Heat Treat Today’s Meet the Consultants: Dan Herring, “The Heat Treat Doctor®”

Heat Treat Today recently unveiled its Heat Treat Consultants page in the October 2018 print edition (available in digital format here) and at FNA in Indianapolis, Indiana. We offer this comprehensive listing of heat treat industry consultants as part of our efforts to help minimize the effects of heat treat “brain drain.” With so many heat treat brains growing older, the expertise that once used to reside inside of manufacturing operations is dwindling. Where, then, do manufacturers with in-house heat treat departments go when they need heat treat answers?

Turn to Heat Treat Today and our comprehensive list of heat treat industry consultants, which we will introduce to you one by one in this occasional feature, “Meet the Consultants”. There is no more comprehensive list of heat treat consultants. Learn more about Dan Herring, “The Heat Treat Doctor®” and then click through to the page to read more details about each consultant. We are adding more regularly. Contact them directly, or call us and we’ll introduce you to them. Whether it’s a technical process question, a safety concern, a compliance issue, or a business related question, one of our heat treat consultants will be able to help. If you are a consultant and would like to be listed, please contact Doug Glenn.


Name: Dan Herring “The Heat Treat Doctor®”
Company Name: The HERRING GROUP, Inc.
Location: Elmhurst, Illinois
Years in Industry: 45+
Consulting Specialties:

  • Problem Solving & Technical Advice in Heat Treatment, Sintering, Brazing, Metallurgy, Engineering & Material
  • Metallurgical & Failure Analysis
  • Technical Education & Training (SAE-ARP-1962, Nadcap)
  • Marketing Studies, State-of-the-Industry Reports
  • New Product & Business Development

Send an email | Website | Phone: 630-834-3017

Briefly: 

Dan Herring, who is most well known as The Heat Treat Doctor®, has been in the industry for over 45 years. He spent the first 25 years in heat treating prior to launching The HERRING GROUP in 1995. His vast experience in the field includes materials science, engineering, metallurgy, equipment design, process and application specialist, and new product research. Dan holds a patent (as a co-inventor), and a broad range of industries are made better for his consulting services in heat treating and sintering, metallurgy, operations, business management, sales and marketing, and technology. In particular, The Heat Treat Doctor strongly believes open sharing of knowledge and discoveries in the field will improve the industry: he holds a position as an associate research professor with the Thermal Processing Technology Center (Illinois Institute of Technology), has written four books and nearly 500 technical articles, and lectures frequently at conferences and workshops worldwide.

Publications or Significant Accomplishments:

  1. Founded The HERRING GROUP (1995)
  2. Associate Research Professor, Thermal Processing Technology Center, Illinois Institute of Technology.
  3. Author of 4 books on heat treatment: 1) Vacuum Heat Treatment: Principles, Practices, Applications, Volume I(BNP Media; 2012); 2) Atmosphere Heat Treatment: Principles, Applications, Equipment, Vol. 1 (BNP Media, 2014); 3) Atmosphere Heat Treatment: Atmospheres, Quenching, Testing, Vol. 2 (BNP Media, 2015); 4) Vacuum Heat Treatment: Applications, Equipment, Operation, Volume II (BNP Media, 2016); as well as U.S. Government publications, including The Influence of Process Variables on Vacuum Carburizing (U.S. Department of Energy, 1995)
  4. Author or co-author of over 425 technical articles on Heat Treatment Processes at The Heat Treat Doctor’s Technical Library as well as The Heat Treat Doctor’s Heat Treat Hints .
  5. Co-inventor of patented “method of carburizing steel comprising carburizing steel under vacuum utilizing as the carburizing gas an aliphatic alcohol having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, preferably methanol and natural gas additions.” (Patent No. US4386973A)
  6. A frequent lecturer at local, national and international conferences
  7. Consulting Technical Editor and Monthly Contributor, Industrial Heating, including over 500 articles and blog posts
  8. Contributing Writer: Vac Aero, Fastener World, Fastener Technology International, Heat Treating Progress, Wire Forming Technology International, Gear Solutions, and more (see list linked under #4)
  9. Member: ASM International, American Gas Association “Hall of Fame”
  10. One of the “25 Most Influential People in the North American Heat Treating Industry” (The Monty, 2007, 2009)

Links to Heat Treat Today or Other Online Resources from This Consultant (a select list)

References (partial list):

LinkedIn.com |  The Heat Treat Doctor  |  Vac Aero  |  Industrial Heating  | Thermal Processing Technology Center