Heat Treat Today publishes four print magazines a year, and included in each is a letter from the publisher, Doug Glenn. This letter first appeared in Heat Treat Today‘s Aerospace Heat Treating magazine, March 2020.
The first time I heard the name “Rodriguez” was at the 2015 ASM International Heat Treat Show during the “The Heat Is On” networking reception held at The Waterview Loft at Port Detroit – the same location it was held this last year (2019). I was standing beside a to-remain-nameless president of a furnace manufacturing company who had traveled extensively in his pre-heat treat days. While we were chatting at one of the outdoor cocktail tables on a lovely Detroit night, a middle-aged couple (and by that I mean a couple who were roughly my age, 54 at the time) came up and stood with us. Striking up a conversation with them, as I’m known to do with complete strangers, it became clear to us, both by their accent and by the content of the conversation itself, that they were from South Africa. They were here in the States to attend the Heat Treat Show.
When the “to-remain-nameless” furnace manufacturing president found out that this middle-aged couple was from South Africa, his eyes lit up. With enthusiasm somewhat uncharacteristic of his personality, he asked them – with great anticipation – “Do you know Rodriguez?” They looked at him as if he had two heads and after a short glance at each other replied, “Of course!” The to-remain-nameless president then looked at me, a man of roughly the same age as these two middle-aged individuals, and said, “Do YOU know Rodriguez?” Feeling a bit in the dark, I answered honestly, “No; who is Rodriquez?”
Suffice it to say, I did a lot of listening from that point forward in the conversation. It was fascinating and, to be frank, somewhat unbelievable.
As with any good story, it is best not to say too much, especially about how the story ends, but the story of Rodriguez is a fascinating story that you will NOT believe. And it is heat treat related – kind of.
I’ll tell you a bit more about Rodriguez here, but you must PROMISE to search for and watch the documentary about Rodriguez, Searching for Sugar Man. You can watch it on Netflix, and you may be able to find it other places as well. Trust me, it will be a worthwhile investment of time and, if you’re like most people who I’ve steered in that direction, your response will be something like, “No way! Not possible.”
In fact, Rodriguez was a heat treater. If you listen carefully at roughly the 1-hour mark in the documentary, you’ll find out that Rodriguez worked in the heat treat department for Chrysler, its Lynch Road Assembly plant in, interestingly enough, Detroit! According to Wikipedia, the “Lynch Road Assembly [Plant] was a Chrysler assembly plant located… near Coleman A. Young International Airport. It is now the location of The Crown Group, a powdered coatings manufacturer which supports the automotive manufacturing industry.”
That is as “heat treat” as the documentary gets, so don’t expect any more.
You need to watch this documentary, you and your entire family. My four kids were all in their teen years when we first watched Searching for Sugar Man. They were mesmerized once we got into it. Suffice it to say that Rodriguez was a musician besides being a heat treater, and what happened to him is, well… unbelievable.
If, nay, WHEN you watch it, please drop me an email (doug@heattreattoday.com) and tell me what you thought. Also, if you know of any other non-heat treat, heat treat stories, or simply movies where heat treat is mentioned, please let me know. I’m trying to compile a list of movies where at least heat treat gets a mention.
