SECO/VACUUM News

SECO/VACUUM adds to its sales ranks

SECO/VACUUM welcomes their new West Coast Product Manager Eric Gisonno. He brings 36 years of thermal processing experience and is able to dive right in, already identifying potential vacuum furnace applications beyond SVT’s existing market presence.

No Such Thing as a ”Typical” Application

Eric got his start in thermal processing, working on unique research and development applications for which there was rarely a template to follow. Vacuum heating reactive and refractory specialty alloys, surface treating optical materials for photo-multipliers and lasers, developing hypersonic propulsion systems and particle accelerators, and the list goes on... – each required custom thermal vacuum processes to which he contributed his array of talents. His participation in these ventures has included roles in international business development, product development, sales engineering, marketing, administration, and more.

In one example from early in his career, he describes working for a company called Hetherington, under furnace pioneer and founder Jim Hetherington, who patented the first Tungsten Mesh Heating Element in 1969, several tantalum processes, and the high vacuum technology Titanium Sublimation Pumping. Eric is proud to have been part of Jim’s team inventing the first photomultiplier, technology used for signal and image intensification, and even used in the eyes of the James Webb Radio telescope.

“If there was a Nobel prize for furnaces, Jim would have won the first one,” Eric says.

Since then, his work has taken him around the world, working with clients in over 30 countries, as well as throughout North America. While the thermal processing technology he’s worked on has applications around the world, much of it was developed domestically for nuclear science, aerospace, hypersonic, defense, materials science, and advanced photonics to name a few, and positioning him to offer the company a perspective on industries that will serve SECO/VACUUM and their customers well as their West Coast product manager.

He lives in Ventura, CA, where he and his wife, a school psychologist, enjoy beautiful beaches, fishing and hiking the local trails in the farming community. They have twin boys pursuing degrees in science and culinary arts. His current hobby is restoring an International Harvester Scout ll - Terra truck.