The year-over-year U.S. inflation rate through February 2022 hit a 40-year high of 7.9%, eroding purchasing power especially for gas, food and rent.

In today’s heat-treatment industry, we are faced daily with the challenges of complying with the regulatory standards that are relevant to our specific markets and products.

Watlow, a designer and manufacturer of complete industrial thermal systems, signed an agreement to acquire Eurotherm from Schneider Electric. Eurotherm provides temperature, power and process control, measurement and data management equipment, systems, software and services for global industrial markets. The company’s headquarters are in Worthing, United Kingdom, with core manufacturing operations in Lędziny, Poland.

Anyone who has struggled with getting a campfire or a traditional fireplace going knows that managing combustion is harder than it looks.

High-temperature processes – such as those required to manufacture metal products – are very difficult to monitor, model and control.

A partnership between the University of Northern Iowa, Youngstown State University and the National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) will leverage $10 million in first-year funding to increase the number of small to midsize enterprises using advanced technologies, bolster critical areas of the defense manufacturing supply chain and create jobs. The partnership will provide hundreds of businesses each year with support to remove barriers to adopting Industry 4.0 technologies, enabling a faster output of quality parts while expanding and strengthening the supply chain. Those technologies include 3D printing, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).

Industrial furnaces are widely used to melt metals for casting or heat materials for change of shape (forging) or change of properties (heat treatment).

Cook Induction partnered with Super Systems Inc. to implement a fully electronic SCADA package at its Nadcap-approved facility in Maywood, Calif., which offers heat-treating and brazing (induction, torch and furnace) services. “Having the ability to track and recall furnace data from our desks has made life so much easier,” said Troy Doolittle, Cook Induction’s quality manager. “The new system has improved our ability to stay on top of scheduling and production.”

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.

Here is a complete list of all the feature articles – by topic – that appeared in Industrial Heating in 2021. The month each article appeared in is included. All articles are hyperlinked for your convenience.