Why a Less-Than-Top Quality Heat Treatment Option Isn’t the Best Choice

This might seem like a no-brainer to you, but the temptation is real. Everyday, shops sacrifice the quality of their heat treatment to save a few pennies. The economy is tight, inflation is on the rise, and businesses everywhere are reducing their costs and cutting corners to maintain their margins. So what does it hurt to go with the lower quality (and therefore lower priced) heat treating option?

How different can heat treating services be? 

Vastly different. The truth is that when you settle for a lesser quality heat treating process, you actually lose money in the long run. Underqualified employees, mistakes in temperatures, and incorrect metallurgical procedures for specific industrial usage cost you not only in substandard parts, but also in lost business. 

Costs for heat treating are usually only 5% to 15% of the cost of a final part, but provide 100% of the mechanical properties needed by the end users. 

What happens when it’s your part that breaks down prematurely in a vehicle, causing a recall of that make and model around the globe? What happens when it’s your part that causes the mechanical failure in an airplane? 

These are reputation damaging, and sometimes business ending, consequences. 

At Akron Steel Treating, we believe that it is absolutely critical to hold to the standards of our industry and provide exacting attention to detail, from quality documentation to stringent quality control standards. Our expert metallurgical consultants are trained extensively in dozens of specific metallurgical services to meet the standards of every industry we work with, whether manufacturing washers or rocket housings. As a NADCAP accredited heat treating company, we’ve met the rigorous standards needed to serve the global aerospace supply chain. We treat every single job with the same attention to detail and documentation, because that repeatable quality is what you should expect from your heat treating partner.

The risk to your business’s reputation is too great to leave your parts in the hands of a less skilled heat treatment provider. Learn more about AST’s capabilities and credentials to see how we can help you make sure your parts receive the highest quality heat treatment every time.