Page 36 - MetalForming March 2023 - PMA Chairman Jeff Aznavorian

Aznavorian credits his production team with quickly moving the firm’s new robotic production cell into operation. The cell com- pletes numerous operations including wire forming, cold head- ing, stamping, coining, piercing and resistance spot welding. Shown: front row, left to right—Lexis Silverman, production oper- ator; Stephen Derosia, tooling supervisor; Craig Rice, director of manufacturing engineering. Back row, left to right—Mike Snow, wireform apprentice; Ray Barnes, new program manager; Garret Goyette, manufacturing engineer; Devin Daniels, product engi- neering; Brad Nycek, product engineering.
set established by his father, Mike, who served as company president from 1985 until Jeff took the reins in 2016.
Now, Jeff Aznavorian is poised for his next big challenge— serving as 2023 board chair of the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), following in the footsteps of his father, who served as PMA board chair in 1996.
“Our path as a company and our progress is intertwined with our involvement with PMA,” says Aznavorian. “I will continue to cheerlead for PMA—this organization represents the best of the best metal forming companies. So, we must continue to lean on each other, even more than we already do, and PMA helps us make those connections—in a large part by enlisting the services of industry experts to speak at our events. In this way we can gather relevant industry data so that we can analyze it and use it at our own companies. And, PMA facilitates opportunities for metal formers to net- work and learn from each other,” a reference to his theme,
Among Clips & Clamps’ core competencies: CNC wire bending, shown here under the direction of wireform apprentice Mike Snow (far right). Inspecting recently formed parts in the produc- tion machine’s quality gauge are Craig Rice, director of manu- facturing engineering (left), and department lead J.R. Jernigan.
“Optimizing Connections,” during his term as chair.
“I see the association supporting its members, and the members supporting PMA and another,” Aznavorian shares. “We as members can help each other deal with the issues of the day. A great example is the PMA networking group I par- ticipate in, which I and others think of as an unofficial board of advisors. There’s a high level of trust there. The members of my networking group act as executive coaches, advisory- board members, therapists and best friends, all wrapped up
into one.”
Optimizing Connections and the Synergy of Sharing
“The strength of PMA always has resided in its member companies and their people,” Aznavorian says, explaining the significance of his theme. “A wise person once told me that an asset we all can utilize is the ‘power of people’ and the ‘synergy of sharing.’ The challenge, then, is finding out how we can harness that power and take full advantage of the synergies. One great way to overcome that challenge is to optimize the connections that we already have in place.”
PMA, Aznavorian says, connects people through four key areas:
• Education and training • Networking
• Benchmarking
• Advocacy.
Educating the Workforce of Tomorrow
“In addition to the executive-level coaching I receive from networking within PMA, we also can use PMA-generated content to educate our employees in best practices, for today and tomorrow, and help us replace outdated practices,” Aznavorian says.
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