One of our focuses in April is consulting. As thermal-processing professionals, we regularly need to consult with experts on certain topics. Unless your company is very large with diverse resources, this consulting involves everything from Internet searching to utilizing an external, professional testing laboratory or in-house technical consultant.

 

    Industrial Heating is a source for some of this online know-how, and we also try to bring the experts to you. We do this through our monthly technical articles in print, which are delivered right to your desk. These same technical articles are available on our website, where the beauty of the web allows categorization and facilitates searchability. Each article is tagged with key terms to enhance this searchability, and articles are available almost back to the turn of the 21st century (almost 13 years).

    Experts bring their knowledge and insight to you through these technical articles. One example is this month’s failure-analysis article from Debbie Aliya. Failure analysis is one of those things we typically need to consult with an expert about, and Debbie shares her expertise in this article. She also shares this expertise in her regular blog postings in The Experts Speak along with four other recognized industry experts.

    The Experts Speak web-only feature brings me to another discussion – our website (www.industrialheating.com). For those of you who only occasionally visit us online, you may have been wondering where the experts were speaking. Our website was updated in October 2012, and the experts – who used to be seen on our homepage – now reside on their own landing page that can be found by clicking the red “BLOG” tab across the top of the page (see illustration below). Wand over this tab and you will be greeted by a drop-down list of the five industry experts and their areas of expertise: Dan Herring, heat treatment; David Pye, metallurgy; Dan Kay, brazing; Debbie Aliya, failure analysis; and George Vander Voort, metallography. Keep in mind that you can engage these experts by asking them a question at the end of each blog.

    You can find other helpful information quickly using our red tabs. If you need information on a specific topic, select that topic from the drop-down list under the “TOPICS” tab. For instance, you can click on “Heat Treating,” which will provide you with the latest articles in that topic. These same topics are also grouped along the left side of our homepage.

    If you are interested in reviewing the heat-treating/metallurgical topics of Dan Herring, The Heat Treat Doctor, or if there was a recent column you wanted to consult but couldn’t remember the exact title or month, just use the “COLUMNS” tab and click on “The Heat Treat Doctor.”

    Tabs such as “DIRECTORIES” contain significant resources. A quick wand over that tab reveals the five directory options. If you are looking for new equipment, you will want to consult with the “Equipment Buyers Guide,” where the right stuff is just a search away. The best and most-local commercial heat treaters can be found by consulting the “Commercial Heat Treater Capabilities Directory.”

    If you happen to be looking for new employees or used equipment, you will want to utilize the “RESOURCES” tab and click on “Marketplace – Employment & Used Equipment.” Other resources, such as the “Classifieds,” can also be found here.

    If you are looking for news, it can be found on the tab below our name entitled “LATEST HEADLINES.” If you enjoy listening to your news, find the “MULTIMEDIA” tab and click on “Podcasts.” The news podcast is there along with the “IH Rx,” which is a monthly discussion between The Heat Treat Doctor and me. We cover a new topic each month. Since beginning this consultation in September, we have discussed training; atmosphere gas carburizing; normalizing, annealing and stress relieving; heating; cooling; transformation products; and retained austenite. We begin a nonferrous discussion in April.

    Since being redesigned, the website requires registration, which allows us to make your experience more meaningful. Knowing who is viewing and what they view allows us to customize content that will be more relevant. This helps you save time and learn more that will pertain to your specific situation. It takes a minute or less to register, which gives you access to all of the website’s content – gated or ungated.

    Consult with www.industrialheating.com today to see all the resources we have to offer. IH