May Industry Watch: People

SHEET METAL WORKERS’ LOCAL 36
(ST. LOUIS, MO) . . .
awarded apprentice Dustin Walker top honors as a service apprentice at the Annual International Sheet Metal Competition hosted by the International Training Institute (ITI) in March in Las Vegas. Walker is in the final year of his service apprenticeship with Local 36 and Sheet Metal Contractors Inc. of DeSoto, MO. He is the fourth representative from Local 36 to win first place at the competition since it began in 1972. Also representing Local 36 at the 2010 competition were apprentices Brett Moeller, Grason Little, Charley Tabing and DJ Ratley.

The competition saw 325 of the top apprentices from Sheet Metal Local Joint Apprenticeship Centers across the U.S. and Canada compete in five sheet metal industry disciplines: service, architectural sheet metal, industrial/welding, HVAC, and testing, adjusting and balancing (TAB). Contestants in each category underwent tests in sketching and communications, plans and specifications, math and curriculum related to the specific discipline and a field and lab project. Walker and the other first place winners received up to $1800 and items from Smith Welding Supplies, Lincoln Electric, Miller Welding and Milwaukee Tools. www.sheetmetal36.org

ERIE PRESS SYSTEMS (ERIE, PA) . . .

named Don Karr the product manager of forging, responsible for domestic and international sales of hydraulic and mechanical forging presses and related equipment, managing the proposal and selling process for new and remanufactured presses, assessing customer needs and specifications, and recommending solutions for customers. Extremely knowledgeable on in-the-field press evaluations, he brings over 27 years of experience back to Erie, where he worked five years ago. He has primarily focused on mechanical and hydraulic presses, powdered metal applications and molding operations in the forge business. www.eriepress.com

MC MACHINERY SYSTEMS, INC.

(WOOD DALE, IL) . . .

named Shane Herendeen the national sales manager for Mitsubishi Laser, responsible for working directly with the regional managers and dealers across North America, working internally with product development, as well as with marketing and sales to increase market share. He has worked for a laser cutting distributor in the Midwest since 2003, covering Ohio and western Pennsylvania. In 2005, he founded Herendeen Consulting.
www.mitsubishi-world.com

RED BUD INDUSTRIES (RED BUD, IL) . . .

named Alex B. Trevino the director of sales for Latin America to oversee all sales and marketing functions in the Latin American market. He has spent the last 20 years in the steel industry. He was strategic planning manager at Ternium and has held various sales management positions at other equipment manufacturers. www.redbudindustries.com

MICHIGAN ROLL FORM, INC. (FRASER, MI) . . .

added Max Baauw as the sales manager for Tru-Tech Products. He was president of Tru-Tech Tool and Machine Company from 1999 through 2009, and has 42 years of hands-on roll forming experience. He joined a local roll form company in 1972 and worked his way up to foreman, then general manager, before starting and becoming part owner of Contour Roll Company, which was purchased by MRF in 2000. www.mrf-inc.com

FERALLOY CORPORATION (CHICAGO, IL)?

announced that president and CEO Roger B. Sippey retired after 42 years with the company. Carlos M. Rodriguez-Borjas assumed the role of company president and chief operating officer in April after 11 years in the role of general manager of Acero Prime, the company’s highly successful joint venture in Mexico.

Sippey joined Feralloy in 1968 and served in various executive roles during his tenure, including general manager of the St. Louis and Eastern Divisions, and president and CEO of Feralloy North American Steel (FNAS), a joint venture with Feralloy Corporation and Rautaruukki in Detroit, MI. In 2004 he was promoted to executive vice president. During his career, Feralloy grew from a $5 million to a $500 million company. www.feralloy.com

CAMEL GRINDING WHEELS (NILES, IL) . . .

brought Rodney Neil Finch on as an application engineer, responsible for market growth in the vitrified product line, supporting new and existing products in metal fabrication, and structuring the application engineering department to better support CGW representatives and distributors. He has over 20 years of experience in the grinding industry, and was previously a sales and grinding specialist with GTI Spindle Technology. Prior to that he was an application engineer and product manager with Saint-Gobain Abrasives (SGA).

In 2007 he earned the “Application Engineering Entrepreneur” award for excellence in turning vision into profitable reality. He attended the Detroit College of Business. He is a graduate of SGA’s level one and level-two application engineering programs and taught classes for dressing and training in the industry. www.cgwheels.com

TRUMPF, INC. (FARMINGTON, CT) . . .

appointed Mike Morissette as the sales finance manager for Trumpf Finance to help customers find solutions for financing their equipment purchases. He has 28 years of manufacturing experience and began his career at the company 15 years ago as an applications engineer. He has worked as product manager for punching and combination machines and most recently was the regional sales manager based in Arizona. In his new role, he has relocated back to Farmington.

Chris McMillin replaces Morissette as the regional sales manager based in Arizona, joining the company from Icon Machine Tool, a distributor of metal fabrication equipment where he was named salesman of the year. He is “looking forward to getting into the territory and meeting customers” as he manages sales activity in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, and the southern regions of California and Nevada, where he will handle direct sales. www.us.trumpf.com

DE-STA-CO (AUBURN HILLS, MI) . . .

appointed Brian Nadel to president. He was named to the post by Thomas Giacomini, president and CEO of Dover Industrial Products, a segment within Dover Corporation, to replace Pat Carroll, who now leads the Environmental Solutions Group, a newly-formed organization within Dover that brings together Heil, Marathon Equipment Co., and Bayne Thinline. Nadel recently served as president of Marathon. Before that he was general manager of the Paladin Heavy Construction business, general manager of Parker Hannifin’s Hydraulic Gear Pump Division and spent several years with TRW Automotive. He holds a bachelor of science in business from the University of Denver. www.destaco.com

ASTM INTERNATIONAL
(W. CONSHOHOCKEN, PA) . . .

the Committee on Metallic-Coated Iron and Steel Products elected Dr. Thomas Langill, technical director at the American Galvanizers Association (Centennial, CO), as chairman for a two-year term. This committee oversees 74 standards on the protection of iron and steel products against corrosion by use of metallic and non-metallic coatings. A member of ASTM since 1994, he was honored in 2009 with the Award of Merit, the highest organizational recognition for individual contributions to standards activities. He has assisted in laser systems development for U.S. military applications and is a member of the American Welding Society and other organizations. He earned his BS and MS in physics from John Carroll University (University Heights, OH) and holds a PhD in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL).

The Committee on Magnetic Properties named Reinhold Strnat, president and technical manager of Magnet-Physics Inc. (Fishers, IN), as chairman. This committee deals with magnetic materials and test methods for determining magnetic properties. Strnat joined ASTM in 1992, has a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Dayton (Dayton, OH) and MS in applied physics from the University of California San Diego (La Jolla, CA). He is a senior member of IEEE, a commercial/instrument rated pilot, and FAA Certificated Flight Instructor. The Committee on Iron Castings elected William LeVan, executive vice president of the Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute (CISPI; Atlanta, GA), as its new chairman. This committee is responsible for approximately 50 standards published in the Annual Book of ASTM Standards. LeVan became a member of ASTM in 1988. He spent nearly 20 years as regional sales manager at U.S. Pipe and Foundry Co. (Chattanooga, TN) before accepting his position at the Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute in 1988. Outside ASTM, LeVan is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and several other organizations. www.astm.org

CLIFFORD-JACOBS FORGING COMPANY (CHAMPAIGN, IL) . . .

added Gretchen Clifton as quality manager. She is a ASQ CQA-Certified Quality Auditor and lead auditor for ISO/TS 16949 with more than 30 years experience in manufacturing, serving as a business unit manager and launch coordinator for automotive interior trim products, and quality manager for various organizations. She has facilitated employee-based operating teams and been a consultant for the Illinois Manufacturing Extension Center (IMEC). www.clifford-jacobs.com