While unable to conduct their annual fall seminars in person this year, IHEA is committed to providing essential education for the industrial thermal-processing industry by gathering combustion and safety authorities to present vital content through an online platform on Nov 11-13 and Nov. 18-20.

When the 2011 edition of the industrial ovens safety standard NFPA 86 was released, safety programmable logic controllers (PLCs) were recognized as logic devices suitable for the safe operation of industrial heating equipment for the first time.

Industrial Heating, during a Q&A session at FNA 2020, announced that it will support the Reshoring Initiative with a $2,500 sponsorship. The mission of the Reshoring Initiative is to bring good, well-paying manufacturing jobs back to the United States by assisting companies to more accurately assess their total cost of offshoring and to shift collective thinking from offshoring is cheaper to local reduces the total cost of ownership. As part of this new relationship, the Reshoring Initiative will provide Industrial Heating with editorial content throughout 2021.

It is a well-known fact that too many recordable safety incidents will result in the good people from OSHA showing up to hang around and ask a lot of questions. Nobody wants to get hurt on the job. Everyone at the facility has some other place to be once their shift is over, and many employees have family waiting for them. With that being said, why would people continue to operate poorly maintained manufacturing equipment and material-handling machinery? 

The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) brings industrial process-heating professionals together to provide combustion and safety education for the industry each and every fall. This year will look different, but IHEA will still deliver essential content through a virtual platform. The IHEA Virtual Fall Seminars will be held over two consecutive weeks in November from Wednesday to Friday each week. Each day will consist of three presentations from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (EST). The agendas for the virtual seminars contain vital topics that have been adapted to online versions so attendees can still get the information they need whether they are working from home or in the office. 

After much analysis, feedback from attendees and the uncertainty of COVID-19, the MTI Board of Trustees has approved transition to a virtual format for Furnaces North America 2020. Attendees will be able to experience the virtual exhibit hall for free. For those wanting to view the three live panel discussions and 35 technical sessions, FNA is offering a special for attendees of $199 for each of the first two registrants from a company and $49 for every person after that. To qualify, everyone must register on the same online registration form. 

Nitrex, a Novacap portfolio company and a global provider of fully integrated heat-treating solutions and technologies, unveiled a new corporate brand identity. A new logo will be adopted by all the Nitrex business units. For now, the names of the legal entities will not change so customers, suppliers and stakeholders can continue to use the existing names and addresses in all official communication. The new wordmark for United Process Controls leverages its well-known trade name, the UPC initials, in combination with the company’s best-known brand asset, Marathon Monitors, to form UPC-Marathon. G-M Enterprises, the newest addition to the Nitrex Turnkey Systems portfolio, traded its metallic graphic for a single-color wordmark using the same typeface as the other logos with the addition of the tagline, “A Nitrex Company.”

Registration for IHEA’s Fundamentals of Industrial Process Heating online learning course is now open for fall 2020. Scheduled to begin October 5, the six-week class will run through November 15. The flexible online format and interactive forums with other students, along with scheduled office hours with the instructor, are just a few of the benefits of this program.

The Industrial Heating Equipment Association (IHEA) recently announced its 2020-2021 Board of Directors and Executive Officers. The new executive officers are Scott Bishop of Alabama Power Company as president, Jeff Valuck of Surface Combustion as vice president and Brian Kelly of Honeywell Thermal Solutions as treasurer. Bishop has served as IRED chairman, presented at numerous workshops and seminars, and provided key support in the recent revision of the Infrared Process Heating Handbook for Industrial Applications. Michael Stowe of Advanced Energy assumes the role of past president.

BNP Media has announced the launch of the Process Heating & Cooling Show, an interactive conference and exposition where executives and engineers from various industries – including oil and gas, electronics, pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, packaging and plastics – will learn from thought leaders and discover new technologies and trends exclusively for the process heating and cooling sectors. This new event will be held June 16-17, 2021, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill.