Derek Denlinger’s enthusiasm, drive, and energy level led to him obtaining both an Eagle Scout award and a Richard Frazier FEF Scholarship before graduating Missouri University of Science and Technology with a Metallurgical Engineering degree.

After spending a year supervising a 15-person melt department in a stainless, nickel, and bronze foundry, Derek wanted to directly apply his technical knowledge to the craft. Upon employment at Paulo, Derek hit the ground running. His passion for physical metallurgy immediately began making contributions to physical analyses of parts for reverse engineering, failure analysis, and research projects investigating complex technologies for potential company services. He quickly learned the ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy required for thermal processing of metals.

Derek’s leadership talents were honed during MTI’s YES Management Training Program. He was promoted to lead metallurgical engineer and helps to provide guidance to the metallurgy team that serves six Paulo locations.

Derek was instrumental in the technical research for the equipment, processes, and operation that led to Paulo’s purchase of a hot isostatic pressure vessel. He worked cooperatively with the equipment manufacturer for specific process development and applications.

To this day, Derek’s drive helps provide technical support to Paulo’s sales team, quoting, plant operations, process and job development, problem solving, reduction in variation, and predictive tool development. Derek is the go-to person for non-ferrous knowledge, even for 30+ year seasoned metallurgists. He will without a doubt continue to make significant contributions to Paulo’s heat treatment operations.