VAC AERO Launches 2012 Series on “Vacuum Technology with Dan Herring”.

This is the first in a new series of articles entitled Vacuum Technology. The purpose of this series is to inform, educate and answer questions for a worldwide audience of individuals using vacuum methods and vacuum equipment. The series is intended for captive and commercial heat treaters, engineers, operators, metallurgists, quality control and quality assurance personnel, supervisory staff and anyone else who is interested in the subject of vacuum processing.

OAKVILLE, Ontario, (October 24, 2011) - First established in 2003 in Kalisz, Poland to offer Metallurgical Services to the burgeoning aerospace industry in Poland, VAC AERO has now opened a second facility located in the town of Rzeszow in southeast Poland. VAC AERO’s Polish divisions offer special processing services, including vacuum heat  treating and brazing, vacuum carburizing, air plasma spray (APS) and HVOF protective coatings, as well as corrosion and oxidation resistant paint coatings. This new addition to the VAC AERO Group of Companies will be the sixth vacuum heat treating, brazing and coating facility worldwide.

OAKVILLE, Ontario, (April 11, 2011) – Korea-based Samsung Electronics has recently purchased a vacuum furnace for hardening their captive press and plastic die moulds used in the manufacture of mobile phone, LCD, OLED, PDF, refrigerator and washing machines. The furnace will be housed in Samsung’s new state-of-the Art facility in Gwangju Metropolitan City, Korea . The VAH6660 HV-6 is equipped with VAC AERO's Honeywell HC900 interactive control system with complete network integration capabilities and remote monitoring and control. The hot zone measures 48” wide 48” high 60” deep and comes with a hot zone comprised high efficiency graphite felt, carbon composite and curved graphite elements. The furnace operates at temperatures of up to 2400F. The vacuum pumping system includes a diffusion pump for high vacuum applications to 10^-5 Torr. Shipment is anticipated for summer 2011 delivery. This new furnace will be the first of an anticipated three furnace order for VAC AERO’s Oakville, Ontario-based furnace manufacturing facility.

For more information on VAC AERO's Furnace Manufacturing please click here

VAC AERO launches a Metallography column in the Redesigned issue of the What’s HOT! Newsletter!

The new column, written by Metallography expert George Vander Voort will feature NEW or previously published articles from INDUSTRIAL HEATING magazine. The monthly articles will offer helpful Metallography applications, tips and techniques to commercial and captive heat treaters alike. George Vander Voort has a background in physical, process and mechanical metallurgy and has been performing metallographic studies for 43 years. George has consented to write articles on Metallography for VAC AERO since many of our clients will find this material quite useful in their daily operations. However, George's willingness to provide this service to VAC AERO readers does not imply his specific endorsement of the company or its furnaces, but rather his desire to help the metal treating community to understand Metallography better. Read Entire Biography

OAKVILLE, Ontario, (January 8, 2010) - VAC AERO’s Boucherville, Quebec, Canada-based Coatings division recently received two new approvals for coatings and chemical processing. The facility was qualified to the stringent SAE Aerospace Standard AS70003 for Coatings and for Chemical Processing. These two new approvals have now been added to the many other heat treating and coating accreditations that VAC AERO has acquired throughout the years. VAC AERO’s facilities in Quebec and Poland offer thermal spray coatings (plasma and HVOF), grinding and inorganic coating services to international Aerospace and other high-tech companies.

OAKVILLE, Ontario, (January 11, 2010) – VAC AERO’s Kalisz, Poland-based operation recently installed a fully integrated High Velocity Oxygen Fuel (HVOF) system based on a new generation Carbide Jet System (CJS) produced by Dortmund, Germany-based Thermico.

The system’s specially designed combustion chamber is fed by hydrogen, kerosene and oxygen fuel and optimized for spraying MCrAlY coatings on turbine engine components, tungsten carbide coatings on landing gear components and can perform many other coating applications. Precise combustion and fuel configuration settings control particle temperature and velocity to achieve optimal coating efficiency in less time and lower fuel consumption than other HVOF systems. The system was installed in a 13’X13’X 10’ high (4X4X3 meters) soundproof booth.

OAKVILLE, Ontario, (December 9, 2009) - VAC AERO's Oakville Thermal Processing Division recently completed an extensive plant re-organization based on lean and green manufacturing concepts. The project included building renovations to create more production space, the addition of new work-handling and production capacity, safety enhancements and energy efficiency improvements in lighting and power consumption. Lean manufacturing techniques that were implemented in the re-organization included Kanban systems, 5S and visual signals. The company has also been working in close partnership with customers on value stream mapping and smoothing production flow. The effort is already paying benefits. For example, distances travelled for orders within the shop have been reduced on average by 50%. On-time deliveries have improved dramatically, now in many cases being maintained at 100%. VAC AERO invested more than $400,000 in the re-organization, a portion of which was subsidized by a provincial government grant. The completion of the re-organization was timed to coincide with the commissioning of VAC AERO's fourth large vacuum oil quench furnace, designed and built by the company's Furnace Manufacturing Division. The new furnace will add significant capacity to the Oakville vacuum oil-quench operation, already one of the largest in the world.