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Scholarship fund to honor Dick Kallage

Dick Kallage, plant whisperer, at home on the shop floor.

Last month the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association lost one of its most active and influential members: industry consultant Dick Kallage. I remember when I met Dick. It was FABTECH®. I had walked in during the middle of a seminar, and I saw his PowerPoint slide showing a simple line, with “money out” on one end (spending on materials and labor) and “money in” (customer payment) on the other. Want to improve? Shorten the time between the two, without spending a lot of money doing it.

It was so simple and yet so critical. Kallage’s broad insights rang with no-nonsense clarity. And he knew company leaders couldn’t achieve that goal sitting behind a desk. The truth, he said, is where the work happens, on the shop floor.

On Feb. 18, Dick died of cancer. He was 72. FMA’s Nuts, Bolts, & Thingamajigs foundation has set up a scholarship fund in Dick’s honor. For more information about the fund and to contribute, click here.

For almost a dozen years Dick has contributed so much to the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA), as well as to the content of The FABRICATOR magazine. He was a true advocate of the small and medium-sized businesses that are the heart of the metal fabrication industry. He was a guiding force on FMA’s Management Advisory Council since its inception in 2007. His Practical Lean seminars at FABTECH®, LeanFab, The FABRICATOR® Leadership Summit, and at other association events were among FMA’s highest rated and best attended.

Dick was tough on the outside, but a Teddy Bear on the inside. He was a Marine. He was a dog lover too. And he was an incredible lover of the outdoors and an expert fly fisherman. He really fished most of the famous fly fishing rivers in the United States.” So said Jim Warren, a senior director at FMA who worked closely with Dick for more than a decade.

Fly fishing really fits Dick. I can picture him casting his fly rod while standing in the river’s flow. In the flow—be it in a river, on the shop floor, or anywhere else—is where Dick truly thrived.

About the Author
The Fabricator

Tim Heston

Senior Editor

2135 Point Blvd

Elgin, IL 60123

815-381-1314

Tim Heston, The Fabricator's senior editor, has covered the metal fabrication industry since 1998, starting his career at the American Welding Society's Welding Journal. Since then he has covered the full range of metal fabrication processes, from stamping, bending, and cutting to grinding and polishing. He joined The Fabricator's staff in October 2007.