A European-based multinational supplier of forgings for the automotive industry has brought its heat treatment process in-house by investing in an AFC-Holcroft automated, non-atmosphere batch heat treatment line delivered to an American facility in the Midwest. The equipment will be used to process raw forgings that will undergo normalizing, tempering, stress relieving, and a quench and temper process.
The customer worked with AFC-Holcroft to prove return on investment for buying its own equipment, which was recently installed and commissioned in the Midwest.
This was accomplished through meetings in the U.S. and abroad, calculations of costs, visits to customer sites, analysis of production schedules, testing of parts, etc.
“Our customer was very thorough in their consideration of new heat treatment equipment,” said Ron Graham, sales engineer for AFC-Holcroft. “They were currently outsourcing their heat treatment and needed to ensure that the new equipment met all of the requirements for their various processes. AFC-Holcroft's sales, applications, and engineering groups all engaged in the process to validate that we were providing the optimal solution to meet their needs.”
The equipment consists of five direct-fired, non-atmosphere batch heat treating furnaces, with automation provided by a SCADA system for a fully automated process.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.afc-holcroft.com
