Heat Treat Consultant: John Young
Name: John Young
Company Name: Young Metallurgical Consulting
Location: Bluffton, South Carolina
Years In Industry: 30+
Consulting Specialties:
- Metallurgy, Heat Treating
- Sample Preparation & Hardness Testing
- Training, Inspection, Quality Control
- Leadership & Management
Briefly:
John Young says he “was born in a heat treat. My dad was a heat treater, and I would go to the plant on weekends with him when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I would spend a lot of time raising and lowering the lid on a homo carb and thinking it was great fun. During the summer, I was a maintenance helper in the plant and got all of the dirty cleanup duties.” After over thirty years experience in various roles throughout the heat treat industry, John Young launched Young Metallurgical Consulting in 2016, which works with in-house heat treat departments to teach the day-to-day processes necessary to manage and improve their area of operation. His purpose was to answer the question, “Now that I have a heat treat furnace, what am I supposed to do with it?” This includes providing training workshops to the new-to-the-industry heat treating employee as well as going beyond the classroom with instruction which he presents as an adjunct professor of metallurgical engineering at Macomb Community College which he shares with experienced employees in the field. His career has included multiple opportunities to lead and inspire employees toward quality work and service to the customer. He and his wife, Eileen, have been married 58 years and have a daughter and two grandchildren.
Publications or Significant Accomplishments:
- Received B.S Metallurgical Engineering, Michigan Tech University.
- Received Master of Business Administration, Michigan State University
- Began career as a blast furnace engineer, worked as a quality manager responsible for quality function at a company with 45 heat treat staff, training furnace operators in basic metallurgy and inspection techniques. Became familiar with auto, heavy equipment and auto industries utilizing batch, continuous belt, and shaker hearth furnaces.
- Worked in the family heat treat business as Quality Manager and Plant Manager until father died and business was sold.
- President of a 25-person heat treat company with complete authority and responsibility. Provided neutral hardening, carbonitriding and deep case carburizing to auto, heavy truck and railroad industries.
- Vice-president/general manager at a 50-person operation utilizing four continuous belt furnaces processing 50 MM lb/yr of threaded fasteners to the auto industry. Approved source for induction hardening Taptite fasteners.
- Commission sales representative of heat treats, platers, and other secondary sources in maintaining and increasing sales volume.
- General manager, directing 25-person operation utilizing rotary retort, continuous belt, and atmosphere annealing furnaces. Major heat treat source for Tier 1 supplier shipping to worldwide facilities of Big 3 auto manufacturer.
- Contributor, Advanced Materials and Processes, Vol. 158, ASM International, 2000
- Adjunct Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at Macomb Community College
- Founder of Young Metallurgical Consulting, 2016.
Links to Heat Treat Today or Other Online Resources
- “Effective Furnace Scheduling,” Heat Treat Today, January 6, 2017.
References available upon request from the Consultant
