As a leading industrial center in the United States, with an emphasis on oil and gas production equipment, manufacturing and fabrication, Houston provides OEMs with a variety of choices for heat treating services. Some of these services are small shops catering to one particular sector or industry, which limits the options they provide in heating treating.
Other companies are large national and even international companies, providing OEMs with the full range of common and more specific heat treating services. These large companies offer several advantages over small companies for most OEMs.
Expertise and Problem Solving
Selecting a large heat treating company that provides services across a variety of industries and sectors is good for any OEM. These companies have the experienced engineers and teams to address potential issues that can occur in heat treating any type of metal or alloy.
With experience in the industry, the OEM can also benefit from a better process that is faster, less expensive or that adds additional durability to the part. This becomes critical with load bearing and central parts and components where long duty cycles and low risk of fatigue and component failure is a significant concern.
Ability to Complete Orders
Check the reputation of the heat treating services under consideration for their ability to deliver small to large volume orders on time and to the specifications and tolerances required. This is important for both single orders for one-time requirements as for ongoing orders or Just-In-Time (JIT) types of contract heat treating orders.
Both small and large service providers in Houston may have minimum order requirements, and it is very common for small companies to have maximum order levels. This can create a problem for the OEM as scalability may not be a feature that is offered or possible with lower production capacity.
