Surface Combustion

Surface Combustion, Inc. is a North American manufacturer of industrial furnaces and heat treating equipment headquartered in Maumee, Ohio, in the United States. The company was founded in 1915 and purchased by the Midland-Ross Corporation (a steel manufacturer) in 1959. Midland-Ross was acquired by the private equity investment firm of Forstmann Little & Company in 1986, which spun off Surface Combustion to the Barnard family in 1987. The company has been called "the IBM of the automotive industry" due to its prominance in providing equipment used to heat-treat automobiles parts.