Production-integrated vacuum heat treatment systems in the automotive industry

To secure the required properties of highly stressed parts from the automotive industry these parts need to be heat treated, in many cases case hardened. This is traditionally performed in central hardening shops. However, the separation between machining and heat treatment involves great efforts regarding transport and buffering of parts leading to extended throughput times and therefore additional costs. The use of modern vacuum heat treatment technologies and the introduction of flexible, modular heat treatment systems allows for the integration of heat treatment into the mechanical production environment, and as of recently also directly into the process chain of part manufacturing.