(December 22) - Wow. Mario Ciampini - a man who most equate with Ipsen - has resigned as President of Ipsen International USA to "pursue other career opportunities." We at HTN have no idea where Mario is heading or why but it's certainly the big news this week. If anyone has the scoop please drop us a note at admin@heattreatnews.com. Ipsen's CFO, John Schmitt, has been appointed Interim President.
Here's the full press release from Ipsen's web site.
December 22, 2005…Effective immediately, Mario Ciampini has resigned from Ipsen International USA to pursue other career opportunities. We thank Mario for his past leadership at Ipsen, and we wish him well in future endeavors.
John Schmitt, Ipsen CFO, has been appointed interim President during the period of time that we search for a new President. Please provide your full support and cooperation with John during this transition period.
Moving forward into 2006 and beyond, Ipsen will remain focused on its existing product strengths and captive markets. As the largest manufacturer of vacuum and atmosphere technology, Ipsen will ensure support for its installed equipment base and continue to manufacture vacuum and atmosphere equipment, along with providing parts and service worldwide.
Ipsen International is optimistic about our future and our position as market leader.
Thank you,
Dr. Hendrik Grobler
Chairman, Ipsen International, Inc.
AMS 2750 (Rev D) Compliance Seminar
(December 15) - Looking for some guidance with AMS 2750 compliance? Doctor Furnace has teamed up with Heat Treat Professionals to bring you a comprehensive seminar on compliance. The seminar is March 9 and 10 in St. Petersburg, FL so it's a great venue to boot. For information click here. For a registration for click here. You can also get information on Doctor Furnace or HTP by clicking their names.
Chrysler Follows Ford Follows GM?
(December 14) - The news from Detroit of late hasn't been too good and the latest from Ford parallels recent announcements from Delphi and GM. Even Chrysler - the only member of the big three making profit - is talking about outsourcing signficant jobs. According to sources in the know, Ford's "fix it" plans will eliminate up to 30,000 jobs and close at least 10 plants over the next five years.
(December 14) - If you haven't been watching our gas futures chart over on the right take a quick look. Looks like gas is off on a skyrocket path again and we've no clue why other than Winter has hit...
CHS-Asia Busy Building Furnaces
(December 8) - Most US folks have at least heard of if not met Randy Simmons of CHS-Asia. Randy used to run the service department at Marathon but headed for warmer climates a while back to found CHS-Asia along with David Pickup. These days they're booked solid with service work and starting to ship quite a few furnaces as well. Today we have a report on their latest delivery.
CHS-Asia received an order for this High Temperature (2000 F) car bottom furnace from the Singapore Milatary the last week of September 2005. The furnace will be used for parts for a small titanium tank that can be dropped in by a helicopter.
CHS-Asia's new furnace division in Singapore designed, Manufactured and delivered the furnace in just 8 weeks. CHS-Asia's Thailand Field Engineering staff performed turn key installation and training in less than one week.
"Manufacturing and Supporting locally gives CHS Asia huge advantages over outside competition. Our Competition quoted 16-18 week deliveries, 4-6 weeks on a boat and did not offer turn key services." Quotes Randy Simmons.
In the photo below we see Mr. Tanong, Field Service Manager from CHS Thailand, inspecting the furnace before shipment. Unfortunately we have no installed phots as the Singapore military would not allow cameras in the factory.
Timken to Invest Heavily in North Carolina
(December 7) - Some really good news for parts of the US economy as Timken announces heavy investment in its Ashboro plant. With all the news of people spending all their time and money in China, India and the like it's good to see new investment here at home. Here's Timken's press release:
Timken Company to Invest $27 Million in North Carolina Bearing Plant
Company plans to add 50 jobs, expand capacity at Asheboro Plant in Randleman, N.C.
CANTON, Ohio, Nov. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Timken Company today announced plans to invest approximately $27 million in its Asheboro bearing plant in Randleman, N.C., enabling expanded manufacturing of tapered roller bearings, principally for industrial applications. Timken plans to add 50 new jobs and increase the size of the Asheboro-area plant by over 35 percent as part of the project.
"This is among our most technologically advanced facilities, and we look forward to using the additional capacity to increase the value we are able to deliver to our customers," said Michael C. Arnold, president - Industrial Group.
Timken's facility near Asheboro, which opened in 1994, currently has 150,000 square feet of space and employs approximately 230 people. The plant produces highly engineered tapered roller bearings used in high-value industrial applications, with an emphasis on versatility and substantially shortened product development and manufacturing cycle time.
The expansion project, which will begin in early 2006 and is anticipated to take approximately 18 months to complete, will benefit from approximately $1.4 million in state and local government incentives.
"We are proud to continue our partnership with the state of North Carolina, Randolph County Economic Development Corporation, Randolph County and the City of Randleman as we open the next chapter in the history of Timken's state-of-the-art bearing manufacturing facility in Randleman," said Arnold.
Ever Wonder What Happened to Ken Hinckley?
(December 4) - Ken retired to the beaches of Thailand a few years back. He now says he is bored with the beach life (if that is possible) and wants to return to the workforce. He says “Doing nothing worked fine for the first year.”
Ken has been in Heat Treating since 1978 when he became a Journeyman Millwright and was assigned to the Heat Treat department. He worked there for several years while he went to college and earned his BSME. He was then promoted to the engineering department where he was again placed in the Heat Treat Department. He promoted again and was the person responsible for all Heat Treating at New Process Gear in Syracuse. He then left to become the President of Steel Treaters in Oriskany and Troy NY.
During his ten years at Steel Treaters he earned an MBA. If you don’t remember, Steel Treaters was the first Heat Treat in the US to receive both NADCAP accreditation and ISO 9002 certification. They earned the “Master Craftsman” award the second year it was given. He then purchased New England Metal Treating. He closed the plant after a massive fire and decided to retire. Ken also served on various committees such as the MTI program chairman and was President of two chapters of the ASM.
Anybody in need of a good Heat Treater?
Here's a shot of Ken outside WPN 9999 in Thailand (read below)
Profile: WPN 9999 Heat Treat in Thailand
(December 4) - WWPN 9999 is a very small Heat Treatment located in Bang Po, Thailand founded 3 years ago by Worrawat Jongprasert a Metallurgical Engineer with big ideas and not a lot of money.
Wor rented a small shop style house and put the equipment on the first floor. With no employees him and his wife operated the equipment during the day and literally slept above the Heat Treatment on the second floor. After one year and a few employees later he was able to purchase the shop house and the connecting unit thus expanding the shop.
The following year they added a concrete slab and a green tin make shifted building. Now in the third year Won, now a Father of three, is relocating WPN 9999 to a proper factory adding equipment and expanding from a small to a medium Heat Treatment.
Photo's are from the original factory...
Worrawat Jongprasert, his lovey wife and baby girl Amy, Ken Henkley Heat
Treatment Consultant
Worrawat Jongprasert and Randy Simmons (CHS Asia)
Ken Hinkley Back on the Scene?
(December 1) - We just got a great story out of one of our Asian friends about a job where one of those on hand was none other than the infamous Ken Hinckley - someone we thought was long retired. Word is he's bored of shufflepuck and ready to get back to some serious heat treat work (not to mention Asia travel). We'll have a full write-up with photos in time for the Monday morning coffee break (US Eastern time).
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