This paper describes some of the ways manufacturing data are being used to reduce variations in heat treat processes and achieve higher levels of conformance in treated parts. It also includes a review of quality management practices and demonstrates the use of Six Sigma statistical analysis in an induction heat treating application.

AMS2750E has brought about significant changes to the record keeping requirements to the heat treating industry. Although not expressly required, heat treating companies that service the aerospace industry are turning to digital solutions that streamline data acquisition, reporting, and compliance with industry standards. Meeting the requirements of AMS2750E for data collection and report generation is one reason why the heat treating industry is seeking custom data collection solutions built with commercial off the shelf components. Companies producing parts to meet the AMS2750E standard must abide by data collection, calibration, temperature uniformity survey (TUS), and system accuracy test (SAT) documentation requirements. The goal of the 2750E record keeping requirements is to improve quality, shorten document retrieval times, and ensure compliance. The advantages of digital records include real-time access to data from multiple locations, improved data integrity, reduced long-term storage costs, and the ability to easily sort, query, and compare data. Leveraging digital systems allows users to capture real-time process data and officially signed documents, and create reports that benefit operators, maintenance personnel, engineers, quality control specialists, and other decision makers. Smartly implemented digital data collection systems leverage the existing network and server infrastructure resulting in a streamlined solution that can interact with existing business and automation systems, including Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems that impact quality and profitability.

Insufficient and missing information can lead to avoidable costs in heat treatment, arising both from failures and from the time-consuming process of acquiring information. The Quality Assurance in Heat Treatment research group of the Association for Heat Treatment and Materials Technology aims to raise awareness among all heat treatment contractors about the importance of exchanging necessary information. This goal will be achieved by first documenting the essential information and then explaining why information exchange is crucial. Three examples are provided to demonstrate the impact of information on product outcomes. To disseminate these explanations to the general public, a concept and the initial implementation of a knowledge system are introduced.