Reducing Heat Treat Product Issues in the Global Automotive Heat Treat Supply Chain

An intricacy of the heat treating process is that improperly heat treated parts are not easily discernible in form and appearance from properly heat treated parts.  Robust process and product control is critical to ensure all parts meet product specifications.   AIAG CQI-9 Special Process: Heat Treat System Assessment (HTSS) becomes a critical resource to ensure standardized process controls and drive continuous improvement in the automotive heat treat supply chain at all tier levels.  Also, current trends in engineering design have led to tighter product requirements.  Suppliers that use the CQI-9 HTSS will meet these ever demanding engineering expectations and improve their global competitiveness.  This paper will show the contribution of CQI-9 and other standard process controls have reduced heat treat product issues by approximately 60%.  Three case studies are presented that demonstrate process control requirements in CQI-9 can eliminate or reduce the risk of shipping non-conforming product to the customer.