INDUSTRY FACES
Aluminum Industry Vet Blogs for Safety Alex Lowery, general
manager for specialty chemical manufacturer Wise Chem, Columbus, Ohio, spends almost half the year on the road visit- ing aluminum melting facilities and attending industry events. In addi- tion to the frequent flier miles and clicks on the odometer, he has earned an understanding of safety and safety proce- dures that puts him in a unique position within the industry. Being in constant
will not post information that could be used to identify the company, its location or employees, in an attempt to remove blame from the situa- tion. Additionally, he includes links to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other sources of relevant safety information. “If a company gets an
Lowery (below) began the Aluminum Plant Safety Blog in late 2011 and has no plans to stop in the near future.
contact with a wide array of individuals and facilities, Lowery began the “Alu- minum Plant Safety Blog” in November 2011. He started posting newspaper, TV and radio reports of safety instances anonymously, though the intent was nothing near that of an undercover whistle-blower. “Tis is strictly a means of education. Te blog is
to allow people to learn about instances and hope- fully help prevent recurrences in their facility,” Lowery said. “With the large corporations that have multiple locations, if there’s a safety incident within their organiza- tion, every single plant is aware of it almost immediately. But when I’ve visited companies with one location or two, they’re unaware of other incidents within the industry.” When an incident involves injury or death, Lowery
PERSONALS Te Federal Metal Company,
Bedford, Ohio, named Michael Buyarski its chief operating officer.
B&L Infor- Samantha Macumber
mation Services announced Saman- tha Macumber has been promoted to software support specialist in the client service department.
ABB, Zu- rich, Austria,
announced Greg Scheu will lead the Group Executive Commit- tee’s acquisition integration efforts and lead service business in North America.
14 | MODERN CASTING December 2013 Michael Buyarski
award, I’ll post that,” he said. “In the industry, whenever you hear about something, it’s usually bad—an explo- sion or accident. There are positives, like there’s the Novelis facility in Kentucky that’s going on six years
without an accident. That’s good news.” In addition to the blog, Lowery is active with the major aluminum associations in the U.S., Europe and Brazil. He also has a “Spotlight on Safety” column in the U.K.-based Aluminum Times magazine. With more 150 posts under his belt, Lowery hopes
to post new information to the blog twice a week. In the near future, he wants to organize additional safety information for reference by visitors. Tough his blog deals with incidents where things went wrong, he remains positive when looking at the bigger picture. “I’m very proud of the industry,” he said. “Te aluminum in-
dustry in general is remarkable in its sharing of safety instances to prevent future accidents.”
OBITUARIES Bill Cherwonick died Oct. 24, 2013. He was 70. Cher-
wonick spent 38 years with Castwell Products LLC, Skokie, Ill., most recently as the vice president of sales and marketing. He was a former president of the Automotive Market Research Council.
J.B. Jensen died Nov. 11, 2013. He was 82. Jensen began working with the family busi- ness at Jensen Brothers In 1956. In 1973, he founded and built Jencast Foundry in South Coffeyville, Olka., of which he was president and CEO until his retirement in 2007.
Rex Robert Weinbender, director of Per- Greg Scheu
formance Technology Group at Fluor Global Services, Irving, Texas, died Nov. 14, 2013. He was 61. A resident of Greenville, S.C., Weinbender was a long-time member of the American Foundry Society’s 1-E committee and instructor of the AFS Institute’s Casting Cost Estimating course.
J.B. Jensen
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