Pyromaître made many important discoveries and advancements that helped craft the company’s reputation as a world class manufacturer of gas & electric industrial ovens, such as the fact that high-speed processing reduced treatment variations, effectively eliminating out-of-tolerance/scrap parts.
Interview with Alex Grenier Desbiens, Product & Service Manager at Pyromaître.
A brief description of the company and its activities.
Alex Grenier Desbiens: At Pyromaître, as a leading industrial oven manufacturer, we take pride in delivering top-quality products that meet the needs of businesses of all sizes. Our commitment to excellence drives us to design and manufacture industrial conveyor ovens and furnaces that embody the latest technologies and premium components. The result is an array of industrial ovens that offer reliability and efficiency while meeting any industry’s standards.
What are the main areas of activity of the company?
A.G.D: Our machines are used for Stress Relieving and Tempering of various parts such as Springs, Wireforms, Constant Velocity Joints, Shafts and more, for the automotive, agriculture and heavy-duty industries. We have many good customers that approved our technology such as Ford, Bombardier, Magna, Bharat Forge, NTN, GKN, Liberty Spring, Lesjofors, PAC, Linamar, Triangle, Valeo, Visteon, Hagens Fjedre, United Spring, Mid Continent Spring and many more.
What’s the news about new products/services?
A.G.D: Introducing our brand-new oven prototype, the P106-BASIC. Specifically designed for small springs, this oven combines quality and reliability with an unbeatable price. Perfect for Small Springs: Lower convection prevents small springs from blowing. This oven has a Compact Design: Slim footprint fits seamlessly with small spring coilers. It is also user-friendly: Touchscreen HMI with the latest controls for easy operation. The P106-BASIC is Low Maintenance: simple design means less upkeep. It has also a shaft mounted conveyor gearbox offering more clearance for catching parts at the outlet. We need to mention the Versatile Conveyor Control: Speed variability from 1 minute to theoretically unlimited. It offers Reliable Performance: Operating temp up to 1000°F +/-20F uniformity ensures consistent results. Get all the essential stress-relieving functions at ~40 % less cost than standard Pyro ovens. Upgrade your operations with the P106-BASIC, where efficiency meets affordability.
What are the ranges of products/services?
A.G.D: Our variety of ovens, including electric industrial ovens, gas industrial ovens, and custom-made industrial ovens. The ovens can be used for annealing, stress relieving and tempering. Pyro ovens can also be equipped with three different types of cooling chambers : PyroCool, recirculating cooler and waterspray cooler.
What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
A.G.D: The economy is a bit slow. Businesses are also facing many challenges. Employees are hard to find and keep. Industry 4.0 and automation help with this reality. There are also the rising costs of operating. Another topic: decarbonization. Many countries passed laws about it, so businesses need to adjust. Energy efficiency of equipment and processes helps with operating costs and decarbonization. Our Pyrograph simulation software helps them both by automating the optimization of processes.
What can you tell us about market trends?
A.G.D: Industry 4.0 is a big trend, which mixes real-time remote monitoring, anomaly detection, predictive maintenance and automated decisioning systems. Connectivity, data and AI are a big part of it. Another trend is the energy efficiency to consume less energy and save money.
With our Pyrograph application, it automates process optimization. The app simulates the heat transfer in forced convection ovens during heat treatment of metallic parts. We can see just how much faster heat treatment can be performed with a Pyromaître Oven than with traditional heat treatment processes. It can also be used by existing Pyromaître clients to find out how to further optimize their process.
What are the most innovative products/services marketed?
A.G.D: We have developed a technology that allows to stress relief/temper parts in a shorter cycle time giving you :
- -Cut cycle time from 3 to 10-folds
- -Energy savings up to 25%
- -Floor space savings up to 70%
- -High velocity motors and fans, increased treatment uniformity for less rejects
- -Most durable heating elements on the market, unmatched performance and productivity (5-year warranty on heating elements)
- -Heavy duty construction, proven reliability (3-year warranty on parts)
- -CQI-9 Compliant
What estimations do you have for the rest of 2024?
A.G.D: We are in discussions with some compagnies who are interested in buying our products. We also get ready for 2025. Pyromaître is in a constant quest to improve. We invest 4 % of our turnover in Research and Development. We use a variety of Computational Fluid Dynamics software (CFD) to better understand and optimize our ovens. Some of the features that we have successfully commercialized are the Dynamic Heat Loss Control System, the Dynamic Heat Distribution System and Rapid Cooling. Other projects allow us to optimize oven designs by calculating fan pressure with various speeds and fan diameters, to optimize uniformity and much more.
