SECO/VACUUM, a SECO/WARWICK Group company, received an order for a 2-bar vacuum heat-treating furnace from an automotive components manufacturer. The single-chamber furnace, which has a chamber size of 36 x 36 x 48 inches and a load capacity of 3,300 pounds, will increase the company’s annealing production of fuel-injector components. The high-pressure-quench unit will complement an existing SECO/VACUUM furnace in operation at that location since 2002. Because the new furnace is a nearly identical model, they share standard components and will reduce the necessary inventory of spare parts.

BMW will invest more than $200 million to construct a 219,000-square-foot press shop at its South Carolina plant. The investment will create more than 200 new jobs. The new press shop, which will start production in the summer of 2024, will take raw coils of steel, cut them into blanks and stamp sheet-metal parts for future BMW models. Those components include hang-on parts such as the vehicle’s four doors, fenders, exterior body sides and lift gate.

SECO/WARWICK received an equipment order from Aalberts Surface Technologies for its hardening plant in Dzierżoniów, Poland. SECO/WARWICK will deliver a two-chamber atmosphere furnace, tempering furnace, endothermic atmosphere generator, and loading and unloading devices along with the auxiliary infrastructure. The AFT-type atmosphere furnace is intended for carburizing, hardening, nitrocarburizing and annealing. It is suited for manufacturing various transmission components. According to Aalberts, the new equipment will increase its capacity in Dzierżoniów and allow the company to expand its business to other eastern European countries.

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.

SLM Solutions will join forces with Mahle, a leading automotive supplier, to improve the speed and quality of automotive components in both prototype and serial productions. Mahle will utilize SLM Solution’s systems to empower OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers to fulfill their need for metal additive manufacturing (AM) in serial production. The components will be printed with aluminum and stainless steel alloys, which are resilient and resistant to corrosion. Their topology is optimized to reduce overall weight. Structures that are too complex for conventional manufacturing methods are easily produced while still adhering to the strict quality standards of the automotive industry.

General Motors plans to invest more than $51 million to install state-of-the-art equipment at its Bedford, Ind., aluminum die-casting foundry to support the manufacture of drive unit castings for the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV and other current casting applications. Renovation work will begin immediately at the facility. The all-electric Silverado, powered by the Ultium Platform, will debut on Jan. 5, 2022. Earlier this year, the 1-million-square-foot site began producing electric drive unit castings for the 2022 GMC Hummer EV Pickup and 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV.

SECO/WARWICK received an order from a Polish company that specializes in the field of automotive engines, filters, electric equipment and cooling systems for a vacuum furnace for aluminum brazing. According to SECO/WARWICK, the furnace is designed specifically for vacuum brazing aluminum components and will be the largest of its kind in Poland. The customer provided detailed guidelines related to complex solutions in terms of automatic loading and transport of parts, along with precise control and uniformity of the temperature distribution.

 

Toyota will invest approximately $3.4 billion in automotive batteries in the United States through 2030. Specifically, the investment is for developing and localizing automotive battery production, including those for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Toyota Motor North America also announced it will establish a new company and build an automotive battery plant together with Toyota Tsusho in the U.S. Aiming to start production in 2025, the project includes an investment of approximately $1.29 billion until 2031, resulting in the creation of 1,750 new American jobs.

A. Benevenuta & C. S.p.a. ordered a 2,500-ton mechanical forging press from Farina, a Schuler affiliate. The company produces hot-forged steel components for the automotive industry near Turin, Italy. The parts are used in suspension systems, transmissions, engines and brakes in passenger cars, tractors, trucks and earth-moving machinery. The press force of the Benevenuta production lines ranges from 1,200 to 2,500 metric tons.

Can-Eng Furnaces International Ltd. has been awarded two contracts from a producer of high-volume specialty automotive fasteners. Can-Eng will supply two mesh-belt heat-treatment systems, which will include: computerized vibratory loading system, rotary phosphate removal washer, mesh-belt hardening furnace, oil-quench system, post-quench wash system, mesh-belt temper furnace and part containerization system. The fully integrated systems feature Can-Eng’s PET (process enhancement technology) system, which provides the client with complete product traceability through the thermal process, process data collection, historical event archiving, process variable trend monitoring and scheduling optimization.