August 2024 Volume 6

MEMBERS SPEAK

NEW CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE TO THE MEMBERS By Jim Kravec

I t is my honor to serve as FIA 2024-2025 Chairman of the Board. My involvement with FIA dates back 20 years with contin uous service on FIA’s Plant Engineering Committee, and more recently serving on the FIA Board of Directors and as a Trustee on the Forging Foundation Board (FIERF). With support from FIA’s board, I was the initial founder and committee chair of FIA’s Lightweight Alloys Committee and led the inaugural conference held in Pinehurst, NC. This addition recognizes the growing role and membership interest of forging titanium, aluminum, and other alloyed material. For the 2024-2025 FIA fiscal year a significant focus area for the board and its new Membership Committee will be a survey of the members . While membership numbers, programs and feedback on board leadership and staff performance are relatively favorable, a third-party managed survey of the members will help the board evaluate the many current programs we run and discover member's and non-member's thoughts on additional programs and services we can offer. Our survey partner – Tecker International (also our strategic planning facilitator) will facilitate this effort. Some areas the board is interested in probing include the following: • Membership Categories: a fresh look from members regarding what companies should be considered for membership. As staff are regularly approached by OEMs/Primes who would like membership and are already participating in programs. Is there a membership ‘lite’ category where they can feel they belong and provide a path to be part of the forging family? • Forging Producer Members: consolidations and plant closures have reduced the producer membership of FIA. What other benefits could we provide to our members is the question. And how can the membership assist staff with getting more producer members involved? • Current Membership Programs: we have several and would prefer more member involvement, so we will ask about lack of engagement and what other program ideas members and non members would like to see. New Strategic Plan Both FIA and FIERF Boards adopted a new strategic plan at their February meeting. Our board member roles have set the direction while providing resources and oversight to the staff. We look forward to the staff keeping busy. Some of the plan highlights include the following, and you can see the full strategic plan on FIA’s website:

• Tell the Forging Story: staff has been busy capturing fresh video footage and interviews from Carbo Forge, thyssenkrupp Rothe Erde (Rotek), Trenton Forging, and Pursuit. • Forging Capacity: we have forging capacity for all DOD and government-funded infrastructure projects and continue to survey the membership and have a PR plan to message this to lawmakers, DOD, and OEM/Primes. • Workforce Development: expanding our reach with K-12 remains a top priority by growing our summer Forge the Future camps. Additional goals include funding more Forging Clubs at all school levels and growing our annual Forging Competi tions at Forge Fair. This Fall and Beyond I’m looking forward to several great events this Fall, including the Forging Industry Technical Conference on the beautiful waterfront of Erie, PA -- making its first return since last running in 2018 in Long Beach, CA and one of the first major plant tours of the 60K press at Weber Metals. The Fall Meeting and Marketing Seminar – combined for the first time – will be in my hometown of Cleveland, OH, and next Spring I am always excited to see Forge Fair on the calendar and returning once again to Cleveland as well. I also look forward to the FIERF Golf Outing coming up August 27th at Sand Ridge Golf Club outside of Cleveland, OH. I’m really excited about the coming year and please don’t be shy about reaching out directly to me if you have ideas on how we can improve the FIA. I appreciate your support and look forward to leading this great organization! Jim Kravec

SVP of Sales and Customer Relations FIA Chairman of the Board 2024-25 Weber Metals, Inc Email: jimkravec@webermetals.com

FIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 2024 3