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Posted June 17, 2020

Valley Forge & Bolt appoints chief metallurgist

Valley Forge & Bolt, a Phoenix-based manufacturer of hot-forged industrial fasteners, welcomed Rick Bailey to the company as chief metallurgist.


Rick Bailey

Bailey will be involved in numerous levels of the organization, with an eye on maintaining efficient, high-quality processes. His responsibilities include creating product formulations and purchasing steel; production planning; advising on forging and heat-treating; expanding employee understanding of product functions; and assisting with quality controls.

“My strength is in treating product creation holistically—taking raw materials and carrying them through forming, machining, and heat treating to get quality levels that customers need,” said Bailey. “My role is to turn science into practice, applying the technical side of metallurgy to improve processes. And to embrace continuous improvement so we’re always learning and better serving our customers.”

Bailey has prior experience serving the mining, power gen, and oil and gas markets, three of Valley Forge’s core markets. 

“We’re extremely fortunate to add someone with Rick’s experience to the Valley Forge team,” said Michele Clarke, CEO. “He’s seen and done just about everything in steel metallurgy, and has developed a true passion for fasteners and solving customers’ issues with their critical joints.”

Bailey began his career with U.S. Steel and transitioned to the fastener side of the steel business with Massachusetts-based Olympic Manufacturing Group. 

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