The Monty, December Issue 2005

Not quite sure who the end customer for this new vacuum furnace is but we will certainly let you know in the days to come. Not many companies in Quebec that do vacuum heat treating. VAC AERO Manufacturing Poland has delivered its first vacuum furnace for the North American market. The furnace has a two bar internal quench system and all metal hot zone for high vacuum processing applications and is destined for a customer in Quebec. Electrical and control systems for the furnace will be integrated at VAC AERO International's Canadian furnace manufacturing facilities. The furnace will also be installed and commissioned by VAC AERO's Canadian technicians. November 21/05

INDUSTRIAL HEATING MAGAZINE, October 28, 2005

Vac Aero Manufacturing Polska (Swiebodzin, Poland; http://www.vacaero.com) was awarded a contract valued at more than 2.4 million Euro to supply four furnaces to a major forgings producer in Russia. The furnaces are based on designs already in service at Vac Aero’s Oakville, Canada, heat-treating facility. The contract also includes tooling, installation services, training and technology transfer.

The Monty, November 2005 Issue

A further indication that the new furnace manufacturing business is picking up. We've learned that VAC AERO 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

The Monty, October 7, 2005

Within a matter of weeks an agreement will be finalized between Vac Aero (new vacuum furnaces, 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.

The Monty, July 2005 Issue

Vac Aero inaugurated it’s new India site of the soon to be brand new vacuum heat treating facility being built by Hightemp. Interestingly enough while there is quite a bit of heat treating in India; vacuum has not been a large part of the market. With the influx of Western companies doing aerospace work it would appear that this might be changing. Obviously Vac Aero and Hightemp think so. June 6/05

The Monty, April 2005 Issue

As you're probably aware from time to time we sum up commercial and captive heat treating in different geographic regions around the world, for today we're talking about Ontario, Canada a reasonably good size heat treating area. First and foremost Ontario is the automotive capital of North America (at least in terms of vehicles assembled). So what this means is while Ontario has a wide range of requirements for heat treating, automotive is far and away the largest.

On the commercial side we have the two big boys on the block, Bodycote International with 2 plants and Gibraltar with 1 facility, B & W Heat Treating. Don't think for a second though that these two have the lion's share of the market. Other notables are H & S Heat Treating (large volume continuous work, batch), Metex Heat Treating (large volume fastener work), Vac Aero (vacuum heat treating, largely aerospace), A & M Heat Treating (a full service shop which includes vacuum, continuous, batch, Ion and Gas Nitriding), Cambridge HT (Batch and vacuum mainly), Allied HT (mainly vacuum) and at least a dozen others. And how are the commercials doing? Good. At least a few are adding capacity and most seem to have pretty fancy new vehicles out front which is always a fairly good indication about how things are going. One interesting note is that commercials in Ontario generally specialize in a certain process, B & W in aluminum, Metex, continuous mesh belt, Vac Aero aerospace vacuum are three examples that come to mind.

On the captive side in spite of the large amount of automotive work none of the auto makers do much in the way of heat treating except for GM and even their facility in St. Catherines, Ontario is just a shadow of it's former self. Beyond that Ontario has fastener guys (at least two large ones), bearing manufacturers (several), powdered metal facilities (at least 4), automotive transmission components plants (of which Linamar Machine does the most heat treating), auto components plants (Arvin Meritor and TRW both come to mind) and the other usual mish mash of companies doing some heat treating in house.

All in all Ontario pretty much covers the bases and while I don't know the exact figures Ontario certainly ranks amongst the top few States/Provinces in North America in terms of the amount of heat treating. The big question these days is will the rising Canadian dollar put the brakes on manufacturing and consequently heat treating in Ontario? My feeling is that it will slow it down but that's about it and seeing the capacity being added is a good indication that I’m not alone in my thinking. March 28/05

INDUSTRIAL HEATING MAGAZINE, February 17/05

VAC AERO Manufacturing Polska Sp. z o. o. occupies a 20,000 square foot facility in Swiebodzin, Poland near the German border. The new company will design and manufacture a wide variety of vacuum and atmosphere heat treating equipment and will provide sales and service to the heat treating industry in Europe. VAC AERO also recently added a vacuum heat treating capability to its facility in Kalisz, Poland. In addition to heat treating, VAC AERO Kalisz Sp. z o. o. offers thermal spray and inorganic coatings and laboratory services."