L to R: Eddie Thompson, Chris Hyche, Steve Johnson, and Charlie Chastain
On September 25, 2014, Tyler Union was recognized along with Bear & Son Cutlery, Bridgewater Interiors, International Automotive Components, Kronospan, and Shelco Foundries for the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce’s Salute to Industry Luncheon. Guest speaker at the event was Greg Canfield, Secretary of Commerce for the State of Alabama.
Steve Johnson, Tyler Union Assistant General Manager, accepted the award on behalf of the company and said, “Since 2008, we’ve seen production levels increase over 30% as a result of new product offerings and the consolidation of domestic ductile iron pipe fittings production in Anniston. These production increases have allowed us to expand our business to include an IMF Thermal Sand Reclamation Plant and Flaskless No-Bake Molding Line, and an Ajax 65-Ton Channel Furnace. Our staff has also increased approximately 10% over the past few years. We are currently staffed at 418 employees – 367 at the Anniston manufacturing facility and 51 located throughout the United States at various Sales & Distribution Centers.”
Congratulations, Tyler Union team!
Reeve Ammerman isn’t exactly a McWane team member, but his volunteer work has definitely earned him some recognition.
Reeve Ammerman / Photo courtesy of Jennifer Kingsley of the Star-Gazette (http://stargaz.tt/1tyZ8U0)
85-year-old Ammerman is from Village of Horseheads, a small village in the town of Horseheads, New York. Ammerman has painted and revamped 105 fire hydrants all over the village since July of 2013 and plans to paint all 320 of them before he calls it quits. And guess where most, if not all, of the hydrants are from – that’s right, Kennedy Valve Company in Elmira, New York!
Although Ammerman doesn’t do his good deeds for the accolades, he has received recognition and two replica fire hydrants from officials at Kennedy Valve along with receiving the Horseheads Kiwanis Good Guy award.
We are grateful that our Kennedy Valve hydrants are safe features in the communities that they are located, but we are even more grateful for people like Reeve. Thank you, Reeve, for helping to keep our fire hydrants looking up to par and for making a difference in your community!
Check out the full article from the Star-Gazette to read the rest of this amazing story!
Judges (L to R): Dan Copeland, Pat Tyson, Matt Hollub, and Cladiu Lungu
We are proud to announce the winners of the 2014 ErgoCup Competition:
The judges for this year’s competition (pictured above) were Dan Copeland, Pat Tyson, Matt Hollub, and Claudiu Lungu.
“At the end of each year’s competition it leaves me thinking how could we possibly improve on this? But each year they do! The dedication to continuous improvement by those who participate in the McWane ErgoCup is truly fantastic,” said Fred Simpson, Corporate Industrial Hygienist who coordinates and leads the ErgoCup competition every year. “This competition is a great example of creativity, team work, and enthusiasm that has turned out a lot of great products which have significantly reduced the risk of injuries to our McWane team members.”
Congratulations to all the facilities and team members who participated in this year’s competition. With your hard work, our work environments are now safer – and not just for the facilities that developed the solutions. The project explanations and videos are all posted on the McWane intranet ErgoCup site and are available for viewing by all McWane facilities.
This year, let’s see how many good ideas developed by one facility can be duplicated at another! After all, that is what safety R&D is all about – rip-off and duplicate for the good of everyone!
We are pleased to announce that AB&I was the feature of an article in the October 2014 issue of Modern Casting Magazine.
The article talks about the “Melting Crime Initiative” started by eight local law enforcement agencies and AB&I. This initiative has helped reduce the number of gun related crimes in Oakland, California.
Well….kinda.
Thanks to a YouTube video, one of Synapse’s own, Phillip Slawinski (pictured below right), received a request from “Science Bob” Pflugfelder to bring his Tesla gun to California for a taping of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” 
Someone from the show had seen Phillip’s YouTube video and wanted to feature the Tesla gun on the show.
We were also very excited to see them use an Amerex fire extinguisher during this segment! Synapse and Amerex – two leaders in their industry! (See the Amerex extinguisher at 2:35; the Tesla experiment begins around 6:30 with Phillip making an appearance around 6:50!)
For those who missed seeing the show last night, you can watch it below.
Congratulations, Phillip! We’re proud to have you as a member of our team.
Solberg, the firefighting foam products division of Amerex Corporation was named a winner of the 2014 EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award Program.
Awards were presented in five categories: Academic, Small Business, Greener Synthetic Pathways, Greener Reaction Conditions and Designing Greener Chemicals. Solberg was honored with the category award for Designing Greener Chemicals for its development and commercialization of RE-HEALING™ Foam.
RE-HEALING foam concentrates from SOLBERG are an innovative environmentally sustainable fluorosurfactant and fluoropolymer-free firefighting foam used to effectively extinguish Class B fuels with no environmental concerns for persistence, bioaccumulation or toxic breakdown.
The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards promote the environmental and economic benefits of developing and using novel green chemistry. These prestigious annual awards recognize chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use.
EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention sponsors the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards in partnership with the American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute® and other members of the chemical community including industry, trade associations, academic institutions, and other government agencies.
Congratulations to the entire Solberg global team on such a great achievement!
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For the full press release, please click here.
On Thursday, October 16, 2014, New York Congressman Tom Reed paid a visit to Kennedy Valve Company in Elmira, New York.
While visiting, Congressman Reed toured the facility and answered questions on various issues from Kennedy Valve team members in a Town Hall format.
We are so honored that he took time out of his busy schedule to drop by for a visit and discuss hot topics with Kennedy Valve team members!
Atlantic States recently announced the winners of the 2015 Atlantic States Calendar – Ways to Stay Healthy! And the winners are…
1st Place (Cover Photo) – Sajdah Qureshi, Age 12
January – Nicolle Roads, Age 12
February – Yeismarie Garcia, Age 8
March – Kaitlin Merlino, Age 13
April – Jennifer Phan, Age 12
May – Raheem Qureshi, Age 14
June – Ethan Vu Tran, Age
July – Daniel Merlino, Age 11
August – Allyson Rodas, Age 7
September – Angelina Tran, Age
October – Luke Merlino, Age 6
November – Isaiah Eddings, Age 11
December – Justin Tran, Age 11
Donnell & Derrick Wilson, Ages 11
The “Front Page” winner was awarded a $50 Toys R Us gift card along with two movie passes and all other winners were received a $25 Toys R Us gift card. A $10 gift certificate was presented to everyone else that submitted a drawing.
Congratulations to this year’s winners!
AB&I held their Fifth Annual Wellness Fair for team members on September 25. The goal of this year’s Wellness Fair was to raise awareness through education the importance of keeping fit and eating healthy as well as the critical importance of preventative care.
To accomplish this, AB&I partnered with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Alabama to offer onsite biometric screening. Team members took advantage of the opportunity to participate in the voluntary confidential biometric screening that was provided to them at no cost on-site. The screenings included measurements of blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, triglycerides and glucose. Team members were furnished the results right away so they could begin making any necessary changes to improve their results.
AB&I’s insurance broker, Filice, provided a healthy lunch, massages, and a fun way to find out your brain age through a card game. AB&I’s Mickie Nguyen finished the game in 28 seconds making her the youngest team member in “brain age” under 20 years old.
AB&I Team Member – Isaac Beltran, Jr.
As part of the preventative care program, AB&I provided on-site flu shots to all team members free of cost and through U.S. Health Works on October 2.
This program followed the recent Wellness Fair at AB&I.
Almost everything is better from scratch – and making your own foods with fresh ingredients is a much healthier alternative than consuming pre-packaged, pre-cooked foods. So instead of opening a jar of sauce, try this easy recipe for spaghetti with meat sauce and extra vegetables. Serve with steamed broccoli or a green salad, garlic bread, and roasted pears for dessert. The recipe makes enough for 8 servings. If you’re serving only four for dinner, cook 8 ounces of spaghetti and freeze the leftover sauce.
Ingredients (makes 8 servings):
Directions:
Nutrition Facts
Per serving 389 calories; 9g fat (3g saturated, 3g monounsaturated); 48mg cholesterol; 53g carbohydrate; 0g added sugars; 28g protein; 9g fiber; 416mg sodium; 709mg potassium
Recipe adapted from EatingWell.com – http://bit.ly/1uxlrrY
We hope you enjoy the recipe, Loretta! Changing eating habits is always a great thing to do to impro
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Happy Arbor Day to you! From Lincoln, Nebraska :) Peace and luvz, Uncle Tree ▲
Congrats on the success ! Great stuff for McWane
McWane, Inc. 