January 25, 2007 - SBS is saddened to learn of the death of 12 year employee Phil Avery.  Phil was our main sheet metal man, building quality into every SBS Quench Air heat exchanger.  Phil died on January 24 after a battle with cancer.

Thank you Phil for the honor to have known you.  You will be missed.

January 23, 2007 -IPSCO Inc. announced the construction of an oil country tubular goods heat treat facility adjacent to its Blytheville, Arkansas pipe mill. The new facility will produce heat treated OCTG in 2 3/8" through 5 1/2" diameters. Commercial production is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2007. The cost of the heat treat facility is approximately $40 million.

Read more here....

January 16, 2007 - Ipsen International of Rockford, IL and Vacuum Furnace Systems of Souderton, PA are finally merging.  They have been "sister companies" for many years competing in the same market and have finally made the wise decision to merge efforts.

The new company is named Ipsen, Inc.

They had merged their manufacturer's representatives back on Oct. 1, 2006.

January 16, 2007 - Swagelok Co. has formed a subsidiary to commercialize a heat treating technology it is developing with Case Western Reserve University.

They have developed a new heat treating process for 300 series stainless steels. The new process' goal is to greatly reduce wear, fatigue and corrosion of stainless steels to increase efficiencies in a wide range of commercial components, such as bearings and pumps used in chemical and petroleum industries.  They are also marketing it for medical implants.

When applied to Stainless Steel Type 316 it provides an increase in surface hardness, improved resistance to wear, corrosion and fatigue without impairing ductility.

The uniform hardness gradient avoids any risks of delamination or peeling. The microstructure remains austenitic and non magnetic throughout the process. The treatment is performed at the relatively low temperature of 470C (878F) that does not alter dimensions or produce distortions.  Energy savings with this low heat treating temperature could be significant.

December 13, 2006 - Quanex Corporation announced today that it signed a definitive agreement with Maxco, Inc., to purchase the assets of Atmosphere Annealing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Maxco, Inc. The acquisition is subject to governmental approval and the approval of Maxco, Inc. shareholders. The purchase is expected to close on or about February 1, 2007. Terms were not disclosed.

Read the press release here.

December 6, 2006 - Falk Corp., a manufacturer of large industrial gears and couplings for the past 115 years, had an explosion killing three workers and injuring forty-six others.  Click here for the CNN story.

The local newspaper, the Journal-Sentinel has the lead stories here and some gripping photographs in a slide show here.  The lesson learned from this tragedy is the importance of recognizing a dangerous event and immediately triggering your company's evacuation drill.  Some Falk employees stated that if a full evacuation had been ordered, scores of people would have evacuated PAST the propane tank that exploded!

Falk was acquired by Rexnord in the spring of 2005.  There are about 700 employees at the Canal Street plant.  SBS expresses its condolances to the worker's families and to the company.

November 30, 2006 - Dayton Forging & Heat Treating in Dayton, OH just received a $ 100,000 grant from Montgomery County's Economic Development/Government Equity program to help fund an expansion. They are planning a $3.86 million expansion. The company plans to add 28 jobs.

November 10, 2006 - a fire broke out at Cascade Metallurgical in Kent, Washington when workers took a hot piece out of a furnace and placed it too close to a plastic screen, which ignited. Workers tried to put the fire out with extinguishers, but the fire spread into the ventilation system.

Damage is estimated at $500,000.  Thankfully, nobody was injured.

November 8, 2006 - Can-Eng Furnaces, Ltd. announced they have acquired the intellectual property of Gasmac, Inc. of Guelph, Ontario. 

Gasmac has been around since 1950 but seem to have fallen on hard times lately.  Can-Eng just bought the intellectual property so it doesn't seem Gasmac will continue as a continuing company.

Nov. 2, 2006 - AHT Corp. of Waterloo, Iowa (SBS knows them more as Advanced Heat Treating) is opening a service center in Cullman, Alabama.  The new $7 million Alabama center will employ about 20 workers. AHT also has two service centers in Waterloo, Iowa and one in Monroe, Michigan.

AHT specialized in ion nitriding.  They claim the world's largest ion nitrider, able to nitride parts 160 inches diameter by 360 inches long.

October 25, 2006 - The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) which SBS is a member, will hold its annual Combustion Seminar Nov. 6-7, 2006 at the Indy Marriott.  The IHEA Combustion Seminar is designed for persons responsible for the operation, design, selection and/or maintenance of fuel-fired industrial process furnace and ovens.  SBS will be in attendance as part of IHEA's Fall Business Meeting.  Just don't ask us how to tune a burner.

Click here for information on attending this valuble seminar.

SBS will be exhibiting in Reno, NV at the Furnaces North America industry show on Wednesday, Sept. 27 and Thursday, Sept. 28.  The two SBS products being featured are the PolySmart polymer quenchant control system and the Aqua Sense moisture in oil detection system.  Stop by and learn about SBS' products.

August 31, 2006 - Diamond Heat Treat in Rockford, IL had a fire on August 30 that resulted in an estimated $ 50,000 dollars in damage.  Employees were refilling a barrel for a parts-cleaning process and the barrel was knocked over, spilling the flammable liquid in the presence of several ignition sources.

A flash fire occurred and it spread, involving only the north side of the building.  The sprinkler system was set off and a total of six pallets were consumed.  The company is able to continue production as no equipment was involved.  Sounds like they had a bad day!

August 17, 2006 - Nevada Heat Treating in Carson City, Nevada plans to invest $ 112,000 dollars to double their plant from 15,000 to 30,000 square feet.  They also plan on hiring six new employees.

They plan on growing in the specialized aerospace work with their vacuum and brazing furnaces.  Congratulations to owner Rich Penrose and General Manager Pat McKenna for the plant's success.

August 14, 2006 -Honda is expanding its Lincoln, Alabama operations again with a $40 million investment in its engine facility that will add 41,000 square feet of new production space and create 20 new jobs.

Honda said it would add new high-pressure and low-pressure aluminum die cast equipment, along with low-pressure heat-treat equipment, high- and low-pressure aluminum melt furnaces and new sand mold capabilities that will allow the plant to handle additional casting of engine components for V6 engines.

Honda makes their Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV, and V-6 engines at this plant.

August 7, 2006 - TriMas Corp., parent company of Lake Erie Products in Frankfort, IN, is going to attempt to go public again with an initial offering.  They hope to raise over $ 200 million.  TriMas had tried going public in March 2004 but pulled out due to lousy market conditions.

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan based TriMas makes transportation accessories, packaging systems, fastening systems and industrial specialty products. The company spun off from Metaldyne Corp. in June 2002.

Aug. 1, 2006 -  Kaiser Aluminum of Foothill Ranch, CA announced today they are adding capacity to their Trentwood, WA mill to increase capacity in rolled plate.  Another horizontal heat treat furnace will be added and they hope to have it online early 2007.  This is a $ 75 million investment.

Learn more here ....

July 26, 2006 - ArvinMeritor announced it had sold a 57% stake in its Meritor Suspension Systems Company to joint venture partner Mitsubishi Steel Mfg. Co., Ltd. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The joint venture, formed in 1986, produces steel torsion and stabilizer bars and coil springs for the North American passenger car market.

Juan De La Riva, president of ArvinMeritor's LVS business group, said, "Due to the competitive global nature of the automotive industry, the current regional structure of this joint venture has limited its ability to grow."

Facilities effected are in Milton and Chatham, Ontario, and Hopkinsville, KY.  These facilities were previously owned by Rockwell.  Time to change the signs (again).

July 24, 2006 - Paulo Products announced it had purchased the heat treating business of Bodycote Thermal Processing in St. Louis for an undisclosed amount.  This only effects the St. Louis Bodycote plant.

Paulo officials said the firm would transfer the processing of all work for customers resulting from the acquisition to its existing facilities. Some equipment will be relocated to Paulo's plant in St. Louis, according to a release.

Paulo operates plants in St. Louis, Kansas City, Murfreesbore, TN, Nashville, and Cleveland.  Bodycote operates plants literally all over the world.

July 20, 2006 - The Timken Company announced plans to invest over $5 million in a new induction heat treat line at its Fairfield Steel Works plant in Canton, Ohio.  This investment will increase capacity on heat-treated steel bars and tubing.
 
The new line will quench and temper bars and tubes up to 7 inches in diameter. It also will be capable of other heat treatments, such as normalizing and stress relieving. As a result of the investment, overall plant capacity will increase across size ranges up to 11 inches in diameter.

Representing the National Association of Manufacturers, Jeff Uhlenburg, President of Donovan Heat Treating, testified before Congress' House Small Business Committee that the rapid spike in natural gas prices was hurting US manufacturer’s ability to compete in a world economy.

Jeff Uhlenburg commented, "The U.S. pays the highest natural gas prices in the world.  My prices have risen more than 600 percent since the late 1990s and, even before last year's hurricanes, the price had nearly doubled in 2005 alone."

Read more . . . .

Racine Heat Treat, a commercial heat treater in Racine, Wisconsin, suffered a roof fire on Wednesday, June 28.  Evidently something hot out of one of their furnaces was able to get through their exhaust blowers and ignite some material on their flat roof. 

No injuries and no major damages were reported.

Read more . . . .

Macsteel's plant in Huntington, IN will spend amost 5 million dollars expanding their heat treating operation.  Demand is outstripping their ability to heat treat so they are expanding the plant.  8 jobs may be added.

Read more about the expansion here . . . .

January 11, 2006 - The Timken Company announced that they will be expanding manufacturing at their Altavista, VA plant.  This plant manufacturers wheel hub bearing assemblies for light duty trucks.  No mention if any additional heat treating equipment is involved.

Read the press release here . . . .