Let’s face it. Any manufacturing company, large or small, decides for itself whether to do heat treating under its own roof or contract it out to a commer­cial heat treat shop. In any industrial community, you’re likely to find both situations, but today there are more and more factors a manufacturer needs to consider in making that choice.  No longer does the manufacturer who wants to be competitive in a world market have the luxury of considering heat treat operations merely a burden, i.e. a fixed cost. He has the heavy responsibility to look at heat treating as an integral part of the manufacturing process and as a direct, variable cost.  Indeed, it may look quite inviting to have an in-house heat treating operation. Two of the more logical reasons to heat treat in-house have been when there is no commercial heat treater nearby and when the work to be done is so uniform, so repetitive and in such large volume that no one else could do it cheaper, faster or better.  Modern transportation has all but obviated the first reason, now that many commercial shops have customers over a thousand miles away. And the terms “cheaper,” “faster” and “better” are so rhetorically philosophical these days that a book could be written detailing their nuances.

Efficiency

The commercial heat treater’s costs are low. Consider fuel. As an energy intensive business, the heat treat shop enjoys the lowest rates per therm of gas or kilowatt of electricity. A manufac­turer may have to pay two or three times as much. Moreover, a commer­cial shop uses its furnaces 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A manufac­turer, though, seldom can use his equipment continuously, so he suffers serious waste in warmups.  Seldom does the heat treater run a furnace that isn’t fully loaded, The shop serves many customers and can combine jobs of identical composition without sacrificing quality to obtain financial savings.  The commercial shop reduces maintenance costs by keeping its furnaces up to heat, rather than having alternate heating and cooling, which takes its toll on equipment. Also, overhead costs generally are lower for commer­cial heat treaters, often by as much as 50 percent. And finally, administrative costs including personnel and their benefits, training costs and insurance must be considered.

Bread and Butter

Quality is high in a commercial heat treat shop. Because heat treating is the bread and butter of a commercial op­eration, the people employed there must be of the highest caliber and must stay current with new technolo­gies and regulations. Lack of skilled help can result in spoiled work, and in today’s economy this can be costly in materials and reworks. Defects no longer are tolerated.  In the same vein, the owners of commercial heat treats keep up to date on the latest the industry has to offer through membership in the Metal Treating Institute, an organization composed solely of and responsible to heat treat management. Through MTI programs such as total quality management, commercial heat treating firms are able to keep up to date on quality techniques, statisti­cal process control, specifications and standards, and myriad government regulations.  It is this last arena that has become the most complex in recent years and certainly will cause the biggest head-aches for those not informed. Heat treating operations are responsible for meeting more than 30 form-completion deadlines for 12 regulations. With the assistance of its engineering consultant, MTI members are better able to handle this burden, especially as the list of regulations keeps on growing.

Heat treating operations must conform to OSHA’s hazardous commu­nication standard, which dictates that the heat treat operation have a written right-to-know program for employees, mandatory training for new hires and an annual training program for all employees. Then there are regulations for lockout/tagout of equipment, confined space entry, hazardous materials in the laboratory, emergency response and in-plant air quality.  The Environmental Protection Agen­cy has issued regulations regarding used oil, RCRA small quantity gener­ators, underground storage tanks, water treatment/pretreatment and storm water.  All heat treating operations also face the clearly ominous Clean Air Act and its accompanying regulations. And if these are not enough, each state and local government may elect to devel­op its own requirements.  Does a manufacturer need to be bothered with this immense paper-work trail for fear of noncompliance and the possibility of substantial fines, which have just increased seven-fold for violators? The answer is yes—if he wants to be in the heat treating busi­ness.  Heat treating is no longer just a bur­den and a fixed cost. It is a necessary component of the manufacturing process that may not fit into the macro-structure of the manufacturer’s philos­ophy of making the best widget in the marketplace. A careful cost analysis that considers all factors should be performed by any manufacturer either starting an in-house operation or contemplating an additional heat treat line.

It’s just not the same anymore.

The Metal Treating Institute is the largest network of commercial heat treaters in the world servicing the specialization and capacity needs of the manufacturing community.  Members of our network have every quality certification known to heat treating and perform virtually every process.  If you would like to submit a confidential request for quote on any project to our network, you may do so at no charge on our very efficient quoting section of our site located on the left hand menu.

If you have any questions regarding the MTI Network of Heat Treaters, contact our offices at 904-249-0448 or [email protected]