The Ceramics Expo is where the leaders of the advanced ceramics industry tout their products, announce their latest offerings, and discuss breakthroughs and advances in ceramics design, development and manufacturing. The Expo, held August 29-31, 2022, in Cleveland, Ohio, also featured a new event this year: the Thermal Management Expo, a large-scale exhibition and conference dedicated to advances in the thermal engineering sector. Thermcraft, along with many other leaders in the ceramics and thermal processing equipment industries, had a booth at the Expo.
Occupying a Custom Niche
Mark Wilhelm, sales manager at Thermcraft, says the company’s thermal processing equipment largely involves custom work. “A lot of companies in our business focus on off-the-shelf standard products and we do a few of those, but our niche is custom. My sales team here says every day is an adventure because of the custom nature of our work.” One example was working with an aerospace company that wanted to understand the impact of high temperatures on parts of a space helmet they were designing.
“We’re who you call when you need a unique furnace,” Mark says. It’s a tougher job. “We run our manufacturing processes for standard products, but then we have to be a job shop for the custom work that we might only build once every ten years.”
Small Company, Big Reputation
Mark says Thermcraft has tremendous reach within the thermal processing equipment industry due to its reputation for high quality and ability to provide furnaces, ovens, and specialized heaters to exact customer specifications. “The breadth of thermal applications we handle here is amazing, says Mark. “Everything from curing ceramics to heat-treating metal.”
“We have a very strong brand. While the high-tech industries tend to buy and sell each other a lot, I’ve had people come to the booth and say, ‘I bought a furnace from you 22 years ago when I worked at a different company. You did a great job for me there, now I need another one.’ We have a great name in the industry.”
You’ll have to wait until next year if you to visit the Ceramics Expo (held May 1-3, 2023 in Novi, Michigan), but you can learn more about our furnaces for the ceramics industry, including our tube furnaces and custom-designed furnaces, by visiting our website.