The Reese Hardening Plants have been actively involved in these developments, and we were glad to have been able to pass our know-how on to technical designers and engineers in the machine and instrument construction industries. Indeed this policy reflects a firm conviction on our part: if highly stressed constructional components are to be durable and wear-resistant on the one hand and to be produced cost-effectively on the other, only a close coordination of construction and hardening technology can ensure optimal results.

In this Websites we have gathered together news relating to hardening technology and to the Reese company group. In so doing, we have confined our attention largely to the hardening plant in Bochum. In future editions we plan to introduce the other hardening plants in Brackenheim, Chemnitz and Weimar.

Although we are proud of the fact that our quality management team has for its efforts been awarded the corresponding DIN EN ISO 9001 certification, we do not intend to rest on our laurels. This certification is only the basis for a more comprehensive TQM (Total Quality Management)-System, the establishment of which began already in February 1997.

The transition from a QM-system to a TQM-system can first be regarded as completed when the latter has been adopted by every employee and every department, and customer and employee satisfaction is continually on the rise. And to achieve this is precisely our goal. One way of attaining it, for example, is by submitting all operational stages to ongoing controls and .documentation. The regular conduct of surveys among customers and employees is, however, for us just as important a part of the TQM-process.

In this issue you can see for yourself all that we are doing to ensure reproducible quality - and at the same time inform yourself of all the advantages that our new facilities have to offer you!

The Weimar-based company, which is currently the most important topic discussed by our association, presents itself as a service company having special know-how in the fields of heat treatment of serial parts used for the manufacture of gearboxes and individual tools made of high-alloy steels.

After months in operation, the new line of automated multipurpose batch furnaces has passed the test. Customers appreciate the precision of the process and the reproducible hardening properties in the documentation.

The new line of furnaces is above all suitable for the case-hardening and carbonitriding of mass-produced parts with subsequent quenching in oil. Process controllers regulate all important process parameters with high precision.

Care must be taken when high-load drive elements are reground after case-hardening. Grinding a tooth profile can cause spot overheating that can give rise to detrimental microstructural changes, in other words, to a drop in hardness. This damage becomes apparent only after a temper etch inspection. This service is now being offered by the Reese hardening plant in Bochum.

Reese hardening plants have assumed a leading position not only in technology and customer advice. Customer orientation, too, adopts centre stage in our logistic services. Whereas many companies outsource everything that does not form part of their core business, our hardening plant in Bochum has established, for example, its own delivery service which fetches the parts for hardening from the customers' and returns them after the heat treatment. This service is available under tel. (0234) 90 36-66.

A service that can result in great savings is early advice in design and material issues. By taking heat treatment into consideration at the start of the design stage and by including, for example, grinding allowances or a material suitable for heat treatment in your plans, you can circumvent expensive intermediate and postprocessing stages. Our specialists at the Reese hardening plants will be pleased to assist you. The hotline to our advisory service team: (0234) 90 36-50.

This involved extensive preliminary work: processes causing environmental pollution were superseded, all material and energy flows were precisely determined, the principle of 'prevention before recycling, recycling before disposal' was implemented throughout the company, and an environmental hazard analysis was drawn up. The training of staff and their inclusion in planning and organization was and is a factor as equally important as the foresighted examination of every new activity and every new procedure for its possible effects on the environment. Read our Environmental Statement 1999 for more information. This statement is also available on request in printed form, simply call us on (0234) 90 36-60.

We prevent.
Every new activity, every new procedure is evaluated at the outset with respect to its possible effects on the environment. Emergency planning enables us to react to possible accidents.

Success is our joint aim.
The Reese hardening plant in Bochum informs, trains, and includes all staff in environmental protection. This same standard also applies to our contracting parties. 

We monitor and regulate.
All relevant effects on the environment are constantly determined, evaluated, and monitored. Pollution to the environment is avoided wherever possible or reduced to the minimum.

Our ideal is constant improvement.
Our management system helps us to recognize potential for improvement, to implement this in practice, and to evaluate the effects.

This event, organized in cooperation with system suppliers and the Ruhr University of Bochum, was met with such great interest that there are plans for a further Heat Treatment Forum in the year 2000.

For many ferrous products that need a hard or low-wearing surface, hardening only the top surface layers proves an adequate measure. Martensite surface hardening considerably increases the surface hardness of steels. This paper presents the methods that have been established and optimized over many years in flame and induction hardening. 

For the purpose of minimising changes in dimensions and shape, nitriding cannot replace case hardening until the respective component has first been analysed and, if necessary, supplementary field trials have been conducted as well. Two examples taken from practice show that this substitution is in fact possible. Promising results are obtained when there is close cooperation between the manufacturer of the component, the materials expert, and the heat treatment provider.