Nutec Bickley

The Best Furnaces for Your Industry

Nutec Industrial (later to become Nutec Bickley) was established on June 14, 1990, in Monterrey, Mexico, expressly for the construction of furnaces, kilns and combustion systems.

With acquisitions along the way – Bickley, GFC, Dragon Kilns and Olson – the company has been able to tap into a wider knowledge base and design a range of furnaces and kilns that meet the most demanding requirements of the aluminum, forging, ferrous casting, ceramics and drying industries.

Today, Nutec Bickley is focused on understanding its customers’ thermal-equipment needs and working to supply the best equipment to meet those needs at the most competitive price. By applying the latest proven technology, this IHEA member is able to provide innovative solutions that meet or exceed customer expectations in equipment quality, production efficiency and operational economy.

Nutec Bickley manufactures a wide range of furnaces, including car-bottom, box, rotary-hearth, roller-hearth, tip-up, walking beam, mesh-belt, pusher, bell, basketless, drop-bottom and aluminum solution heat-treating. The company also supplies shuttle, tunnel, elevator and roller-hearth kilns. Preassembly of furnaces in Nutec Bickley’s manufacturing facility offers a guarantee of quick and easy installation at customers’ facilities, while the test ignition verifies that all components are in good working order to minimize on-site commissioning problems.

But that isn’t all. Nutec Bickley supplies a variety of spare parts, including blowers, burners, dryers, gas trains, generators, regulators and valves. The company also offers fabrication, material-handling and automation solutions.

As for technology, Nutec Bickley has broad international experience in incorporating SCADA into furnace and kiln facilities. SCADA is a computer-based system that monitors equipment performance in real time, and it can control and change settings by communicating with the equipment’s control system. It is configured to store all data for years. This information can be analyzed to replicate the optimum operating conditions of the equipment.

Once installed, operators are able to have complete control of their firing process, enhancing both efficiency and productivity. Nutec Bickley’s Industry 4.0 platform integrates the latest technology to not only monitor the process but also keep the equipment operating at peak performance with smart maintenance technology. All the data generated during the firing process is stored in Nutec Bickley’s own SCADA system. This is then used to generate reports, graphs and intelligence data to help customers in their decision-making process.

With fuel costs constantly increasing, Nutec Bickley is committed to working with customers to improve kiln production rates and efficiencies by minimizing fuel usage and providing the latest proven technology in heat recovery systems. According to the kiln application, company engineers review process parameters and available area to carefully design and size the required combustion equipment, controls, heat-exchanger type and size, and exhaust systems for a complete solution in order to obtain the optimum kiln operating efficiency.

All of this, however, would not be possible without the people (approximately 220) that work at Nutec Bickley. The company’s mission is to recruit and nurture the best talent. Nutec Bickley the makes best use of the wealth of experience and expertise within the company to undertake internal training in all main areas: design, combustion system knowledge, fabrication, electronics, commissioning, spare parts and after-sales service.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Nutec Bickley has been busy over the past couple of years. Sister company Nutec, which is part of Nutec Group, acquired the assets of Cypress, Texas-based Protective Concepts Inc., a supplier of industrial insulation. On April 7, 2021, Daniel Llaguno, previously CEO of Nutec Bickley, moved on to take control of Nutec Ceramic Fiber Division, and Gilberto Walls, formerly CEO of Nutec Ceramic Fiber Division, now leads Nutec Bickley. In addition, the company received an order in June 2021 for two large furnaces for the forging industry.

Nutec Bickley is focused on improving its customer experience. The company emphasizes the involvement of its customers by regularly communicating about project status and inviting them to view their project in progress. Along those lines, Nutec Bickley is developing strategies to position itself as a top supplier of technological tools such as Industry 4.0, e-commerce and virtual reality.

As for the future, Nutec Bickley is planning to expand its product portfolio and is constantly restructuring in order to meet its main goals.

Visit www.nutecbickley.com to learn more about Nutec Bickley.

INDUSTRIALHEATING.COM | 90th ANNIVERSARY | SEPTEMBER 2021