Nitrex, a global provider of fully integrated surface-treatment solutions, announced the completion of its Poland plant expansion. The expansion will allow the company to double its current European production capacity for both its Nitrex Turnkey Solutions business unit, including gas nitriding furnaces, and its UPC Marathon software and controls products line. The expansion will also allow Nitrex to manufacture its advanced vacuum heat-treating systems, which were formerly marketed under the G-M Enterprises name. This expansion comes in addition to the company’s existing vacuum-furnace assembly capacity in the United States.

An automotive manufacturer in China will install a second Nitrex-supplied automated heat-treating cell for nitriding parts. As part of the company’s growth, the cell will be placed adjacent to the first cell to expand production capacity to meet increasing market demand. The investment will allow the company to bring the production process in-house for greater control and flexibility. Nitrex received an order for six continuous flow-through nitriding systems to create the fully automated cell, which is responsible for automatic loading/unloading, processing and transport. Delivery is scheduled for August 2022, and the cell should start operating in the fall.

Kolene Corp., a Detroit-based provider of molten salt-bath equipment and specialty chemical formulations, acquired Upton Industries of Roseville, Mich. Upton Industries designs and manufactures thermal-processing systems for the heat-treating industry, including box-type, car-bottom and specialty furnaces utilizing electric or gas heating. Kolene will maintain both the Detroit headquarters location and the Roseville location, which will be home to all Kolene’s manufacturing and fabrication. By bringing the two companies together, the new Kolene will house nearly 50,000 square feet of manufacturing, fabrication and commercial processing capabilities.

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SECO/WARWICK will supply an electric mesh-belt furnace to bolt manufacturer Solvera Gawel Technology S.A. The line is designed mainly for carbonitriding and hardening processes and for washing and tempering of high-quality screws and other hardware manufactured near Rzeszów, Poland. The process line, which will be delivered in 2022, will be adapted for operating with endothermic atmosphere supplied from an external endothermic generator. It will consist of a loading module equipped with a weighing system, a main furnace, oil bath (for hardening the workpieces), and vibration and reloading tables. After the hardening process, the workpieces are transferred to a drum washer where they are washed, rinsed and dried.

Andritz received an order from Valin ArcelorMittal Automotive Steel Co. Ltd. of China to supply a galvanizing furnace for a new coating line that will produce third-generation advanced high-strength steel. The line will produce hot-dip galvanized or zinc-aluminum-magnesium-coated flat steel for the automotive industry. Start-up is scheduled for the end of 2022. Andritz’s scope of supply includes a direct-fired furnace (DFF) with pre-oxidation functions, high-temperature radiant tube (RT) annealing and soaking sections, advanced ultra-rapid cooling and partitioning sections, and after-pot cooling (APC) and post-treatment sections.

The Doncasters Group ordered a 300-pound vacuum precision investment casting (VPIC) furnace from Consarc. The 300-pound-capacity furnace will be installed at Doncasters’ Southern Tool facility in Oxford, Ala. The order includes start-up and installation, with delivery scheduled before the end of 2021. The VPIC furnace is equipped with high-vacuum capabilities, state-of-the-art controls and increased automation with Teach Pour.  U.K.-based Doncasters Group manufactures high-precision engineering components designed to operate in demanding conditions.

Given the thousands of boilers, furnaces and ovens currently in use worldwide, the potential of a combustion system malfunctioning is ever-present, especially as these systems grow in scale and complexity. Add to this a single-point failure, and an unqualified operator could inadvertently render a critical fuel system inoperable.

Across nearly every industry and region of the world, OEMs and end users are looking for ways to improve their heat-treat equipment and processes. They are facing increasingly stringent NOx emissions regulations while also being challenged to be more eco-friendly by reducing fuel usage and lowering their carbon footprint.