Paul Gouwens
Founder and CEO
“CMI Novacast sadly announces the death on our founder and CEO Paul Gouwens on Saturday January 23.
Born March 8, 1922 in South Holland Illinois Paul spent his life associated with the Foundry Industry. Paul received a B.S in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University, Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma honors, his post-graduate, metallurgical engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology. He was also an Electronics specialist in the US Navy. He served in the US Navy during World War II in China and Korea. Except for his military service, Paul’s entire career has been in the casting industry.
From 1940 to 1957, Paul began his career in research metallurgy at Fahralloy Foundry, Harvey Illinois starting as a Co-op student and becoming Technical Director.
From 1957 to 1966, Paul served as Manager, Foundry & Steelmaking Research at IIt Research Institute. He he contracted with government and industry developing, promoting and managing research programs. Projects included utilization of waste materials, shaping of metal, molding aggregates, ceramic molding, alloy additives, powder production, pattern wear, melting problems, cast cutting tools, cast forging dies, high temperature alloys, centrifugal casting, cleaning techniques, refractory metals, thermocouples, high temperature reactions, radiography, monotype casting, grain refinement, inoculation and plastic casting.
From 1966 to 1971 Paul served as Vice President-Technology, with American Foundryman Society, with responsibility for all technical activities. He coordinated over 100 technical committees which controlled programming of the Casting Congress, monitored research , and promoted information exchange.
From 1971 to 1972 Paul was Managing Director AFS T&RI (now Cast Metals Institute). His task was to implement it’s research and continuing education.
In 1972 along with his son Lee, Paul formed Cast Metals International to find good, innovative technology from around the world, and bring it back to the United States. Technology involved included the French Fluid sand process, the Japanese V-Process, the Renault low pressure casting process, and the French Electromagnetic Pump for metering molten aluminum.
In 1981 Cast Metals International became CMI Novacast Liquid Metal Systems to exploit the use of Electromagnetic Pumps for automated pouring of Aluminum. Later becoming CMI Novacast, Inc., this privately owned company continues to seek innovative solutions to the task of pouring all different types of metals including Zinc, Sodium, and Magnesium. Paul served as CEO until his retirement in 2008.
We will all miss him very much.
Lee Gouwens
President
Lee has always had a dominant interest in technology and especially in applied electronics. As a boy, he tinkered endlessly with radios and TV’s, and often startled everyone by discharging perhaps lethal voltages from his Tesla coils. His basement lab was scary.
In college, he and a friend constructed and usually operated the college radio station.
He maintains an active interest in community theater technical plans, creating all kinds of illusions and mood enhancing situations. Perhaps this is similar to making aluminum pumps having no moving parts? Is it just an illusion too?
As President of a small company he also is fully involved in all management functions, ranging from accounting systems to production equipment designs, to modifications to tooling, to cash flow predictions.
It’s a life that requires many talents and yet continual pump and pump system improvements are always on his mind.