The proper testing and inspection of products can make or break a company, so it’s essential those important tasks are done correctly and efficiently.
With a century’s worth of experience, the minds behind Industrial Physics and its group of specialist testing brands, including TQC Sheen, C&W Equipment, Systech Illinois, Eagle Vision, and many more, have been ensuring the integrity of brands and products for customers across a huge gamut of industries, including heat treating.
“That means working with manufacturers, production lines, and laboratories with their R&D and quality control needs across a wealth of different industries all over the world,” said Nico Frankhuizen, manager of product management at Industrial Physics. “With the power of Industrial Physics, the scope is enormous. We could be dealing with companies that operate within the food and beverage industry, to metal packaging, to flexible packaging, to inks and coatings, to pharmaceuticals, to medical devices, to electronics, and to many more.”
Brand reputation
This assurance that materials are being protected is essential to keeping brand reputation intact, according to Frankhuizen.
“Obviously big brands really don’t want to damage their reputation or lose out on money, and it’s our job to prevent any risks within this area; we do this by providing a range of different products that support a variety of testing needs,” he said. “One of our specialist testing brands, TQC Sheen, offers highly extensive scope equipment for the inks and coating space. From abrasion testing, to gloss testing, to appearance analysis, we have a wealth of solutions on offer.”
Specifically for the heat-treating industry, Industrial Physics provides key solutions for thermal logging and gas analysis, according to Frankhuizen. In particular, Industrial Physics’ TQC Sheen CurveX 4 and CurveX Nano Oven Logger kit have energy-saving properties.
“Our TQC Sheen CurveX range offers manufacturers that use industrial ovens a highly effective method of reducing energy consumption, optimizing production processes, and delivering a rapid return on investment,” he said. “The information generated by the data loggers allows users to fully understand how efficiently their oven and production processes are running.”
The equipment calculates the provided energy levels to the heat-treatment process in order to make sure the customer isn’t wasting money and the process is handled efficiently, according to Frankhuizen.
Oxygen gas analyzers
Systech Illinois — another specialist testing brand belonging to the Industrial Physics group — offers process oxygen gas analyzers that allow customers to save on their inert-gas consumption by maintaining the correct climatic conditions within their ovens, according to Frankhuizen.
“Ultimately, these advanced solutions allow customers to make more accurate decisions that save resource, energy, and ultimately money.” he said.
Integrity protection
And all that technological expertise circles back to Industrial Physics’ core purpose, which is to protect the integrity of its customers’ brands and products.
“We do that across all of our different testing solutions,” Frankhuizen said. “And that would be no different within the heat-treatment industry. We’re there to protect and to make sure that quality is upheld. Really, it’s all about the protection for our customers.”
And as the world has advanced, Frankhuizen emphasized that Industrial Physics has kept pace along with it.
“I think as the world evolves, technology evolves and instruments advance,” he said. “Across the entire landscape of Industrial Physics, our instruments have advanced. We have got some of the best experts in the world at Industrial Physics within the world of testing. And we have so many different products that I think we’re able to make sure that we’re offering products with the best quality. Our products have more advanced solutions that mirror the industry’s overall evolution. It allows for more precise analysis, and that also allows for a safer and more stable production environment for our customers.”
Working with customers
To maintain that integrity with its customers, Frankhuizen said it’s important that the company work closely with their customers to directly address any challenges that may arise.
“We would look at the issue and the analysis that’s required,” he said. “We have a plethora of different products on offer, but it’s really about making sure that we’re fully understanding every single customer’s need and getting to grips with exactly what it is that they’re trying to achieve. We’re passionate about making sure that we’re not just a provider of products, but a true partner — all of our team are actively working with our customers to look at all of the different testing techniques and testing solutions that we have in order to find the right one for them.”
That collaboration with a customer is critical, according to Frankhuizen.
“We don’t purely look at the specifications of the process, but the culture in the company — what it is that they need on many different levels — then we help find a solution for them.” he said.
Those types of customer services have helped Industrial Physics maintain its success during its path to become a large collaborative organization, according to Frankhuizen.
“By bringing all of these specialist testing brands together under the Industrial Physics umbrella, we have the combined power of expertise across many different specialisms that support a broad range of industries — this allows us to offer a truly unique approach,” he said. “Industrial Physics encompasses all of the power of a global organization, but we have specialists on the ground, and this allows us to be able to offer a truly localized approach when it comes to service.”
“A customer could enquire about something really specific within heat treatment, but they might have five other problems that they need to solve in regards to their test and inspection requirements,” Frankhuizen said. “We have a wide basket of solutions across a multitude of testing applications that allow us to support customers across a range of industries.”
Looking to an eco-conscious future
And that will become even more important as the world becomes more energy conscious and eco-friendly, according to Frankhuizen, which means companies like Industrial Physics will need to offer newer and better production principles to go along with those changing standards.
With its CurveX4 and CurveX Nano products, Frankhuizen said Industrial Physics is already on the cutting edge of offering solutions that can cut energy use by implementing an effective method of mitigating the effects of recent energy-price increases.
“Our CurveX solution offers intelligent temperature data logging systems that are specifically designed to provide users with complete profiles about their ovens and advanced insights of their coating productions,” he said. “In fact, one of our customers used our solution to reduce their energy consumption by two-thirds.”
Reducing fuel usage has helped Industrial Physics’ customers meet their environmental commitments by reducing greenhouse gas emission at a time when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is calling on all nations to address climate change, according to Frankhuizen.
“Industrial Physics’ CurveX4 and Curve X Nano Temperate Data Loggers achieve impressive energy-use reductions in industrial ovens by providing highly accurate information about the drying/curing time of the products,” he said.
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