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The Kentucky Heat Treating Co. was founded in 1967 in Georgetown, KY, by the Dow Furnace Company. It was established as a showroom for Dow furnace equipment and to service the IBM typewriter plant in Lexington, KY, as well as other commercial accounts. In 1981 the company was sold and continued its operations as a commercial heat treater performing hardening operations, utilizing atmosphere batch furnaces, and cleaning operations, such as sandblasting, in an approximately 16,000 square foot building employing an average of 10-15 employees.
Since 1981 Kentucky Heat Treating has experienced many changes and been involved in numerous quality-related and customer-related endeavors. It began with the upgrade of all furnace equipment to microprocessor technology for better furnace control and more consistent results. Furthermore, recognizing a need in the local marketplace for the vacuum heat treatment of steel, vacuum furnaces with the latest control technology were installed to better suit the needs of our customers. Advanced processing techniques such as Ferritic-Nitrocarburizing(FNC) and Nitriding have also been adapted for use in customer applications requiring hard surfaces with better resistance to wear.
In 2005 the acquisition of new business allowed us to experience significant growth and the relocation of our operations to an approximately 48,000 square foot building in Winchester, KY. Kentucky Heat Treating now employs 20-25 employees and has added carbottom furnaces and a zinc phosphate coating line to its processing capabilities.
With the increased capacity and services available to the customer, we have not overlooked our responsibility and dedication to providing a quality product. Total commitment by Kentucky Heat Treating’s top management, led to the hiring of a Quality Manager in 1999 and establishment of a quality system. Originally certified to QS-9000, the commitment has been continued through the transformation to an ISO 9001:2000 Certification.
In 2008 we took on the challenge of our customers to create a more efficient heat treating methodology and adapt the practices and principles of CQI-9, AIAGs new Heat Treat Assessment Guidelines. Kentucky Heat Treating is proud to say that it is nearly complete in this endeavor and is dedicated to continually improving our processing abilities.
In this tradition of continual growth and improvement, Kentucky Heat Treating has once again answered the calls of our customers with the installation of a completely new Integral Batch Line. Slated for completion in the first quarter of 2009, the new All Case line from Surface Combustion will improve our processing efficiency and add much needed capacity to our growing business needs. This new line will showcase the latest in processing and monitoring capabilities which allows us to better serve the desires of our customers. |
