Page 20 - MetalForming March 2019

Industry Leaders in Workforce Development
and its second in 2010), Qualtek now has the experience needed to build tools that take full advantage of what servo presses can deliver with respect to precision and repeatability.
Heat Treating Out...Make Way for More Stamping
Touring the plant with Roberts and Fagnant, the evolution here becomes
immediately evident. On the way out: an array of heat treating ovens and sup- port equipment. On the way in: high- volume stamping of aerospace and medical parts. Of note: stamped stain- less steel tie bands (think sheet metal zip-ties) for the aircraft industry, used to terminate connections and shield cables from EMI; and laryngoscopes, precision medical instruments. Qualtek
stamps the tie bands (7 to 10 in. long by 1⁄4 to 1 in. wide) on its servo presses, in volumes measured in the millions; each airplane might have 5000 to 6000 of these bands installed on it. The bands then are passivated at Qualtek—a per- fect example of its vertical integration capabilities. The same can be said for the one million laryngoscope compo- nents it stamps per year, which are
See the Problem, Fix the Problem
Troy Roberts cut his teeth auditing manufacturing companies, after receiving his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting in 1983 from the University of Texas (and helping to put himself through college working as
a roughneck in the Texas oil fields). In 1988 Roberts left the CPA firm to
become the controller at one of his manufacturing-company clients. “As an auditor,” he recalls, “I learned how to view business through
a financially focused lens. However, I found that career path uninspir- ing, always looking at the health of a company in the rear-view mirror. When I moved to industry, I was very aggressive at identifying issues and opportunities for improvement, and then tackling them. If I see a problem, I want to fix it—that’s my nature.”
That attitude and drive has served Roberts well in his career in manufacturing, and promises to serve PMA well in the coming year. After serving as controller at the manufacturing company, Roberts moved up to CFO and then to senior vice president of operations and finance, over an 8-yr. period. In 1996, Aida recruited him to become CFO, to help manage its fast-tracked green-field facility launch in Dayton, OH.
Roberts became vice president of operations/CFO at Aida in 1999, and in 2001 moved over, at the request of group CEO Kimi Aida, to
become managing director of Aida Europe, in Derby,
England. He led the company’s acquisition team that
purchased the assets of the Manzoni/Rovetta Group in Italy, before returning home to serve as president of Aida America, in 2004. That marked the start of his immersion in the North American market, and all things PMA.
“I had learned a lot about the European metal forming market,” Roberts says, “but need- ed to learn more about the North American market. PMA helped me get plugged in quickly to the market and the customers.”
Roberts and many of his senior managers quickly became involved, to learn about stampers from the inside out—their chal- lenges and what they needed from their suppliers. And, they became a resource during the lightweighting boom that challenged so many stampers.
“We also learned, by participating in PMA events,” Roberts explains, “about the many issues we face as an industry—tariffs, the automotive- market challenges, etc. And, my nature is that if I see something broken, I want to help fix it.
That’s how I’m wired, and why
I’ve been motivated to continue
to contribute to PMA, and why I sought its highest office as chairman.”
18 MetalForming/March 2019
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