Gasbarre Products Inc. (Gasbarre) announced that all manufacturing for its Thermal Processing Systems business unit will take place in its 50,000-square-foot facility in St. Marys, Pa., at the end of 2019. In 2011, Gasbarre acquired the J.L. Becker brand of industrial furnace equipment. Over the last eight years, Gasbarre has run parallel manufacturing facilities in Michigan and Pennsylvania for its furnace equipment. Consolidating the manufacturing of its common product lines allows for the most efficient use of its floor space, equipment and manufacturing processes. The company plans to invest in an additional 12,000 square feet of manufacturing space with additional office and conference-room capacity in St. Marys.

Lindberg/MPH shipped a gas-fired aluminum stack melting and holding furnace to a company in the secondary smelting industry. The furnace, which has a melt rate of 4,500 pounds per hour, will be utilized to produce aluminum ingot and sows. It is designed with access grating and a ladder for safe access to roof-mounted equipment during maintenance. A three-point laser metal-level sensor is provided that notifies operators of the current furnace metal level through an attached light tree.

Nine Westomat dosing furnaces from StrikoWestofen underpin die-casting operations at Lenaal’s industrial aluminum and zinc parts manufacturing facility in Radom, Poland. The plant installed its first furnace in 2007.

Andritz received an order from Steel Dynamics Inc. for the supply of key process equipment for the existing continuous galvanizing line (CGL) at its Columbus, Miss., plant. The scope of supply includes engineering and delivery of a new direct-fired furnace, differential rapid jet cooling and after pot coolers. The project will be implemented during the fourth quarter of 2020. Andritz will also supply the model-predictive advanced furnace control for the complete furnace sections as well as the automation and electrical equipment.

Delta H supplied a dual-chamber aerospace heat-treating (DCAHT) system to Sintavia, a Hollywood, Fla-based provider of additive-manufacturing services. The furnace features dual chambers operable to 1200°F and 500°F with precision control and temperature uniformity and a roll-away stainless steel quench tank. The DCAHT system qualifies as Class 2 (+/-10°F) per AMS 2750E and includes all controls, data-acquisition technology and spare-parts package to be in full compliance with all aerospace pyrometry standards, including Nadcap.

Andritz received an order from North Star BlueScope Steel for supply of a tunnel furnace and two shuttle furnaces to convey the slabs from both casters to the two-stand roughing mill at its Delta, Ohio, plant. The shuttle furnaces will be installed during the fourth quarter of 2020, and the tunnel furnace is scheduled to start production by the end of 2021. This order is part of an expansion project by North Star BlueScope that will also add a third electric-arc furnace (EAF) and a second continuous caster. The expansion will increase the facility’s annual capacity by 800,000 to 900,000 metric tons.

Premier Furnace Specialists and BeaverMatic completed a $2.5 million building expansion at one of its Farmington Hills, Mich., facilities. The expansion provides 45-foot-high ceilings with two (25-ton and 10-ton) overhead cranes to complement the existing two 10-ton overhead cranes. The total square feet under one roof is now 40,000. The expansion was needed for the continued growth of both companies and to accommodate the magnitude of the furnaces being built. The companies intend to hire additional employees in the future.

Gasbarre Thermal Processing Systems manufactured and commissioned a humpback annealing furnace for a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of stainless steel sinks. The gas-fired, continuous furnace, which was custom-designed to meet the company’s strict process requirements, measured 106 feet long with a belt width of 32 inches. It is equipped with six heating zones that can heat up to 2200°F. The sink manufacturer wanted to increase production by up to 50%. A belt speed of 51 inches per minute was chosen to achieve that goal.

Magnetic Specialties Inc. (MSI) built a new 4,800-square-foot addition to its facility in Telford, Pa. The insulated and heated steel building with a reinforced concrete floor will increase production floor space by 25-30%. MSI manufactures heavy-duty power supplies for the electric furnace industry; specialty transformers and reactors for a range of industries; and smaller specialty transformers for the electronics industry.