Walker Reaches New Rung On Aluminum Ladder Kaiser Exec’s Role Grows For Flat-Rolled Products Business

For John Walker the corporate ladder is made of aluminum.

The 40-year-old vice president at Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp., who was just hired last October, is already expanding his role, stepping up to run commercial aspects of the company’s flat-rolled products business in addition to its operations. His new title is vice president and general manager, flat-rolled products.

Previously he was simply vice president of operations at the Trentwood plant.

“I guess my initiation is over,” Walker said.

By adding the commercial side to his responsibilities, Walker now has the reach to fully run the business. He’ll answer to Kaiser headquarters in Houston regarding the profits and losses originating from the plant.

Along with the added responsibility, the new title comes with a bigger travel budget. Walker will visit distributors across the country and focus on developing new markets for heat-treated and general engineered products, he said.

The new duties will be a challenge, but Walker is showing he’s up for it.

“In John’s tenure at Trentwood, we have achieved new levels of safety and productivity performance,” said Ray Milchovich, president and chief operating officer of Kaiser. “He has demonstrated the strategic leadership capability to enable flat-rolled products to achieve its full business potential.”

When appointed head of Trentwood plant operations, one of Walker’s objectives was to boost production and contribute to the company’s goal of improving the performance of existing assets by at least $120 million pre-tax per year by 1998.

The good news is “We’re ahead on shipments,” Walker said. “We should ship roughly 30 million pounds more than we anticipated this year.”

The improvement is a coup for Walker, but he’s quick to share the credit. “It’s a coup for the people on the floor,” he said. “There’s a bunch of good people here. They’re a very bright and ambitious group.”

By implementing the ideas of plant workers and by making “modest investments” in the heat treating equipment, “we are close to being on track in terms of our contribution to the overall effort (of the company),” Walker said.

Walker came to Trentwood after working eight years at Weirton Steel Corp., outside of Pittsburgh. At Trentwood, he oversees 1,450 employees.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Hannelore Sudermann Staff writer