Robert M. Andrews

Background

Mr. Robert Andrews has worked in the metalworking industry since 1981, including as a Plant Metallurgist specializing in Ferrous Metallurgy.

Upon graduation, Mr. Andrews became a Project Engineer for the Torrington Company (later purchased by Timken) in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. At Torrington, he was responsible for projects in the grinding area, as well as in the heat treatment department. Projects included capital equipment purchases, retooling of machines for new product lines, development of statistical process control (SPC) manufacturing processes, and cost analysis of the heat treating process.

In 1988, Mr. Andrews accepted a position as a Manufacturing Engineer at Clark Components International (later purchased by Dana Corporation) in Statesville, North Carolina. At Dana, he was responsible for capital improvements and process development projects within the grinding area, welding department, and heat treat department. In 1997, he assumed the role of Plant Metallurgist upon completion of additional ferrous metallurgy coursework at ASM (formerly known as the American Society of Metals). Responsibilities included quality control of heat-treated components, both gas-carburized and induction hardened, as well as forensic failure analysis on warranty returns from the field.

In 2006, Mr. Andrews accepted a position as a Metallurgical Engineer with Getrag Gear North American (later purchased by GKN) located in Newton, North Carolina. There, Mr. Andrews was responsible for the vacuum carburizing heat treatment area and manganese coating process. Mr. Andrews worked closely with the Metallurgical Laboratory on quality issues and performed failure analysis on axle components as a result of field returns.

Mr. Andrews joined Metallurgical Technologies, Inc., P.A. (later purchased by Rimkus) in mid-2007 as a project engineer, accepting a series of promotions to his current position as Division Manager, Laboratory. He has been leading forensic failure analysis investigations and performing consulting services for manufacturing clients, with a heavy emphasis in ferrous alloy components, rotating mechanical equipment (bearings, transmissions, gearboxes, axles, etc.), and heat treatment processing issues (through-hardening, carburizing, induction hardening, etc.).