Active as an expert in metallurgy and heat treat, Christopher Kline is also a “jack of all trades.” His experience in OEM, Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 in a variety of engineering disciplines has given him the ability to make decisions with confidence. He began with earning his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering/Mechanical Technology/Technician at The University of Toledo before being hired at Erie Steel as a process engineer. He went on to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as a resident engineer before joining AAM as a metallurgical heat treat engineer and then an application engineer at VAVE. After some time at General Motors as an execution engineer, he continued his varied career at Dana Incorporated as senior materials engineer.

One colleague who worked with Chris at AAM and GM, commented on his profound knowledge and valuable first-hand experience of the heat treatment of metallic materials, something, he noted, that “can only be gained from deep personal involvement in extensive heat treatment projects and failure analysis work.”

The former colleague continues, “We had an opportunity to visit . . . a heat treater to evaluate a critical component distortion issue after heat treatment. While the team was debating about the contributing factors to the issue, Chris brought up a critical influential factor that nobody had thought of, which indeed could affect the heat treatment dimensional stability. In that visit, Chris demonstrated his solid metallurgical engineering knowledge, vast experience from real manufacturing environment, and courage to lead the resolution of challenging problems.”

Some of Chris’ greatest heat treat projects have been related to the details of normalization and its impact on distortion, alloy management, and capacity planning. He has used SPC and has researched the exact amount of variation in a steel grade by each heat and the process variation from the furnace, using research of Dana’s lab to measure the results. Additionally, Chris notes as particularly significant his innovations at Erie Steel prior to their being recognized as the 2016 MTI Heat Treater of the Year. Chris has a Shainin Green belt certification from FCA.