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On Wednesday, January 2, 2019
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Q&As with Scot Clay
Scot, you’ve been with AHT since 1994 – congrats – describe your career path here and the changes you’ve seen over the years.
I started in the lab working with nitrided metallurgical samples. From there, I played many roles formally or informally from running the induction department, project management, metallurgy, maintenance, quality, and of course sales. I have interacted with the customers nearly all along the way, which is one of my favorite aspects of working for AHT. I’ve seen our company go from one facility to four, acquire numerous quality accreditations, and continue to add new processes. What has stayed constant throughout the years is our technical and customer focus.
How do your previous positions help you to serve our customers better?
One of AHT’s great strengths is our collaboration with customers to find the best solution. I’m fortunate to have the benefit of broad experience as I’ve spent significant time with nearly all of our processes and inspection methods. While I certainly don’t have all the answers, I pride myself on being able to talk through projects with customers, steering them the right direction and avoiding common pitfalls. It’s not uncommon for me to visit a customer thinking I’m meeting with a single contact, and be greeted with a room full of engineers.
When you’re not working, how do you like to spend your free time?
I’ve always been a fanatic of motorcycling, in various forms, although my greatest love is for off-road riding. Beyond that, really almost anything outdoors: target shooting, kayaking, hiking. My wife and I are both nature/wildlife enthusiasts and spend a lot of time outdoors around our acreage, as well as sampling the occasional craft brew.
You’ll be at the SHOT Show this month in Las Vegas. Why should firearm manufacturers visit our booth?
UltraOx is a great fit for many firearms parts. It provides better corrosion resistance than conventional heat treatment and much better wear life than typical black oxide... with very low part distortion. We would love to discuss solutions to your application in person.
What professional (or personal) accomplishment are you most proud of?
I worked with a customer on a project involving improvement of a critical vehicle component, starting at the design level. Destructive testing proved AHT’s treatment increased part life over 10X. This turned into a solid account for AHT for many years. As project manager, I was involved in nearly every aspect of the project, and felt a great sense of ownership.
What is one thing people may not know about Scot Clay?
While my father was in sales, a surprising number of my family members/relatives were either electricians or teachers.
What is one thing our customers may not know about AHT?
Where all this purple comes from. The answer is, the glow created during the ion nitriding process is purple. AHT started with ion nitriding, and to this day has more ion nitriders than any other type of equipment.
What, in your opinion, makes AHT the leader in nitriding?
AHT has been focused on nitriding since 1981, with 50+ nitride units. Our depth of technical staff is outstanding throughout our company, including one of the world’s experts on nitriding… Dr. Edward Rolinski.
Now, a series of quick random questions:
- Favorite Movie: I love movies so it’s tough to pick just one, but I’ll go with the last great one I saw—“Rudy”
- First Job: I started hog farming when I was about 10 years old, otherwise my first job for an employer was forming heat ducts out of sheet metal for a plumbing and heating company.
- Biggest Irrational Fear: Failure.
- Favorite Food: Anything Italian.
- Least Favorite Food: Cooked Spinach.
- Person Who Has Influenced You: It’s easy to see where my appreciation of nature and sense of adventure came from (my parents).
- Favorite Vacation: Oregon + Washington.
- Favorite Quote: “The world’s a roller coaster, and I am not strapped in” --Incubus
Have a question for Scot Clay? Call 319-232-5221 or fill out our Contact Form.
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