Rachael Andrulonis - Past Secretariat

Howard Creel

Howard kicked off his chairing of the Bonding Process Working Group at the handbook meeting 3M hosted in St. Paul in 2016.

This was an innocent, carefree time. Rev G had been (relatively) recently released, and the focus was on possibilities for the handbook. “How long could this possibly take” seemed like a rhetorical question. At the St. Paul meeting he brought together a core group of individuals familiar with M&P aspects of structural adhesive bonding.

Much of the context for the group was a large bonding project that was not being performed by a traditional aerospace company, and they were desperately looking for bonding process references and resources to stand up this ambitious effort. Howard and his team brainstormed for a couple of days, laying out the topics necessary for complete handbook content coverage, coalescing an outline, and started handing out writing assignments.

During the first few years, progress on any topic seemed to bring up at least as many additional issues that also needed coverage. Howard worked to keep the effort on track and continuing to make progress, managing various big personalities and teams towards producing their best, even during the uncertain Covid times. Howard has been a steadfast manager of the effort, herding us cats, supported but not overshadowed by his deep understanding of bonding issues and problems. While applying a high standard for content, he has welcomed new members to provide input and insights and allowed the various sections to evolve based on the subject and the people supporting that section.

Howard has been the technical anchor for this effort, and become a good friend. He has remained committed to completing this effort as the page count has increased to about a  hundred pages over the years. Howard has continued to personally support it long after 3M corporate support for his continued involvement started fading, and is now very close to completing the effort as originally envisioned, and so much more.