Case Study: Northern Heat Treat Achieves Consistency and Innovation

The Challenge

In the world of mining exploration and drilling, there are several serious challenges faced by leading companies in drill rod performance and production. Companies often struggle to produce drill rods that maintain acceptable hardness and integrity with dependable consistency. These objectives become even more difficult to achieve in the face of high-volume material handling and a variety of different steel materials. In order to ensure product hardness and integrity rigorous testing methods must be employed but many of these methods result in drill rod damage that makes all test pieces unusable.

Exploration Drilling
Rock and stone drilling in a building site
Drill and casing pipes on blurred image of oil rig

The Solution

Northern Heat Treat has worked to adapt its top-of-the-line heat treating processes to accommodate the needs and meet the challenges faced by drill rod companies around the world. With the installation of 4 high volume production cells with robotic material handling, we became the innovators of high capacity fully automated drill rod heat treatment. We worked hard to develop and maintain intellectually designed programs that ensure consistent tight hardness tolerance (+/- 2 Rockwell C scale) applicable to multiple steel materials. This consistency is backed by rigorous, non-destructive testing and quality control guaranteed by an ISO 9001 certification.

The Result

Northern Heat Treat has maintained its high standards with the highest capacity for drill rod processing in North America. Our determination for unmatched quality and consistency has resulted in:

  • 17 induction scanners
  • 4 automated robotic cells
  • Over 60 induction coils of various sizes up to 9” diameter
  • 6 cylindrical straightening presses
  • 3 industrial saws

We have prevailed through over 20 years of innovation and improvements to our drill rod hardening system, supplying large volumes of heat-treating services for the drill rod industry around the world. We boast 4 times the capacity of all other local competitors and unmatched expertise and knowledge. We have built strong long-lasting customer relationships based on decades of consistent results. Our innovative high capacity fully automated drill rod heat treatment produces more than 9.5 million pounds of steel drill rods every year.

Northern Heat Treat works hard to rise to industry challenges and is willing to work closely with our customers to ensure all needs and specifications are met. To learn more about Northern Heat Treat’s work with the drill rod industry or to discuss options for your own unique challenge, Contact us or request a quote today.