The heat treat career of Olivia Ivone Pánuco Valdés is defined by her extensive knowledge of heat treatment and a leadership style that informs and supports her company and clients.

Ivone has a great knowledge in the area of heat treatment — specifically in LPC and high quench process, carbonitriding, and nitriding — from her over twelve years in the industry. Throughout her career, she has contributed significantly to the heat treat capabilities at numerous companies, such as MAHLE, ALD, and General Motors (GM). Her work has been focused on the heat treatment of gears, and during her career, she has supported the development of recipes, processes, distortion control, and quality for various gear processes.

A knowledgeable expert in her field, Ivone always is ready to give direction or support with CQI-9 requirements and LPC process for all GM Mexico plants. Additionally, she has been involved with Ford process development; Magna and TREMEC are other examples. Ivone is the perfect kind of heat treat leader that shows how the process works and how all the variables impact the quality.

At GM, Ivone’s leads the heat treatment area, from the installation of machines for module 1 to the development and validation of the thermal cycle of each part that is manufactured. The development activity of the thermal cycle is a critical, because based on this step, results are obtained that have a very small acceptance range.

Ivone demonstrates her ability to solve problems and offer ideas for improvement, constantly helping her team to achieve the results that were set from the beginning. Leading treatment teams to ramp up production has always been one of her most remarkable skills; she pushes everyone to meet the goals as a team and always seems to bring the right solution to the table.