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You Can’t Sell If You Don’t Tell

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Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter is from the April 2025 Annual Induction Heating & Melting print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

This magazine has been a blessing to publish. The industry is niche, yes, but it is far-reaching and impactful on nearly every aspect of life. There isn’t a place where I can go where heat treating and thermal processing have not made life better and/or possible. The people are by and large good people, fun to work with, and interesting to talk to. The content written in these pages is a good mix of challenging technical content, as well as general interest information.  

Our target audience, the 15,000–20,000+ engineers and managers that make purchasing decisions for the vast number of manufacturers who have their own in-house thermal processing operations, is highly engaged with Heat Treat Today. While it is impossible to gauge the engagement of our monthly print editions, when readers respond, it is usually because of something they read in one of our print editions.  

Granted, it’s easier to see if/when someone opens or clicks on any of our e-newsletters, but it is surprising the number of people who email us about something they’ve seen in the print editions. 

The bottom line is: All of our audience (whether print or digital) is an engaged bunch.  

Suppliers who want the attention of these manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments would do well to remember the reach of Heat Treat Today. Whether you use Heat Treat Today or some other format to tell your story, you can’t sell if you don’t tell. 

This may seem to be an abundantly obvious statement to many, but you would be shocked at the number of engineering-based companies who believe, “If we build it, they will come.” Thank you, Kevin Costner — that may be true in a field of your dreams, but it is untrue in the real world. Your selling story needs to be told.  

Just having a great product — even the best product of its kind — is not a guarantee of success. Sooner or later, you must let people know, somehow, you exist and your product is unparalleled. 

Here are a few of the ways that companies typically spread the news: 

  1. E-blasts: While e-blasts are low cost and convenient, there are a few challenges: 1. Reaching new people, and 2. People will look at your in-house e-blast as a purely promotional effort, and because of that, will not give it the full attention it might deserve.  
  2. Advertising in magazines or on a website: A decent way to tell since they boast a targeted audience, however, magazines do not offer metrics, and websites, while able to provide numbers, typically reach far fewer people than a print version of a magazine and are not consumed for as long as print. 
  3. Word of mouth: This method is typically slower and dependent on others talking about you. If your product is that good and it causes a buzz in the industry, then word of mouth may be all you need. It is, however, a passive form of telling, which you do not control and depends on others. 
  4. Representatives: Assuming your reps are giving you a large enough portion of their time and are knowledgeable in your capabilities, this is a good way to tell your story. The downside is the rep’s reach. Even if a rep were making four calls a day every weekday of the year, that totals up to just over 1,000 visits a year. And let’s be honest, most companies would be thrilled if a rep made 500 calls a year.  
  5. Internal sales teams: Assuming they’re on the phone consistently and not fulfilling orders or being distracted by other internal demands, an in-house sales team, although potentially expensive to maintain, is one of the better options a company has for telling their story. Nearly everyone I know has an internal sales staff. It is pretty much a must. 
  6. Website: Websites are not as good at getting the message out as many think, but they are still absolutely necessary. Websites are the most misunderstood marketing tool in the marketing toolbox. Most people think if they have a website, they’re good. Please remember, website “advertising” is passive marketing. Once a website is built, it just sits there until someone decides to come look at it. 
  7. Marketing materials: Similar to a website, literature sits there until someone decides to look at it. It’s a passive form of marketing. The bottom line here is this — as you plan for the success of your business, don’t forget it is not just about product quality. You must also remember that “telling” is just as important, if not more so, than building the best product out there.  

Our audience of in-house heat treaters is interested in hearing your story. Remember, you can’t sell if you don’t tell.  

Doug Glenn
Publisher
Heat Treat Today

For more information: Contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com

Find heat treating products and services when you search on Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

You Can’t Sell If You Don’t Tell Read More »

Time for Company Leaders To Refocus on Profits

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Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in March 2025 Aerospace Heat Treating print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

The world is a better place when people know what their job is and then stick to that job. When the carpenter knows that their job is working with wood and then works with wood, things go well. When the pipefitter doesn’t try to be an electrician but sticks to pipefitting, things go well. It’s only when we forget (or never knew) who we are or why we’re here that things begin to go terribly wrong.

This is just as true in the C-suite as it is on the shop floor when it comes to running a business. CEO, CFO, COO, presidents, and VPs all benefit the business by sticking to their huckleberry bush just as the welder, the electrician, and the plant operations guys prosper the business when they do what they’re called to do.

In the C-suites, however, there seems to be more confusion about what it is they are there to do and company leaders more frequently get distracted from their huckleberry bush than do the guys in the shop. Here are some good, yet ultimately unhelpful things that have kept company leadership from focusing on profits — which ought to be their huckleberry bush.

Environmental Concerns

If ever there was a worthy cause, caring for the planet should be toward the top of the list, coming in second only behind caring for people. Business leaders proceed at their own risk if they completely ignore environmental issues. But elevating “saving the planet” over profits is a common mistake made by well-meaning leaders. The driving question that should underlie all business questions is whether or not profits will increase, not only what impact the decision will have on the environment. The EV craze, which has petered out significantly since this time last year, is a great example of company leaders losing sight of profits in favor of the environment. The number of car manufacturers who boldly announced electric-only or significantly enhanced EV fleets in 2024 only to have the two-by-four of company profits hit them squarely upside the head is astounding. Most of them have backtracked or are in financial hardship for not backtracking.

Well-meaning environmentalism should never come at the expense of profits.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI)

Another distraction from focusing on profits has been, while to a lesser degree now as compared to this time last year, the DEI movement. DEI, to its credit, is people-focused and, undoubtedly, was well-motivated by many. Nonetheless, kowtowing to externally imposed social norms in order to avoid becoming a corporate pariah carries with it the seeds of failure, because profits and overall corporate health will suffer. Such was the case for countless large and small companies, including McDonalds and Harley Davidson, that elevated DEI above profits. The primary (though not the only) factor that should drive hiring and promotional concerns within a company should be competency and effectiveness. Will the individual help enhance company profits or not?

“Profit” Is NOT a Four-Letter Word

In her classic work, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand makes this very point. When we vilify “profits,” we do not do ourselves or our fellow man any good. One might say, “It is not profitable to vilify the word ‘profit.’” Profit is good, and it is enormously comforting to see company leaders of all stripes returning to a good, healthy embrace of the profit motive.

Obviously, the ill-founded desire for profits at all costs regardless of the impact on the freedoms and liberties of others is not good and is the exact reason why we have courts of law. Profit cannot and ought not be at the expense of others’ freedoms. Further, the profit motive should not go right up to the line of violating personal freedoms. A true and good profit motive is not devoid of compassion and long-term thinking. It values human life and liberty and tempers its decisions based on what is good in the long run for human flourishing. Sound, profit-motivated decisions are often not easy black and white decisions. There are countless intricacies and complexities. Nonetheless, our default position ought not to be the disparaging of profits. Quite the opposite.

Company leader, stand strong as you do all that you can to build your company profits and don’t be ashamed to say so.

Doug Glenn
Publisher
Heat Treat Today

Contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.

Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

Time for Company Leaders To Refocus on Profits Read More »

Survey Says …

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Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in February 2025 Air & Atmosphere Heat Treating print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

In July of last year (2024), one of the industry’s leading consultants, Dan Herring, The Heat Treat Doctor®, conducted an amazing comprehensive survey. Here’s how it started:

As many of you know, I’ve surveyed the industry numerous times over the years to check on the latest technology trends and overall health of the heat treating and thermal processing industry. With the rapidly changing print and electronic media landscape, I am curious as to how these changes will impact our industry. As many of you are painfully aware, some magazines, websites, e-newsletters, and webinars/podcasts have gone away; while precious few others have come into being.

The consultant went on to ask the near 10,000 email recipients to complete an eight-question survey about that “rapidly changing print and electronic media landscape.”

#1 The Respondents

The respondents were a good mix of manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments, commercial heat treaters and industry suppliers. From what we know about our own magazine’s circulation, which is predominantly to manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments, the responses were a good sampling of the North American heat treat market.

#2 Awareness of Media Brands

We were very pleased to see that Heat Treat Today ranked highest in awareness. A whopping 93% of respondents were aware of our existence. The three other media brands all ranked significantly lower: The next highest came in more than 13 percentage points lower, and the lowest ranking media brand had a score of only 28% awareness.

#3 Most Helpful Media Brand

Heat Treat Today also scored exceptionally high when asked which media brand was “most helpful to your business.” Respondents were asked to rank the publications from 1 to 4 with 1 being most helpful and 4 being least helpful. 59% of the respondents ranked Heat Treat Today as #1, the most helpful media brand. The media brand ranked second as most helpful came in with only 23% of respondents.

#4 Voice of the Industry

When asked which media brand the respondents considered to be the “voice of the industry,” Heat Treat Today again ranked #1 with over 63% selecting us. The other three media brands pulled only 19%, 16% and 2%, respectively.

#5 Most Important Information

The consultant next asked this question: What is the most important information you get from heat treatment/thermal processing media? Technical content ranked #1 at 46.4%. Industry news came in at #2 with 45.5%, followed by helpful resources at #3 with 5%. Finally, supplier content and lead generation came in at 2% and 1%, respectively.

#6 Media Brands that Deliver the Most Important Information

Then respondents were asked which media brand best delivered technical content and industry news. Heat Treat Today again ranked extremely well with nearly 6 of 10 (58%) ranking us at #1. The next closest media brand came in with just a tad over 2 in every 10 respondents indicating that they delivered the important information desired.

#7 How You Consume Media

One of the more enlightening questions had to do with what types of media the respondents used to consume their information — meaning, do they read print or digital magazines, visit websites, receive e-newsletters, listen to podcasts or flip through social media posts? Remember, the survey was sent out by email, which could have skewed the results.

The surprising #1 response was print magazines! Print came in with 32% of respondents ranking it as their most preferred method of consuming content. If you were to combine those who ranked either of the magazine options (print or digital), the number increases to 56%, well ahead of the next closest option which was website. Websites came in at 23%. E-newsletters, social media, and podcasts/videos all ranked in single digits — 9%, 5% and 5% respectively.

#8 Type of Device

Answers to the final question will also be surprising to many: “On what type of device do you prefer to access your heat treatment digital media?” This question does not take into consideration that the #1 preferred method for consuming media is the print magazine, just if and when they consume digital media. “Phone” ranked nearly dead last (believe it or not), second only to “None of the above.” Readers are not accessing thermal processing information much on their phones. This is confirmed by the low social media and video numbers in #7 above. The big winners, both with roughly half of the responses (both at 47%) were desktop computers and laptop computers.

Lessons Learned

The data was encouraging, proving that providing helpful, timely content is what the thermal processing industry needs. Please continue to communicate with us and tell us what you’d like to know.

Doug Glenn
Publisher
Heat Treat Today

Contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.

Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

Survey Says … Read More »

What If We’re Wrong About CO2 & Global Warming?

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Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in January 2025 Technologies To Watch print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

I recently attended the Industrial Heating Equipment Association Decarbonization SUMMIT in Indianapolis at the Conrad Hotel. Roughly 100 thermal processing industry professionals participated in this two-day long event. As I listened to all presentations over those two days and going back even further to the planning of the event — which, by the way, I’d like to commend Jeff Rafter of Selas Heat Technology for his leadership, Mike Stowe of Advanced Energy for his technical contributions, and Goyer Management for their diligent work to produce this SUMMIT — I noticed that nearly everything being discussed was predicated on the assumption that global warming, and specifically man-induced global warming, is a real and settled science.

I’d like to challenge that assumption.

Firstly, legacy media, the federal government, academia, and the scientists who deliver the science we’re called to follow — i.e. “follow the science” — are all strong proponents of man-made global warming and the evil of CO2. This grouping of authorities, in and of itself, causes many to be suspicious, given this group’s historic record of dishonesty and deception. If this group has been so wrong in the past on macro-social economic issues (e.g., Covid) would it not be reasonable to question their claims about climate change?

Secondly, the science doesn’t seem to be as settled as claimed.

John F. Clauser, a Nobel laureate in Physics, has been articulate in his doubts about the climate crisis.

  • “The popular narrative about climate change reflects a dangerous corruption of science that threatens the world’s economy and the well being of billions of people.”
  • “I don’t believe there is a climate crisis. The world we live in today is filled with misinformation. It is up to each of you to serve as judges, distinguish truth from falsehood based on accurate observations of the phenomena.”
  • “Great news! There is no climate crisis! Much as it may upset many people, my message is that the planet is not in peril.”

Ivar Giaever, another Nobel laureate in Physics, has been clear in his skepticism about global warming.

  • “Global warming has become a new religion. We frequently hear about the number of scientists who support it. But the number is not important: only whether they are correct is important.”
  • “It is amazing how stable temperature has been over the last 150 years.”
  • “I am a skeptic. Global warming has become a new religion.”
  • “We don’t really know what the actual effect [of CO2] on the global temperature is. There are better ways to spend the money.”

Richard Lindzen, professor emeritus of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT, has been a vocal critic of the consensus on human-caused global warming.

Willie Soon, an astrophysicist, geoscientist, and aerospace engineer at Harvard’s Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, questions the extent of the human impact on climate change.

Frederick Seitz, former president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, has expressed doubts about the severity of global warming.

Ian Plimer, an Australian geologist and professor emeritus at the University of Melbourne, is a prominent climate skeptic.

Peter Ridd, a former professor at James Cook University in Australia, has been a vocal critic of climate change science.

Jim Mason, PhD in Experimental Nuclear Physics from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, recently published an excellent article in The Epoch Times entitled, “A Physicist’s View of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Impact on Climate,” which seriously calls into question whether or not the concentration of CO2 gas in our atmosphere has the physical ability to produce global warming. Mason quotes the work done by two other physicists, William A. Van Wijngaarden and William Happer. Mason says, “The duo postulate that long-wavelength radiation (LWR) absorption does not increase in a linear fashion as CO2 increases but does so in an exponentially DECREASING fashion. Additional amounts of CO2 added to the [atmosphere] absorb ever-decreasing amounts of additional LWR, until at some point the CO2 is absorbing effectively all of the LWR in the [atmosphere] that CO2 can absorb. Absorption is saturated” (emphasis is mine).

The implication is that adding more CO2 to the atmosphere may have essentially no impact on global temperatures if CO2 is absorbing all that it can absorb. I highly recommend Mr. Mason’s article.

Given the above, I have a few questions:

  • What if we are wrong about decarbonization and these gentlemen are right?
  • Is there any wisdom in approaching this topic with a bit more caution?
  • Do any of you have doubts about the need to decarbonize, and if so, how do you reconcile those doubts with continued efforts to decarbonize and/or take Department of Energy grants and subsidies?
  • Is anyone concerned about the amount of money that we are throwing at this potentially non-problem and the enormous and devastating impact on our children’s financial future?
Doug Glenn
Publisher
Heat Treat Today

Contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.

Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

What If We’re Wrong About CO2 & Global Warming? Read More »

Resounding Success: Heat Treat Boot Camp 2024

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Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in the December 2024 Medical & Energy Heat Treat print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

If you’ve been thinking of sending someone, including yourself, to Heat Treat Boot Camp, this column should help motivate you to pull the trigger for 2025.

On September 23–25 of this year (2024), 40+ individuals gathered at the DoubleTree Hilton Pittsburgh Downtown and experienced the 3rd Annual Heat Treat Boot Camp together. By all measures, it was a resounding success. Here’s why.

The Content

The foundation of the event’s success is the information provided in seven different and intensive presentations by Thomas Wingens, of WINGENS CONSULTANTS — Material and Thermal Processes, and me. The presentations cover the following in language intended for newcomers to the industry:

  • Heat, Markets, and End Products
  • Heat Treat Processes & Materials, Part 1
  • Heat Treat Products (e.g., furnaces, induction equipment, etc.)
  • Heat Treat Processes & Materials, Part 2
  • Heat Treat Players (the companies that make the products)
  • Heat Treat Latest Developments
  • Heat Treat Resources (for continual and continuing education)

These seven presentations are presented classroom style for a full 1.5 days and really serve as the core of the boot camp’s success. Each attendee goes home with a handy resource manual which I’ve been told by several of the attendees stays on or near their desks and is referenced weekly.

Given the fact that Heat Treat Today publishes believes people are happier and make better decisions when they are well informed, it is no surprise one of the primary reasons that the boot camp is successful is the content provided. While nearly all of Heat Treat Today’s publishes content is targeted at professionals working for in-house heat treat operations, Heat Treat Boot Camp content is one exception where the content is more specifically targeted at industry suppliers. The content is intended to help newbies to the industry gain 2+ years of industry knowledge in two days.

But it’s not just about the content.

The People, Networking & Relationships

Speaking for myself, one of the most satisfying parts of the boot camp is seeing the personal relationships that are developed and grown during the two-day event. There is a lovely mix of eager learners including a spattering of captive heat treaters (individuals from companies that do their own in-house heat treating), commercial heaters, and suppliers to the industry. The interaction between these three groups of attendees and the Heat Treat Today staff and speakers is remarkable, and according to numerous comments in the largely positive feedback forms received at the end of the event, it is one of the most beneficial aspects of the event.

Knowing that people talking to people is one of the most important things that will take place at this event, we’ve made a point to provide plenty of time for these interactions … mostly around food! Boot camp starts on a Monday evening with an opening reception with some excellent heavy hors d’oeuvres and drinks. The atmosphere is casual and engaging and there are ample opportunities to meet fellow attendees.

There is also a good bit of relationship development going on during our “field trip” at the end of the first full day (Tuesday) when we jump on a school bus (yes, an actual yellow school bus!) and make our way over to one of Pittsburgh’s iconic sites, the Duquesne Incline, where we all ride the Incline to the top of Mt. Washington and literally look down on the city of Pittsburgh — one of the most spectacular sights of any city in the U.S.A.

At the end of the 1.5 days of classroom instruction, there is an optional commercial heat treat plant tour where additional networking and relationship developing takes place.

This year we did something new that also proved to be great for networking. Roughly a dozen supplier companies opted to help sponsor the event. These sponsors had small tabletop displays and the conversations around those tables during breaktimes were energetic, and from feedback comments, very productive and beneficial to both sponsor and attendee.

Boot Camp 2025

The dates and location of the 2025 event have not been nailed down as of this writing, but please keep your eyes open for the announcement of that information and please feel free to visit heattreatbootcamp.com. Sincerely hope to see you at the 2025 event.

Doug Glenn
Publisher
Heat Treat Today

Contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.

Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

Resounding Success: Heat Treat Boot Camp 2024 Read More »

4 Unrelated Items

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Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in the November 2024 People of Vacuum print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

Don’t try and weave a common thread between the four items below; there really isn’t one.

Act of Kindness in the Vacuum Industry

One of North America’s leading vacuum heat treat-related companies lost one of its key leaders to a battle with cancer recently. My wife and I were fortunate to attend a very Christ-centered funeral service which, in its own way, was encouraging even as it recognized the pain and sting of death. One of the most touching and thoughtful things happened when my wife and I came to the front of the viewing line to extend our condolences to family members. The father of the deceased pulled us aside and showed us a beautiful bouquet of flowers sent by a competitor. In my eyes, this was a classy and thoughtful gesture, and it was deeply appreciated by the family. It just goes to show that North American heat treating is a rare industry full of kind and thoughtful people. Kudos to the competitor for their thoughtfulness.

Signs that Our Industry Is “Younging Up”

Over the past several weeks, I have been more and more impressed with how the North American heat treat industry is attracting and maintaining excellent young talent. If you read any of the content we put out in September, you’ll know that we honored another 40 young individuals who are rising leaders in the North American heat treat market. In fact, we’ve honored 240 such individuals since 2018. Many of these recipients continue to contribute to the industry in significant ways.

I also had the pleasure of attending the Industrial Heating Equipment Association’s (IHEA) annual Combustion Seminar and Safety Seminar. The number of young people taking these two courses this year was very impressive. Well over half of the attendees were easily under the age of 40 with a large number appearing to be in their 20s or 30s.

Thanks for Rating Us Highly

Results from a recent industry study proved to be very positive for Heat Treat Today, The study focused on heat treat media brands in the North American market and Heat Treat Today ranked #1 in all categories. Our team was humbled and thankful to all of our readers for the faith you put in us to bring you the latest and most helpful technical and news content. We believe people are happier and make better decisions when they are well informed. If you’re a supplier to the industry and are looking to reach end-users of heat treat equipment, especially manufacturers who have their own in-house heat treat operations, please know that we’d be honored to help. To all of our readers, viewers, and listeners, thanks for ranking us so highly. We appreciate your faith in us.

Print Is the Most Preferred Media

Doug Glenn
Pubisher
Heat Treat Today

Somewhat counterintuitively, the above media study revealed that respondents vastly preferred the print version of a magazine over a) the digital edition of the magazine, b) websites, c) e-newsletters, d) podcasts, and e) social media — in that order. The survey was sent out by email, so it was not skewed by sending it only to those who currently receive print copies. The survey was sent to a mixture of print magazine recipients, website visitors, e-newsletter recipients, and podcast listeners and STILL a preference for a copy of the print magazine far outpaced all the other options — across ALL recipients regardless of age. Interesting results which might help inform your future marketing plans if you’re a supplier to this industry.

Contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.

Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

4 Unrelated Items Read More »

The People of Heat Treat

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Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in the September 2024 People of Heat Treat print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

Nearly every month, in the pages of this magazine, avid readers learn about the technologies and products of the North American heat treat industry that help them and their companies be more profitable. Rightly so. As the industry’s leading technical and trade journal, it is our mission to provide timely and helpful technical content. We believe people are happier and make better decisions when they are well informed — that’s what drives us. We like seeing people happier, so we do our little part each month to make sure our readers can make well-informed decisions.

But, as we discuss periodically at our monthly team meeting, the focus is not the technical and timely information; the focus is the people.

As with nearly every successful business in a free economy, the key to success is serving people. If we are successful at meeting the needs of the people we hope to help, they’ll continue to do business with us. We both benefit.

In this edition of Heat Treat Today, we’re going to focus in not so much on the technologies and products like we usually do; rather, we’re going to focus on a number of individuals who are rising leaders in the industry — individuals who are honing their skills so they can be more helpful to others in the industry.

This is the seventh year of Heat Treat Today’s 40 Under 40 initiative. As of this year, we will have honored and recognized 280 rising young leaders in the North American heat treat industry. Each successive year seems to be getting better and better. The quality of the candidates seeking recognition continues to rise, making the choosing of just 40 of them more and more difficult. Their stories vary widely. Some are owners of companies, some are accomplished managers or technicians, all are accomplished and have demonstrated their competence and leadership in the industry relatively early in their careers.

It is this group of people who are focusing their energies on developing the technologies and products that help the entire North American heat treat industry and those outside the industry as well. By and large, the people highlighted in this edition are “technical” people. A good and growing number of them are employed by manufacturers who have their own in-house heat treat operations (captive heat treaters). Others come from commercial heat treat facilities. And others come from industry suppliers. Nominees hale from Canada to Mexico. Both women and men are represented, which is so encouraging.

Most importantly, all these people have personal lives that are better or worse depending on how well they do their work. And how well they do their work is oftentimes dependent on how well informed they are. It’s our desire to make sure all these young people can live more enjoyable lives by staying well informed.

Being recognized as one of the top 40 rising young leaders in the North American heat treat industry has proven to be quite a boon to many past recipients of this honor. If you’d like to hear more about past recipients, please search our website for “Heat Treat NextGen” and listen to our recent interviews with several past honorees, like Brynna Keelin Kelly-McGrath.

Doug Glenn
Pubisher
Heat Treat Today

I’d like to say a special thank you to the team at Heat Treat Today who coordinates this effort each year. Headed by Bethany Leone for the past several years, herself an “under-40” person, Bethany was this year assisted by Jayna McGowan and again by Evelyn Thompson. This team of three, together with some significant help from Brandon Glenn, have worked hard on this effort and are bringing a lot of smiles to faces with the release of this edition. Great work, Heat Treat Today Team!

To all this year’s 40 Under 40 recipients, congratulations on the well-deserved recognition you are receiving.

Contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.

Find Heat Treating Products And Services When You Search On Heat Treat Buyers Guide.Com

The People of Heat Treat Read More »

EV Batteries — Weak Link in the Chain?

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Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in August 2024 Automotive Heat Treat print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

In a thought-provoking RealClear Energy (“The Many Problems With Batteries” at RealClearEnergy.org) post on May 30, by Iddo K. Wernick, Ph.D., senior research associate at The Rockefeller University’s Program for the Human Environment and 2013 and 2014 candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Dr. Wernick raises some challenging questions about the belief that battery technology will develop quickly enough, if at all, to achieve net zero by 2050. The complete elimination of combustion, including internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, is, in fact, the stated goal of the U.S. Department of Energy — see the Letter from the Publisher in the Heat Treat Today May 2024 Sustainability print issue.

In this issue of Heat Treat Today, we’re talking about heat treatments that are common for the automotive industry, an industry abuzz with talk of EVs and, by necessity, the use of EV batteries. Some of the basic facts and questions raised by Dr. Wernick bear repeating here.

  1. “Batteries provide the essential lynchpin in plans to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions . . . . The dramatic global expansion of in-battery energy storage over the coming decades is deemed necessary to facilitate the growth of wind and solar power and electrified transportation.” In other words, if batteries don’t advance significantly, net zero by 2050 is not going to happen.
  2. Dr. Wernick next points out that “batteries store energy less efficiently than hydrocarbon fuels and release that energy far more slowly than fuels do during combustion.” In fact, the energy density of relatively seldom-used and less efficient “biomass fuels like straw and animal dung is twenty times greater than . . . today’s best lithium-ion batteries, and gasoline has an energy density over 50 times greater.” In other words, with all the technical advances in battery storage over the past decades, batteries are still 50 times less effective and efficient than ICE vehicles.
  3. And while energy densities are substantially lower than carbon-based combustion fuels, a more serious obstacle will be mining (yes, energy-intense, pollution-creating mining) enough minerals to produce these batteries. According to a report issued by the Internation Energy Agency, “supplying the many critical minerals necessary for [the] enormous increases in battery manufacturing” will require “a projected five to 30 times increase in demand for the different battery metals by 2050.” Given the green movement’s propensity to shun any type of mining anywhere, it would appear that battery manufacturers are in the same situation that Moses was in when the Egyptians demanded more bricks but didn’t provide more straw.
  4. China’s dominance in critical battery minerals and battery manufacturing is also mentioned as problematic.
  5. He also covers the inherent bulkiness of batteries: “The inherent bulkiness of battery energy storage quickly shows itself in real world applications. Using current technologies, half of the power produced by the battery pack of an electric vehicle goes to moving the batteries themselves, a basic problem for a mobile power source.” (My emphasis added.)
  6. Some reasonable solutions are offered by Dr. Wernick such as, “incremental changes to the energy system that might reduce emissions more effectively and have greater potential for implementation. Consider the fact that increasing power production from natural gas and nuclear energy could reduce carbon emissions more effectively than building and maintaining the elaborate physical infrastructure necessary for solar and wind and batteries. Or the fact that hybrid electric vehicles require much smaller battery packs, leverage consumer familiarity, and may offer more promise for reducing aggregate vehicular emissions than do fully electric vehicles in the long run.”
Doug Glenn
Pubisher
Heat Treat Today

Our current world leaders and influencers appear to be somewhat unrealistic and myopic on net zero by 2050. They seem to be ignorant that technologies and materials development are both slow moving and market-driven beasts which cannot be rushed. I don’t know too many people who are opposed to EVs simply because they are electric, but I do know oodles of thinking people who understand that making a quantum leap from ICE vehicles to EVs is something best “driven” (pardon the pun) by the market, and that it takes time.

Contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.

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Publisher’s Page: Heat Treat Kids . . . and their Parents

/ PUBLISHER'S PAGE

Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in June 2024 Buyers Guide print edition.

Feel free to contact Doug at doug@heattreattoday.com if you have a question or comment. 

The Heat Treat Today team does a lot of fun things throughout the year, but Heat Treat Kids is probably the most fun. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll give you a link toward the end of this column so you can see some of the cute kids and the cute answers to some kid-level questions. For those of you who are old enough, it harkens back to Art Linkletter’s “Kids Say the Darndest Things” TV program. If you’ve never heard of Art Linkletter, click this link.

Once a year we run the Heat Treat Kids feature in one of our print magazines. It seems a bit out of place for a technical trade journal to run such a non-technical feature, we admit that. Then again, it is really not all that out of place. One of the abiding principles that we live by at Heat Treat Today is the understanding that “it is all about people.” While the vast majority of our content is technical in nature and typically deals with inanimate equipment, processes, or technologies, the truth is we only write about these with the hope that they will make peoples’ lives better. It seems too obvious, but it is often forgotten: what we do, we do for people. If you look closely enough at our website or in nearly any of our various e-newsletters and print publications, you’ll see these words: We believe people are happier and make better decisions when they are well informed. The focus of the statement is “people” and our desire to see them “happier.”

Our desire to see people happier and making better decisions boils over into all the different areas of what we do. For example, we’ve converted our September print editions (which are typically distributed at either Furnaces North America or the ASM Heat Treat Show) into our “People of Heat Treat” edition. There are typically very few technical articles in the September edition, but it is rife with content about various people in the North American heat treat market. It’s in this edition we announce each year’s 40 Under 40 honorees . . . which we’ve been doing since 2018. So far, we’ve bestowed this honor on 240 rising young heat treat leaders. By the way, nominations for 40 Under 40 are always open. If you know a rising young leader in the industry, please nominate them at www.heattreattoday.com/40under40promo. [40 Under 40 nominations for 2024 closed June 28, 2024; this year’s class will be announced on September 9, 2024. – Editor] We will also include our annual “Endings” feature in the September edition; this is a feature where we acknowledge the death of some key people in the industry. 

September is a fun and very well-read edition, but it is not the only place where we focus on people. You might notice that Heat Treat Today often includes pictures of people on our magazine covers, and we almost always include a picture of a person in our weekday e-newsletter, Heat Treat Today. We also include the picture of the article authors in our magazine.

And finally, in our monthly Heat Treat Radio podcast, we periodically highlight a Heat Treat Legend or a Heat Treat NextGen. Both of these periodic features are simple interviews with heat treat people to learn more about them and what makes them tick. The Legends feature is where we interview some industry “old timers” who have had a significant impact on the industry. Heat Treat NextGen is where we interview up and coming leaders in the industry.

The edition you hold in your hand is our annual Heat Treat Buyers Guide. It is chock-full of equipment information . . . hardly a face to be seen. Nonetheless, we’re hopeful that all of this equipment information will help you be happier and make better decisions.

Doug Glenn
Pubisher
Heat Treat Today

As a final note, if you’d like to take a look at some extremely cute and often funny Heat Treat Kids, please find this feature online in the December 2023 edition. The content we provide in every edition of Heat Treat Today is targeted at making the parents of these kids well informed, able to make better decisions, and happier.

Contact Doug Glenn at doug@heattreattoday.com.

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Publisher’s Page: The DOE Is Coming After YOUR Job

/ HEAT TREAT NEWS, PUBLISHER'S PAGE

“When it comes to who should lose their jobs because of changing times, I’d much rather leave the decision up to the market and millions of individual decisions being made independently around the world . . .”

Heat Treat Today publishes eight print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in the May 2024 Sustainable Heat Treat Technologies print edition.

Yes, the headline is intentionally provocative and even a bit of an exaggeration, unless you are employed in an industry that either makes or heavily uses combustion equipment. If that’s you, then the headline is NOT an exaggeration.

To prove that it is not, I’d like you to meet Mr. Isaac Chan, a DOE employee. Mr. Chan, whom I met in March of this year at an Industrial Heating Equipment Association Annual Spring Meeting is a genuinely nice person with no ill intent toward any living soul. He is also the program manager at the DOE’s Office of Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization.

Let’s pause for just a moment before we talk more about Mr. Chan and acknowledge that the name of this DOE Office, “Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization,” will be, in some specific cases, an oxymoron. In specific industries, given the best available technologies (BAT), mandated decarbonization would cause industrial inefficiency.

Back to Mr. Chan. As I’ve stated, he is a very nice person, but the job he and hundreds of others at the DOE are being paid to do with taxpayer dollars is explicitly targeted at changing the energy composition of U.S. industry with the undeniable effect of putting many, if not all, combustion processes in the ash heap of history along with all those employed therein.

On the fourth slide of a presentation entitled, “Cross Sector Technologies Meeting: Day 2, Next-Generation Enabling Technologies,” presented by Mr. Chan on May 30, 2023, we find the following:

  • DOE Commitment to Industrial Decarbonization (slide title)
  • “Industrial Heat Shot™ — Developing technologies to reduce process heating GHG emissions by 85% by 2035”
  • “Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap — Net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050”

The same slide goes on to list four international organizations that the U.S. has joined to “decarbonize” energy-intensive industries. Those four organizations are:

  • Net-Zero World Initiative
  • G7 Industrial Decarbonization Agenda
  • Mission Innovation’s Net-Zero Industries Mission
  • UNIDO’s coordinated Industrial Deep Decarbonization Initiative

Who Decides

The issue here is who decides if the world will decarbonize or not. I personally have no axe to grind on whether combustion people stay employed or not. Economies change. Energy sources change. People in those industries lose and gain jobs. And assuming these changes are the result of millions of decisions freely made by millions of individuals daily, we can safely consider these changes to be progress. But when a change from one fuel to another — gas to electricity or carbon to no carbon fuels in this case — is pushed from the top down, when it is forced on us by “guideline” or “mandate” using our own money, that is not progress.

The market should decide. A free, unfettered market where millions of people make decisions daily is a more reliable indicator of what the people want than the well-meaning individuals in the DOE — no disrespect to any of these good people.

When it comes to who should lose their jobs because of changing times, I’d much rather leave the decision up to the market and millions of individual decisions being made independently around the world, than to a small group of well-meaning individuals who believe they know what is best for the world.

Let’s let the market do what it does so well. Let the market choose the winners and losers.

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