (MPIF) Awards Committee presented Mark Saline, president of Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems, with the 2023 MPIF Distinguished Service to Powder Metallurgy (PM) Award. This recognition is for individuals who have actively served the North American PM industry for at least 25 years and are deserving of special recognition.
- HT-MX Heat Treat & HIPing completed its periodic Nadcap audit, obtaining Merit status for the second year in a row.
- Gasbarre sponsors Camp GLEEM and hosts a tour for students attending GLEEM (Girls Learning Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Manufacturing) Summer Manufacturing Camp.
- Jim Norton steps up as the new manager of Operations for Gefran’s North Andover, MA, plant. With 2+ decades of industrial manufacturing experience, Jim has been helping the company since April 2023 by his approach to lean manufacturing and cycle time reduction.
- Aalberts surface technologies shares news of the 40th anniversary for their team in Weiterstad.
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.
