Press Releases

June 22, 2026 – Just over a year after celebrating a long-standing automotive customer’s achievement of processing their 1,000,000th load through their ECM vacuum furnace systems, ECM has achieved another major accomplishment - the commissioning of the 500th heating cell in North America (Canada, USA & Mexico). These furnaces range from single-cell to large-scale multi-cell installations with multi-process capabilities, such as: LPC, FNC, nitriding, brazing, sintering, debinding, degassing, high pressure gas and oil quenching, and more.

May 11, 2026 - Longstanding ECM USA customer, Andis (Sturtevant, WI family-owned professional grade electric hair clipper/handheld grooming tools manufacturer), recently successfully finalized their FLEX vacuum furnace system PLC upgrade with a top-of-the-line processor and communication network. This 3-cell hardening modular furnace operates around 950°C with a 20 Bar gas quench, L/U cell and an automated loading/unloading line. Replacing molten salt baths 15 years ago, this ECM furnace is critical to their Wisconsin operations for a clean heat treatment to avoid part discoloration and the need for post-heat treat cleaning.

March 23, 2026 - ECM USA is pleased to announce the appointment of Marco Möser to Senior Sales Engineer for the Western U.S., reinforcing our dedication to meet increasing demand for advanced vacuum furnace technology across the United States. With more than 25 years of experience in the heat treatment industry, Marco brings extensive expertise in supporting OEMs on large-scale automotive programs (ex. 8/9/10-speed transmission programs). His strong technical expertise and analytical approach position him to play a key role in advancing ECM USA’s sales strategy and enhancing customer success.

May 27, 2025 - ECM USA proudly announces the upcoming retirement of William (Bill) Gornicki, effective June 2025. After an exceptional 35-year career in the heat treat industry, Bill will be stepping into a well-earned retirement. The entire ECM team extends our deepest gratitude and warmest wishes to Bill as he embarks on this exciting new chapter. Bill joined ECM USA in 2020, bringing with him a wealth of experience and leadership in vacuum furnace technology and low-pressure carburizing (LPC).

April 21, 2025 – Congratulations to the SEW-EURODRIVE heat treatment team for the completion of their fully automated in-house vacuum furnace system integrated with their patented MOVI-TRANS® inductive energy power transfer system (pictured parallel with ECM’s transfer system rails). SEW-EURODRIVE, prominent global manufacturer, partnered with ECM USA to commission a modular NANO vacuum furnace system completely integrated with advanced automation for their Lyman, South Carolina facility in JUNE 2023.

Pleasant Prairie, WI – April 1, 2025 – The Mexico heat treatment industry has a new vacuum furnace supplier entity – ECM Mexico, doing business as MEXVAC ECM, S.A. DE C.V., a subsidiary of ECM USA, Inc.

Pleasant Prairie, WI – 1 de abril de 2025 – La industria mexicana de tratamiento térmico cuenta con un nuevo proveedor de hornos de vacío: ECM México, que opera como MEXVAC ECM, S.A. DE C.V., subsidiaria de ECM USA.

November 14, 2024 - On November 7th, ECM USA’s Vincent Lelong presented low pressure carburizing with vacuum furnace technology at Purdue University's School of Materials Engineering undergraduate seminar. This seminar regularly features industry speakers, some of whom are members of the Purdue Heat Treating Consortium.

August 26, 2024 – PAI Industries, renowned manufacturer and distributor of high-quality parts to the heavy-duty truck industry, has partnered with ECM to bring heat treatment in-house with a NANO vacuum furnace system. Adding to the already impressive 112,000ft2 manufacturing facility with state-of-the-art machinery in Suwanee, GA, and exemplary outsourced heat treating, this in-house system expands PAI’s capabilities to expedite production and increase capacity.

February 1, 2024 – ECM USA is excited to announce the addition of Dave Wolfe to our team as a Senior Sales Engineer. Formerly serving as an East Coast representative based in Pennsylvania, Dave brings a wealth of experience to our organization. His extensive sales background encompasses not only ECM vacuum furnaces but also spans 30 years of technical sales expertise, demonstrating a consistent track record in delivering customer-focused solutions for a diverse range of thermal processing equipment, including Photovoltaic/PV applications.

June 5, 2023 - ECM USA has partnered with prominent global manufacturer, SEW-EURODRIVE, to commission a modular NANO vacuum furnace system completely integrated with advanced automation for their Lyman, South Carolina facility. It is the third ECM NANO system with integrated robotics and advanced capabilities for the US heat treat market within the last two years. The system was specifically designed to run multiple materials (including carburized grades and tool steels) and has the modular flexibility to adapt to an increase in production for various load scenarios and processes. SEW-EURODRIVE MOVITRANS® (SEW-EURODRIVE’s patented inductive energy power transfer supply system) will also be incorporated within ECM’s vacuum furnace transfer system.

November 8, 2021 – ECM USA Director of Sales, Bill Gornicki, announces the purchase of a NANO system for deployment into the North American aerospace manufacturing market. The NANO flexibility provides a variety of processes including LPC (Low Pressure Carburizing), hardening, brazing and annealing. ECM’s advanced automation capabilities also integrate the NANO with cryogenics, tempering and pre-washing. As more aerospace manufacturers migrate to streamlined manufacturing techniques, the value rises for predictive production with defined takt time. This system is equipped with 3 treatment cells (upgradable to 6) for multi-process operation, all within the same vacuum chamber. The multi-process zones share a common high pressure gas quenching chamber rated up to 20 bar absolute pressure. The consistency of automation and unmanned operation integrate hybrid pre-cleaning capabilities. As per aerospace requirements, all system controls are designed and manufactured to UL requirements.

October 25, 2021 – ECM’s product expansion with research & development and laboratory furnace systems, brand name JIPELEC, has proven highly successful within the academic and semiconductor industries. With the recent increased interest in US semiconductor research and manufacturing, ECM is excited to announce a strong bi-monthly sales order pattern for 2021. These smaller-scale system processes range from rapid thermal processing (RTP), annealing (RTA), oxidation (RTO), nitridation (RTN), diffusion (RTD) to sulfurization, selenization and crystallization. Of the several orders placed so far in 2021, the bench-top JIPELEC JetFirst 100-200 product line leads the way as a cold-wall, single-wafer RTP furnace for process engineering and qualification utilizing atmospheric or vacuum thermal treatment.

August 30, 2021 – Mercury Marine of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, recently launched a plan to upgrade its heat-treating capabilities with a move to the low-pressure carburization and high-pressure gas quench system. Partnering with ECM Technologies, the new plan incorporates completely automated Nano vacuum heat treating systems. The innovative Nano system incorporates 20 bar nitrogen gas quenching along with Low Pressure Carburizing (aka vacuum carburizing). The Nano, with its versatile configuration, will operate several different carburizing, hardening, and spheroidizing processes simultaneously. This change marks a departure from Mercury’s traditional atmospheric carburization and oil quench system while benefiting from advantages that come with vacuum processing.