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Most people have no idea that the casing on their cell phone is probably made from powdered metal. Ditto for the case on their wristwatch and the hinges that hold their eyeglasses together. Also, those same folks are probably not aware of the advanced, high-tech heating/cooling processes used to transform the powdered metals that made these and hundreds of other products.
That’s perfectly okay with Suresh Jhawar, because in the long run those people probably don’t care anyway. But as CEO of G-M Enterprises (Corona, CA), a world leader in the manufacturer of vacuum furnaces, he knows full well that his customers do care a great deal and rely on his equipment to produce high quality products for their own customers (end-users).
Jhawar hails from India where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics at the University of Calcutta. Years ago he immigrated to the U.S. and earned a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering with emphasis in Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics, along with an MBA from Marquette University. He has worked in the furnace industry since the 1970s and joined G-M in 1987. He eventually bought the company from the founders and led its transition from a service company for furnaces to becoming a manufacturer and marketer of vacuum furnaces.
“We were only a California company in the beginning, so our next objective was to go national,” notes Jhawar. “We went international in 1989, soon after I was approached by a friend at a trade show in France who wanted to buy one of our vacuum furnaces.” G-M furnaces now operate in Bangkok, Brazil, Canada, China, Dubai, England, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Romania, Singapore, and Taiwan.
His wife Veena, who is president of G-M, also came from India and has an undergraduate degree in Education and a Masters in Economics. She oversees cost controls, while maintaining a high level of quality assurance in all of its products.
G-M has grown into a $20 million company with 50 employees. 30 percent of sales come from international markets and 70 percent from domestic markets. Besides cell phone and watch companies, its core customer groups include NASA, the aircraft engine industry, turbine manufacturers for electric and gas powered generators, and companies that produce medical implants for joint replacements. G-M furnaces are also used by manufacturers of tool and die, golf clubs, and automotive parts.
“During the last three years, every year has been better that the one before. 2008 was our best ever,” he says. “We started off 2009 about 30 percent off, but overall we expect our business to only be about 20 percent off by the end of the year.”
The rise in production of parts and products made from powdered metals during the last few decades has been due in large part to increased costs of fabricating parts from sheet metals. Jhawar could see the trend coming and positioned his company to meet demand.
He formed a strong relationship with Super Radiator Coils (SRC; Chaska, MN) to manufacture high performance heat exchanger coils that rapidly cool down G-M’s vacuum furnaces and the products inside them at precise temperatures and rates.
Founded in 1927, SRC is a $76 million company that employs 320 people at its plants in Phoenix, AZ; Chaska, MN; and Richmond, VA. It manufactures condenser, evaporator, steam and other coils for more than 20 industries, including HVAC equipment manufacturers; chemical producers; petroleum operations; pharmaceuticals; pulp and paper companies; food processing, storage and display equipment; and textile makers.
Twenty years later their partnership continues, including G-M’s reliance on SRC to develop an advanced, round heat exchanger coil for a totally new concept in vacuum furnaces called Quantum Quench™.
The new furnace resembles a horizontal cylinder about the size of a large pickup truck and is available in seven models that range in load capacities from 1,200 to 4,500 lb. The new series gets its name from the cooling arrangements that divide the inside of the furnace into four quadrants. Super rapid cooling, or “super quenching,” can be done in one of the quadrants or in any combination to control distortion and metallurgical properties of the products being produced. “This furnace provides much faster quenching in the areas needed, when needed,” explains Jhawar. “Whatever was being heated before in a vacuum furnace at four atmospheres of pressure can now be done at two atmospheres in this system, which saves energy and money.”