Molten Salt Bath Pumpout for an Aircraft Manufacturer
The situation. A general aviation aircraft manufacturer needed a molten salt bath pumped out of an AJAX-style furnace — a task very few contractors in the country are qualified to plan, let alone perform. Molten salt work combines high-temperature hazards, salt chemistry, containment and disposal requirements, and equipment that is often decades old with incomplete documentation.
Our approach. We began with detailed planning and estimating against the furnace's actual condition rather than assumptions, developed the pumpout procedure, and coordinated containment, handling, and logistics with the customer's environmental and safety teams. The same engagement produced improved planning and estimating practices for the customer's other furnaces.
The result. A safe, controlled pumpout executed to plan — and our pumpout operations scale: a recent large-scale project staged more than 250 fifty-five gallon drums — and a customer with a documented, repeatable process for the rest of their salt equipment fleet.
Vacuum Pump Rebuild Program for a Refractory Metals Producer
The situation. A refractory metals manufacturer was running Oerlikon Leybold Trivac D40B rotary vane pumps on critical vacuum processes. Replacement lead times and cost made new pumps unattractive; degraded pumps meant longer pump-down times and process risk.
Our approach. Each pump went through a documented evaluation — blank-off pressure, contamination assessment, seal and vane condition — followed by a complete major rebuild: full teardown, parts replacement, reassembly, and performance verification before return to service. The program ran as repeat engagements as additional pumps came due.
The result. Restored pump performance at a fraction of replacement cost, with documented baselines for future condition monitoring. The customer returned for additional rebuilds — the simplest endorsement there is.
Custom Production-Tracking Platform for a Commercial Heat Treater
The situation. A commercial heat treating company had outgrown paper travelers and spreadsheets. Off-the-shelf MES systems were too heavy, too rigid, and priced for plants ten times their size. They needed order tracking, PPAP hold management, process documentation, label printing, and customer reporting — shaped to how their plant actually runs.
Our approach. We designed and built a custom production-tracking and certification platform, then kept building: hundreds of incremental releases since 2021, each driven by real requests from the floor — new hold workflows, salt drop tracking, automated notifications, backend performance work, and integrations with label and document systems.
The result. A platform in daily use across the plant, owned by the customer rather than rented from a vendor, evolving at the pace of their operation. It is the difference between software bought for a plant and software built from inside one.