INVESTMENT
CASTING INSTITUTE MEMBER EMERITI
2019 Member Emeritus inductee, Naum Cherepakhov
Naum Cherepakhov “In 1979, I came to the US and
started my second life.” Naum Cherepakhov, immigrated to the US from the former USSR. When he arrived in the US, Cherepakhov did not speak English and his job searching skills had come from a colleague who told him, “You can survive if you know how to use the Yellow Pages.” Cherepakhov spent the next 11½
years as a wax engineer at Arwood. In 1990, Argueso, which supplied waxes for Arwood, offered Cherepakhov a new job as quality control manager and wax troubleshooter. Six years later, he joined Howmet Dover where he shared time as a wax expert with Howmet’s research center in Whitehall. His work involved troubleshooting in the patternmaking process and the development of soluble waxes. His final position was manager of wax technology for wax manufacturer Kindt-Collins, which was later purchased by Paramelt.
He holds three Russian patents and authored some 35 papers in the former USSR, Europe and North America. His specialty is investment casting wax. Meanwhile, Cherepakhov became
a long-time participant in the Investment Casting Institute. He has presented papers at a number of technical conferences and served on the wax committee where he contributed to the latest edition of the Atlas of Wax Pattern Defects.
2019 Member Emeritus inductee, Melvin (Mel) Kman
Melvin (Mel) Kman Together with John Kemper, Mel Kman established Avalon Precision Casting Company in 1982. Over the years, they grew Avalon from a startup of four employees to over 80 when the company was sold to Keystone Capital in 2012. He was instrumental in developing the production processes at Avalon for many years, and was always eager to try new things and “think outside the box”. Continuing education and staff development were priorities for Mel, who enjoyed mentoring his executives. He was also concerned for the future of investment casting as a whole--often hiring young people and grooming them to the be next generation of leaders. Kman was elected treasurer and then
president of the Non-Ferrous Founders’ Society where he helped develop the NQS1000 program to assist foundries in getting ISO:9000 registered. Kman has been a long-standing supporter of the ICI, while a partner in Avalon and he has been instrumental in introducing the current executive staff to key members in the industry. Kman remains
a consultant to
Avalon Precision Metalsmiths, the full- service, investment casting company. Mel has been a long-standing supporter of ICI.
Robert Barbero Henry T. Bidwell H.M. Burt
Joseph Cadieux Naum Cherepakhov Larry Comunale James E. Day, Jr.
Jerry L. Donohue Walter Dubovick Richard E. Gray Perry Harvey
James D. Jackson Melvin (Mel) Kman Craig Lanham Leland Martin
Theodore Operhall Michael C. Perry
Raymond E. Pritchard Leo Rando Joseph Shiel
Jack Tangeman Thierry N. Thys Frank Valenta E.K. (Erv) Zielke
November 2019 ❘ 11 ®
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