Apparatuses and processes for evaluating degradation and potential failure of components in an industrial heat treatment system include means and steps for establishing process settings for a baseline process cycle, collecting sensor data for at least one non-process control performance parameter during the baseline process cycle to establish a set of benchmark performance data, performing a calibration process cycle using the established process settings and collecting sensor data for the at least one non-process control performance parameter to establish a set of calibration performance data, and comparing the calibration performance data to the benchmark performance data.