With a master’s degree in Materials Science, Cody Dyar carried out research at his alma mater where he focused on enhancing mechanical properties of hot wrought steel by microalloying and optimizing heat treatments. This research work provided Cody with the opportunity to advance his career with Steel Dynamics, Inc., and today with Simpson Strong Tie Company, Inc., where he actively applies his leadership skills and metallurgical experience.

Cody was chosen by Simpson Strong Tie Company to manage the insourcing of processes that make worthwhile the largest capital investment in the history of the company. This project required Cody to take ownership of the work from start to finish, and Cody considers himself lucky to be chosen for this kind of work. The details of this project are as follows:

First, when Cody was hired, it was to oversee vertical integration of fastener processing currently being outsourced, including mesh belt heat treat, batch heat treat, E-coat, and dip-spin applications. His project started with capacity and volume analysis of fastener components manufactured at the facility (current and projected future). This required skill in data collection and communication.

Then, he worked with Simpson’s Planning and Sales teams to develop detailed matrices to share with potential equipment manufacturers. Using this information, Cody attended Furnaces North America and Fastener Fair USA to discuss the plans and equipment needs with equipment manufacturers in person. After many meetings with several manufacturers, Cody and the team selected the appropriate process, and the manufacturers provided equipment throughputs, operating costs, and fastener-specific equipment specifications.

Following the equipment selection, Cody oversaw the write-up of equipment sales agreements, acceptance criteria, specifics regarding terms and conditions, and communication/coordination of obligations for installation, and more.

Finally, considering the equipment was to be installed in a new-construction facility, Cody worked with the State of Tennessee to develop construction and operating permits for all of the newly purchased equipment. This was a daunting task, as he needed to collect and calculate emissions information for airborne HAP and VOC emissions for all new equipment. Cody worked with all equipment manufacturers and consultants to employ TDS for consumed materials in an effort to calculate the potential-to-emit for an array of airborne materials.

Currently, Cody is working with project managers from each manufacturer through the engineering and build phases of these projects to ensure that it is fully supported by Simpson’s facility. This required Cody to use his metallurgical engineering degree from Mississippi University and do extensive CAD work.

In the coming months, Cody will design control plans and work instructions and use this information to write up job descriptions. He will then oversee the hiring of new technicians for the equipment. Working closely with the HR team, he will work to find and hire personnel and train them for the new processes. In addition to this, he will also collaborate with project managers to oversee installation and commissioning of the new processes. Cody expects at that point to employ a team of engineers to optimize these processes and “grow into” the equipment and eventually expand into several more pieces of equipment to support these processes. Cody expects to move into an engineering management role in the future, as his expertise has expanded beyond heat treating into metal finishing and process automation.

When not working on Simpson’s largest capital investment, Cody works as the chosen cultural engagement champion to connect with all operators and personnel to coordinate improvement of employee experience in the workplace. He has completed various leadership training programs within Simpson Strong Tie (most notably Frontline Leaders) to prepare for leadership assignments in the future. Already, Cody has taken on significant leadership responsibility to support the company’s product development and production opportunities, and he is also involved in strategic product launch efforts to expand product lines for Simpson Strong Tie’s expansion moving forward.

Having spent under a decade in the industry, Cody has more than proved he is effective in collaborating with his peers and coworkers that support the goals of the organization. Cody actively seeks out collaboration with team members to make sure optimal results are realized.

Nominated by: Can-Eng Furnaces International, Ltd.