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SECO / VACUUM: past five years have been successful

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Autor: Redaktion

Datum: 25. Jan. 2022

“Looking back, there are so many highlights. It is hard to adequately cover them all in a single announcement. Through strong local leadership and a commitment to self-determination, along with expert technical support and expansive manufacturing capabilities from parent SECO/WARWICK Group, we have not just survived, we have absolutely thrived”, said Peter Zawistowski, Managing Director at SECO/VACUUM, “SECO/WARWICK’s portfolio is the deepest in the heat treat equipment business, with more new technologies than any other company in the world. This derives from the company’s ongoing commitment to introducing problem-solving innovations. They reduce our customers’ costs, increase their productivity, and improve their finished product quality. Our US team here at SECO/VACUUM has leveraged these technologies to advance the state of the art in North America more effectively than we could have imagined five years ago, an accomplishment that is a source of enormous personal pride.”

Major New Product Launches

SECO/VACUUM has been on a relentless campaign to create a new paradigm, “The Future of Heat Treating”. It does so by deploying major new vacuum heat treating technologies in the North American market. They are designed to bring legacy heat treatment into the 21st Century. The goals include better quality, higher efficiencies, lower costs, and greater throughput. These goals have to be achieved while always embracing the innate environmentally responsible platform represented by vacuum processing, with no fossil fuels or their negative impacts.

Launched Oct 2019, 4D Quench is a continuous, single-piece flow vacuum heat treatment system for quenching and distortion control. It is a cost-effective solution that cools rapidly but without any of the issues associated with oil. The 4D Quench system utilizes a proprietary arrangement of cooling nozzles. They surround the part and ensure a uniform flow of cooling gas from all sides; top, bottom, and side – “3D” cooling. To complete the process, a table spins the part (the 4th dimension), further enhancing quench uniformity. Users can expect to produce over 1,000,000 perfectly uniform parts per year.

SECO/WARWICK supplies Rex Heat Treating with Super IQ furnace

Launched August 2020, Super IQ integral quench furnace provides significant upgrades over the limitations of current IQ furnaces. It operates uses a low-pressure processing chamber together with a positive pressure inert atmosphere oil quench tank. By doing so it eliminates flames and endogas. According to Johnathan Rex, president of Rex Heat Treating in Lansdale PA: “We chose to partner with SECO/WARWICK because of the company’s innovative thinking. Also its established position in the marketplace is relevant to us. We were looking for a competitive advantage, and we got it. Super IQ from SECO/WARWICK, and their other furnaces we bought, are all first class.”

Launched April 2021, Pit-LPC was awarded a new technology patent for a low pressure carburizing pit vacuum furnace. The furnace is designed to reduce costs while increasing production. The key to achieving these goals is the application of the unique Pit-LPC®. This technology is a highly efficient alternative to gas carburizing. Capable of delivering 3 times the output as a legacy gas-fired furnace, Pit-LPC will revolutionize carburizing for large, heavy parts requiring thick case depths.

40% share of vacuum furnace sales

SECO/VACUUM wrote orders for 40% of SECO/WARWICK Group’s total international vacuum furnace business in the most recent period ended December 31, 2021. Over the course of the past five years, the versatile flagship Vector® single chamber high pressure gas quench (HPGQ) furnace led the pack at more than 50% of the business unit’s sales, for deliveries to aerospace, defense, tool & die and commercial heat treatment customers. It is followed by a 26% share from Vacuum Temper furnaces sold to numerous manufacturers involved in machine tools. Coming in third place, ZeroFlow® single chamber gas nitriding furnaces represented 12% of sales, many to support the thriving automotive business. CaseMaster Evolution and Super IQ multi-chamber gas/oil quench furnaces follow, representing 10% of total sales. Finally, UniCase Master/4D Quench single-piece flow solutions and Vacuum Aluminum Brazing furnaces made up the balance of sales.

The creation of a vacuum-only technology group enabled a particular focus on the specialty which facilitated the creation and development of a singular engineering, marketing and sales directive. Its intention is to serve the industry better than a diversified manufacturer possibly could.

Customers & Markets served: 32 total new customers

SECO/WARWICK Group boasts customers in 70 countries, while its US division, SECO/VACUUM serves 32 new equipment customers in just its first five years in business. The majority of SECO/VACUUM’s business has been sold to manufacturers with in-house heat treating. They represent a cross section of markets including aerospace, defense, automotive, tool and die, instrumentation and industrial, plus a number of commercial heat treaters. A great many customers are responsible for multiple solutions and repeat orders. For aftermarket support of installed equipment, SECO/VACUUM has served over 125 customers over its five-year existence.