Page 8 - MetalForming November 2013

News Fronts
Agreements
Esab Selected to Support Fabrication of NASA’s Next-Generation Fuel Tank
Friction stir welding is the process of choice selected to weld the main fuel tank of NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS), and providing the welding technology to NASA and its contractor Boe- ing is the Esab facility in Laxa, Sweden. Esab, with North American operations headquartered in Florence, SC, will construct a giant orbital-welding system (dubbed Vertical Assembly Center) to circumferentially weld fuel-tank sections together using the friction-stir process. The SLS project, America’s next-generation
space program, is slated for launch in 2017.
Motch & Eichele Acquires NC Distributor of Machine Tools and Metrology Equipment
Machine-tool distributor and turnkey system provider Motch & Eichele Co., Cuya- hoga Falls, OH, has acquired Crotts & Saunders Engineer- ing, Inc., Winston-Salem, NC. Now known as Crotts & Saunders, LLC, the firm dis- tributes metal-cutting and grinding equipment, as well as metrology equipment such as coordinate-measur- ing machines, vision systems and optical comparators.
The Corrosion Dr. is In at Penn Stainless
Stainless-steel distributor and processor Penn Stain-
less Products, Inc., Quaker- town, PA, has forged a part- nership with metallurgist and corrosion consultant Dr. Hira Ahluwalia, Ph.D., president of Material Selection Resources, Inc. Known as “Dr. Metals,” Ahluwalia will support Penn’s customers with material selection and testing, and corrosion analysis. Penn Stainless provides sheet, plate, bar, structural, pipe and tubular products.
ASM Heat Treating Society (HTS), for the 2013-2015 term. Jones has been a member of the ASM Philadel- phia Liberty Bell Chapter since 1983, served as Chap- ter Chair (1993-1994), and also chaired the NTS Educa- tion Committee. Solar Atmospheres provides com- mercial vacuum heat-treating services.
Awards
Stewart EFI Earns 3M Supplier Excellence Award
Metalformer Stewart EFI, Thomaston, CT, has received a 3M ESPE award for out- standing achievement of quality excellence. A supplier of deep-drawn, progressive- die and slideformed metal
6 MetalForming/November 2013
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Associations
Solar Atmospheres’ President Takes
Top Spot at
Heat Treating Society
Roger A. Jones, corporate president of Solar Atmos- pheres, Souderton, PA, is the new president of the
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