With seven decades of service, RHT serves the nation’s leading companies and is one of few in its field with vertical heat treat capabilities
Written by Sarah WolfeWhen you’re working on equipment for the military and aerospace sectors, precision is crucial and every detail must be exact. Rex Heat Treat has what it takes as a heat treater for these industries, with more capabilities under one roof than any other heat treater on the East Coast. The Pennsylvania-based business counts several of the nation’s top aerospace companies and energy providers among the clients it regularly works with through subcontracts.
“The parts we thermally process – primarily metal – for these clients has to be exact,” says Johnathan Rex, Plant Manager of RHT’s Lansdale operations. “We have 50 furnaces overall, including 70-inch wide by 20-foot long and 60-inch wide by 15-foot-long ones, where we can suspend large parts. We’re one of the few heat treaters that can heat parts vertically of this size.”
With ISO and Nadcap certification, RHT processes nuclear and defense applications and its services have played a role in the Mars Explorer Program. It’s currently working on new products for some of the country’s new fighter jets. Parts it sees now include missile components and rotar and drive shafts for vehicles and aircraft. “People’s lives depend on the work that we do,” Rex says.
RHT additionally provides conversion services for raw material producers. This raw material is used for heavy-duty bolts and bearings for clients in the power generation sector – both nuclear and renewable, particularly for wind turbines.
“We also process a lot of stainless steel and titanium material for underwater applications that are resistant against deterioration from salt water, as well as for use in nuclear plants,” says Chris Constable, Sales Manager.
RHT is the only heat treater to have received the National Small Business Subcontractor of the Year award.
Family legacy
RHT has been sharing its expertise with clients since 1938, when J. Walter Rex and Elmer Erb founded the business in a two-car garage in Lansdale, PA. The business’ growth took off during WWII when there was a major demand for heat treating services to create aircraft, guns and hand tools. From there RHT grew through the decades, with J. Walter’s son, John W. Rex, taking over in 1973. John Rex still works for the company as President alongside his son, Johnathan Rex, who joined the family business in 1990 as a utility worker and progressed to his Plant Manager position. Constable joined nine years ago with a background in metal fabrication.
RHT has since expanded from its original location to Bedford, PA, and Anniston, AL. The two handle tractor trailer parts and the Bedford plant also processes materials for the drilling and coal mining industry in addition to defense and nuclear work.
In the past decade RHT has maintained steady growth, even in the current economy. The company is on a hiring freeze and is holding tight to its current staff of 120 – with no layoffs to date.
“What sets us apart is having a very talented team of individuals who have a ton of industry experience. Next would be our relationship with customers,” Rex says. “We’ve learned the hard way you have to make commitments to follow through. Things don’t always go perfectly in manufacturing and it’s scary how bad customer service and communication can be in this country. It’s crucial to keep an open line of communication with customers.”
RHT’s staff is also treated well, with employee appreciation events once a month and ideas flowing freely – the winning suggestions featured in the company’s newsletter. New staff members are recruited through Vo-Tech and community college programs for basic positions, from which they can eventually move up into heat treating.
Energy savings
Among the recent trends RHT has encountered, energy costs are top of the list.
“We’re heavy users of natural gas as well as electricity in our processes. Unfortunately we’ve had a surcharge in the past with customers. That goes up and down based on how energy costs impact us,” Rex says. “Right now it’s at 2 percent and it will go down to zero if at all possible.”
To help control the amount of heat used during a treatment process – saving energy – RHT has implemented better control of how equipment turns on and off. Originally the equipment heated 100 percent, but with SCR improvements it’s now able to heat to the exact percentage of power needed for a particular output required.
“We just built a 22-foot pit for titanium products that requires precise cooling rates at exactly 3-7 degrees to the minute. We designed the cooling systems for that in response to a specific emerging new material,” Rex says. “We’re flexible to meet the needs of clients in manufacturing. That’s been the core of the business since my grandfather started it.”
Suppliers and technology
RHT has one tractor trailer for moving parts locally, but most of its work is shipped by clients from around the country, as well as Austria and UK, to the company’s three sites and then picked up afterward. For the cranes and equipment used in its facilities, the company prefers to maintain long-term partnerships with vendors versus bidding. Its logistics are outsourced and all maintenance is done within the company.
As far as technology, the largest upgrade has been switching from paper to digital, which has significantly streamlined operations and allowed information to be conveyed in real time. Adding automated computer controls to its furnaces has also been a big step for the company and, adding to its energy savings, RHT has just signed a contract to have high-intensity fluorescent lighting installed with a one-year payback.
Becoming world class
As far as its markets, Constable says the company hopes to in one year increase its power generation clientele five percent and in five years 10 percent. The most significant growth is expected from that industry as well as aerospace – particularly with new military aircraft.
“This time next year I expect we’ll be climbing out of the recession and hope to have ourselves back to our 2008 levels,” Rex adds. “Five years from now we expect we will be world class and our sales will have nearly doubled. We also aim to have a facility out in the Western US that will have vertical heat treating like our East Coast facility.”
View Digital Corporate Profile of Rex Heat Trent in Energy Digital July 2009