Employee Spotlight: The Strength Behind Our Iron Spotlighting Demitrius Reza, a great example of why our people are Grede’s greatest strength. Starting as a CNC Machine Operator in our Biscoe, NC plant, Demitrius quickly stood out through his professionalism, initiative, and commitment to quality. His hard work and attention to detail earned him a promotion to Machining Quality Inspector. Today, he continues to exemplify dependability, curiosity, and continuous improvement. We’re proud of his journey and grateful for the impact he makes at Grede every day.
Proud moment for Grede New Castle at Casting Congress 2026. Our team was honored with the Outstanding Achievement Award for an exceptional Meritor casting design — a recognition that reflects technical excellence, collaboration, and true craftsmanship. Congratulations to Mike Stanley, Mark Brock, and Bret Spears, the engineering minds and problem solvers behind this award-winning design. Their innovation and commitment to quality continue to elevate Grede as a leader in complex, high performance cast solutions.
Last week at the AFS Casting Congress in Grand Rapids, Grede’s presence reflects the strength of our people and the momentum of our organization. Our Reedsburg team reached a historic milestone — 2 million hours without a lost time incident, the first foundry ever to do so. This achievement represents years of discipline, teamwork, and an unwavering commitment to safety. Grede also took the stage as Susan Bear shared our IoT and Industry 4.0 strategy, reinforcing Grede’s position as a leader in digital transformation and smart manufacturing. From safety to technology, Grede continues to shape the future of the casting industry.
Our very own Nate Cowen, Grede Account Manager, spent Easter in Washington DC at the annual Easter Egg Roll! Here Nate was able to spend some time perusing the presidential limo! The presidential limo provides a rolling testament to the innovation, craftsmanship, and advanced engineering that power the U.S. mobility and automotive industry. From its precision engineered chassis to its integrated safety systems, the limo brings together the best of American manufacturing: • Cutting edge materials developed by domestic suppliers • Advanced mobility technologies designed and tested by top automotive engineers • Specialized components produced by high skill manufacturing teams across the country • Rigorous quality and safety standards that set the benchmark for the entire industry The result is a vehicle that represents the capabilities, resilience, and global competitiveness of the U.S. automotive sector. In a world where mobility is rapidly evolving, the presidential limo stands as a reminder of what American engineering can achieve when innovation, security, and manufacturing excellence come together.
Employee Spotlight: The Strength Behind our Iron Meet Tommy Donovan, a key force driving innovation and quality in our engineering department. Since returning to Grede Reedsburg in January 2023, he’s been all about growth, collaboration, and tackling new challenges head on. Tommy has completed nearly 50 American Foundry Society engineering courses—and his dedication earned him recognition as AFS’s top student for modules completed in June 2024. In his role, he partners with teams across the foundry on new job startups, PPAPs, and process improvements, including reducing scrap and optimizing existing tooling. He’s also the go to problem solver for a wide range of engineering needs. Tommy’s commitment to learning, teamwork, and continuous improvement truly makes him the strength behind the iron.
Great day at Grede St. Cloud! We had the pleasure of hosting Justin Scott, who recently stepped into the role of AFS President this March. Our team was excited to walk him through the foundry, highlight our capabilities, and share the pride we take in the work we do. Here’s to strong partnerships and a bright future for the metal casting industry!
Celebrating a Major Safety Milestone at Grede St. Cloud! Congratulations to the Grede St. Cloud team on earning the Minnesota Governor’s Workplace Safety Award. This recognition reflects the team’s strong commitment to injury prevention and maintaining a safe, healthy workplace. Grede St. Cloud achieved an incident rate better than the 75th percentile of both the state and national averages for our industry—an outstanding accomplishment that demonstrates consistent focus, discipline, and care for one another. On May 6th, the team will be honored with the Gold Achievement Award at the Minnesota Safety & Health Conference. Keep up the great work, St. Cloud team—your dedication to safety sets the standard for excellence across our organization.
Grede recently partnered with a team of students at South Dakota Mines for their senior design project! Thanks to the students, Grede now has a better understanding of solid solution strengthened ferritic ductile iron (SSFDI) and will apply these solutions to our solidification modeling process. Grede provided the problem and materials, and the students provided the solutions. They went through a process of defining the problem, creating experiments to collect data, and data analysis to provide useful solutions. Thank you to Grede Grad and SDM alumnus Chris Mercado and Grede Executive Director of Technical Excellence Shawn Cefalu for serving as the industry advisors, the three students, and two faculty advisors, for assisting with this project. It took two semesters to complete the project, and they did a fantastic job with their senior design class’s final presentations. We’re excited to continue to cultivate our relationship with the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. This school is one of our Grow with Grede target schools, meaning that we regularly recruit talent from this school as part of our early career talent development program.
Congratulations to Grede Menomonee Falls for achieving Ford Motor Company’s Q1 Quality Award! 🏆🚙 Ford’s Q1 Award recognizes outstanding quality and performance in our castings for their vehicles. We earned this award by achieving excellence in product quality, systems capabilities, materials management, logistics, and delivery. We’re proud to have earned this recognition from Ford. It validates our commitment to being a trusted partner. It's a testament to the Menomonee Falls plant’s continuous improvement culture in safety, quality, delivery, cost reduction, and overall operational excellence. Ford presented the Q1 plaque and flag to the Menomonee Falls facility in Wisconsin last week. All team members joined in on the celebration and were provided special t-shirts and treats. Grede's Menomonee Falls is a pure-play machining facility that produces steering knuckle assemblies for the Ford Explorer. It specializes in precision machining and assembly operations for automotive, commercial vehicle, and industrial customers. Fantastic work, Men Falls team! At Grede, our customers can find comfort and trust through every step of their journey. We’re committed to providing dependable solutions with unparalleled value. #CastingIntegrity
We honor those who protected our freedom. We are forever grateful for their sacrifice. ⭐
