While at the ALUMINUM USA trade show in Detroit, Michigan, in November 2015, Light Metal Age had the opportunity to interview a number of notable members of the aluminum industry.
This fifth interview in the series conducted by Ann Marie Fellom, publisher, presents Jim Grayson, sales manager for Pyrotek. As someone who has worked for 39 years in the aluminum industry, Grayson’s employment path has been interesting, starting with a production job for Reynolds Aluminum. He went from Reynolds to Alumax to Norandal to Metaullics, which was ultimately purchased by Pyrotek, where he has spent the last 15 years of his career. Most of his aluminum industry career, Grayson has been working in the casthouse beginning with production and moving to sales and product development. He describes a number of compelling casthouse experiences in the interview, noting “The casthouse managers’s job is the hottest seat in the plant!”
Some of the interesting equipment Grayson has worked to develop includes a chip dryer with a vortex system, patented by Pyrotek, in which a 95% metal recovery is not uncommon. Working at Pyrotek has been some of the most enjoyable years of his career, Grayson explains, as he describes the environment of honesty and integrity promulgated by Pyrotek’s owners.
The next edition of ALUMINUM USA will be held in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 25–26, 2017.