Adds heat treatment equipment to its portfolio.

Global manufacturer of thermal processing technology for the light metal casting industry, the StrikoWestofen Group, has announced the acquisition of BPR-Engineering GmbH, a manufacturer of industrial furnaces for the heat treatment of aluminium components based in Rheda – Wiedenbrück, Germany. The acquisition was completed in May this year.

“It was a logical step for us to expand our core competencies by adding heat treatment to our business. By acquiring Frank Herkenräder, the founder of BPR-Engineering GmbH and his team, we have found a company that shares our philosophy. In the future our mission will be to offer the technically most perfect, most sustainable and most economical heat treatment furnaces on the market,” said Rudi Riedel, CEO of the StrikoWestofen Group.

“The new Heat Treatment business unit pursues a holistic approach from the StrikoWestofen Group. From furnaces to quenching systems and product carriers are now not seen as individual components of a system but as an overall concept. This allows enormous cost savings due to the better coordination of processes. Also, the components are less susceptible to deformation, which reduces the necessary alignment work. That saves hard cash too,” points out Frank Herkenräder, head of the new Heat Treatment business unit.

“This is how a global market leader in the field of dosing and melting furnaces for the light metal industry is reacting to the growing trend towards optimising mechanical properties using heat treatment,” continued Riedel.

“Besides the manufacture of industrial furnaces we also offer intelligent solutions for higher efficiency in heat treatment. This includes for example our BPR specific rack concepts and unique quenching systems in addition to our various customised solutions,” said Riedel.

The systems now available from StrikoWestofen cover all phases of the heat treatment process, from fully automatic conveyor furnace facilities to individual chamber and overhead furnaces. In four-story continuous furnace systems, up to three different types of cast parts can be heat-treated at the same time. The modular system also allows flexible adaptation to the customer needs in each case.

The same is true for the chamber furnace systems that are especially suitable for the heat treatment of smaller numbers of pieces or of frequently changing ranges of parts. They consist of four to 22 furnaces, each of which can run a recipe of its own in parallel.

In addition, StrikoWestofen offer combined air-water quenching systems for especially high-quality cast parts. Product carriers adapted to the components and made of a particularly heat-resistant stainless steel alloy complete the portfolio.

For further information contact Ceramic & Alloy Specialists on TEL: 011 894 3039 or visit www.ceramicalloy.co.za