Custom Carbon & Graphite Machining

02 Jul

Quality Manager Position-Returning to the Roots

While time has seemed to stand still for much of the last few months, changes are still occurring. Semco’s Quality Manager for the past 5 years, Lee Dohanos, is retiring this month. After over 40 years working in the graphite manufacturing industry, and 5 years contributing his precision graphite expertise to our organization, he is embarking on a new chapter in his life— a well-earned retirement. Lee plans to pursue long-held passions, which means he will be spending a lot more time outdoors. Lee especially loves kayaking and is an avid hiker. Together with his wife, he also plans to...

23 Jun

Carbon Fiber Composite Materials in Vacuum Furnaces

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. We’ve never bought into that adage, especially since many of us have parents or grandparents who have taken up new hobbies like gardening or bird watching with vigor. As a business, Semco also rejects the logic of the adage. Yes, we have been around for several decades, and our core business remains machining graphite materials. We did not become industry leaders by shunning innovation, though, and as we have grown as a company specializing in producing graphite components, the materials industry has devised new graphite composite materials, as well as...

16 Jun

Graphite Oxidation

As we have explained in this blog before, synthetic graphite (man-made graphite) is produced in hundreds of different graphite grades. Most of these graphite grades have been developed for specific applications, and each grade has its own set of properties associated with it. At Semco, we make it our business to be experts on synthetic graphite and the myrian properties of different graphite grades. We pass this expertise onto our clients so that they can choose the appropriate material for their application. With their extensive knowledge of these synthetic materials, our engineers can help clients solve very complicated issues, as...

01 Jun

Semco Carbon Graphite Machining Covid-19 Update

As mentioned in our April blogs, Semco has been designated an essential business in the state of Ohio. The graphite products we manufacture are needed by many essential industries. Hence, we have continued operating and producing graphite parts, with our focus on our client companies that produce life-saving products in the pharmaceutical and medical fields, client companies doing laboratory research, and client companies in the critical food industry. With state and federal authorities looking into the spread of the virus as well as considering a gradual reopening of businesses, Semco has made a commitment to operate safely, within the official...

21 May

Graphite Market Growth After COVID

The news is not a place to look for good news, at least not over the last month. Under the nightmarish headlines about what the virus is doing to people and communities are other frightening headlines about what it’s doing to the economy. In the current environment, with businesses idled and unemployment on a steep trajectory, it is hard to imagine growth in industrial output in anyone’s economic outlook for the short to mid-term. We at Semco, like all other businesses small and large, have watched with concern as events have unfolded. Would this downturn affect the market for graphite...