Una-Dyn executive with 'long legacy' retiring

Bob Crawford retired May 31 as vice president of engineering for Universal Dynamics Inc.

Crawford left "with a long legacy of machine designs that have proved instrumental to Una-Dyn success" over his 42 years with the company, President Bill Goldfarb said.

Crawford provided "valuable production capabilities to generations of customers," Goldfarb added.

Una-Dyn appointed Patricia Clary as director of engineering in October 2017.

Crawford had decades of institutional history, understood the intricacies of transferring technology from Italy and lent crucial intimate knowledge in Una-Dyn's current complex 35-mile move in Virginia to Fredericksburg from Woodbridge.

Crawford earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1976 while majoring in business management with a focus on production management. Six months later, he joined Una-Dyn and entered its management training program.

He moved into engineering management in 1977 and was named Una-Dyn vice president of engineering in 1993.

He is associated with six U.S. patents involving two dehumidifier technologies; pulse coolers including a twin-dryer technology; and a press-loading vacuum chamber for quick material changes.

Crawford, 67, grew up in the nearby Maryland suburbs. As a child, he built things including projects that were entered in science fairs.

"There was always something basic and fundamental about building things," he said.

His grandparents lived in North Beach, Md., on the Chesapeake Bay, so he spent time on the water. At 13, he built an 8-foot boat.

Crawford and his wife, Nancy, plan to spend their summers in the historic Village of Harvey, also known as Harvey Station, in New Brunswick, Canada. Nancy was born in the village on the southeastern end of Harvey Lake.

During other months, Bob and Nancy Crawford will live at their longtime home in Stafford, Va., about eight miles from the new Una-Dyn location.

"Talk about the proposed relocation of the Una-Dyn plant began in the 1990s," said Crawford, then living in Maryland. "When my wife and I got together, we found Stafford more suitable for our job locations."

Crawford has three adult step-sons.

Patricia Clary brings extensive engineering experience to Una-Dyn.

Prior to joining Una-Dyn in October, Clary held positions as engineering director in Lexington, N.C., for the U.S. operations office of processing equipment maker CPM Wolverine Proctor LLC, a subsidiary of California Pellet Mill Co. Inc.; engineering manager with industrial machinery fabricator Smart Machine Technologies Inc. in Ridgeway, Va.; and operations and production manager in North Chesterfield, Va., with instruments manufacturer Borgwaldt KC Inc., a business of Hauni Maschinenbau GmbH.

She was born in Richmond, Va., and grew up in the nearby town of Bowling Green.

"When I was growing up, the town had less than 800 people living there," she said.

As a high school junior, Clary took her first drafting course.

"I fell in love with the attention to detail that was required to communicate what was needed," she said. "That's when I decided I wanted to have engineering as a career."

As a youngster, "I tagged along with my dad and was always working with him on equipment — lawnmowers, motorcycles, go-karts," she said. "Anything that I could use a tool on to take apart and put back together."

At Eastern Kentucky University, she received an associate degree in machine design engineering and a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering. She received a master's degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.

"When not at work, I love to spend time at the beach, working on my house [renovations] and spending time with family and friends," Clary said.

"One of the reasons that I took the job with Universal Dynamics was to move closer to family and friends," she noted. "For the last 18 years, I have either had to get on a plane or drive a minimum of five hours to see family and friends. Now I am as close as 15 minutes away."

Clary joined a company undergoing dramatic changes.

"The move has started," she said. "Over the next several weeks, we will be moving each of our product lines from the Woodbridge facility to our new Shannon Drive facility [in Fredericksburg]."

"During this period, engineering will be supporting ongoing production requirements out of both facilities as well as continuing our efforts in the areas of R&D and new product development," Clary said.

The move will position Una-Dyn operations in 91,000 square feet of newly refurbished space with customized and automated features, a reliance on lean manufacturing concepts and the physical capacity to add product lines.

"The new facility is clean, crisp and well-organized and will be wonderful to be at," Clary said. "We will be having our open house on Oct. 4 and welcome visitors."