It’s hard to believe we’re halfway through 2020. And OMG, what a year it’s been.
Through it all, we at ThermoFusion have kept our spirits up and our doors open (except on weekends and holidays). Our furnaces are running (except when they’re getting PM’s or quality certifications). We’re wearing face masks and washing our hands often. We’ve even added a few pieces of new equipment to increase our capabilities.
We’re proud of our performance thus far this year, and we’re looking forward to an even better 2nd half of the year. – We’ll be re-audited for ISO, AS and Nadcap later this year. Using a heat treater without a quality certification is like using a mask with a hole in it – you may not know the parts are bad until they’re put into service. – We’re still looking for a few good people to add to our current team. – We’re looking at more investments we can make, to offer more services to our customers.
As always, we’re here to support you and make sure both you and we are successful. If you have any ideas on improvement, let us know!
It’s hard to believe it was March 16th when we sent everyone who was at risk home, to shelter in place. How the world has changed in two months.
On the other hand, this week we brought almost everyone back, we’re operating 2+ shifts a day, and we’re busy! We stand with all our customers, who seem as busy as us.
Here are our ThermoFusion updates for May:
Heat Treating and Brazing Classes: Glen and I will make ourselves available if you want to have a class for your engineers or buyers. We’re getting more experience with Zoom and WebEx, and we can always be there in person (with a mask and appropriate distancing, of course).
Lead Times: Lead times are still a little slow, 3 to 4 days for most processes instead of 2 to 3 days, but they’re speeding up from 2 weeks ago.
Pickup and Delivery: call Frank (510-782-7755 x237) to schedule a pickup. We’re back up to 3 drivers, and we’ll try to accommodate your pickup or delivery the same or the next day. If you bring parts to us, honk vigorously at the gate and we’ll open it up. You could call too, but honking is more fun. We also have a buzzer that you can ring.
Induction Hardening: We’re still building coils and running parts. And we added a new induction machine (the one we ordered in 2019), giving us a broader range of material we can work with.
Vacuum and Hydrogen work: We have 5 furnaces for vacuum work, 2 furnaces for atmospheric pressure hydrogen, and 1 furnace for partial pressure hydrogen.
Nitriding, Ferritic Nitrocarburizing: We updated the control system late last year, which has made the furnace much more efficient. This allows us to run 2 or 3 runs per week, essentially doubling our throughput. Our processes are still Northrop approved.
Certifications and Quality: Here’s a list of all our certs and accreditations: Nadcap, Honeywell, SpaceX, Northrop, ISO 9001:2015 and AS 9100D. We remain, even in these tumultuous times, ITAR compliant.
As always, give me a call (925-899-2067) or send me an email (nkjell@thermo-fusion.com) if you have any questions.
As one of my commanders used to say, “Flexibility is the key to success on the modern battlefield.” We’re trying to remain flexible, shifting personnel to new tasks, and maintaining communications with our customers. Yes, we’re an essential business based on our work mix within industries.
I am sending out this quick email to let you know that ThermoFusion is still here, still working, and still being as flexible as possible to meet your needs.
Check our website, www.thermo-fusion.com and especially the Blog page – we’re posting updates there whenever something changes.
We’re on ThomasNet, which has other resources for companies during this interesting time. We occasionally post on LinkedIn and Facebook. Sorry, we’re still not on Instagram or Twitter – would it be helpful if we were? #HashtagTheCowboy seems to be adding a lot on Twitter!
Here are our ThermoFusion updates for April, feel free to reach out to me if you have any specific questions:
Heat Treating and Brazing Classes: Glen and I will make ourselves available if you want to have a class for your engineers or buyers.
Personnel: We are working a minimal crew to maintain operations while social distancing. We’re ready for Governor Newsom to open California up for full work again!
Lead Times: With our basic minimum crew it’s a lot more limited, so lead times have increased a day or two. If your work supports the local medical community, we’ll prioritize it.
Pickup and Delivery: call Frank (510-782-7755 x237) to schedule a pickup. We’re down from 4 drivers to 2, and will try to accommodate your pickup or delivery as best as possible. If you bring parts to us, honk vigorously at the gate and we’ll open it up. You could call too, but honking is more fun.
Induction Hardening: We’re still building coils and running parts.
Carburizing, Quench and Temper: Our two furnaces are fully operational.
Vacuum Hardening, Vacuum Brazing: We have 5 furnaces for vacuum work. We’re still running tooling twice a week, for right now it’s on Tuesday and Thursday very early in the morning.
Hydrogen Annealing, Hydrogen Brazing: We have 2 furnaces for atmospheric pressure hydrogen, and 1 furnace for partial pressure hydrogen.
Nitriding, Ferritic Nitrocarburizing: We updated the control system late last year, which has made the furnace much more efficient. This allows us to run 2 or 3 runs per week, essentially doubling our throughput. Our processes are still Northrop approved.
Certifications and Quality: We attained Nadcap, Honeywell and SpaceX approvals late last year. We maintain our Northrop SPARS. We’re still ISO and AS certified, going on 10 years now. We remain, even in these tumultuous times, ITAR compliant.
A short video from our President regarding our continuing operations as an essential business, and that our people are safe.
To Our Valued Friends and Customers,
As you know, it’s a strange new world these days. We’re all trying to navigate it as best as possible.
Here at ThermoFusion, we’re operating with essential personnel to heat treat and braze our customer’s essential parts. Many of these parts go into the electrical power grid, medical devices, defense or aerospace components, making our work essential.
If you call and no one answers, don’t be alarmed, we’re not answering the phone all the time, but we are checking messages. Our shipping and receiving is open from 7am to 4pm, we’re accepting UPS, FedEx and freight shipments, and Glen and Nils are responding to emails including RFQ’s and print reviews (info@thermo-fusion.com).
Outside of pickups and deliveries ThermoFusion is requesting that all our customers and vendors refrain from visiting our site. Just give us a call or email and we can set up a virtual meeting.
As for our people, so far we’re all safe, and taking the necessary precautions. We hope the best for you and your teams, and we’re here to support you in any way we can.
