(Washington, D.C.) (July 19, 2018) – The Stainless Steel Tube Trade Advancement Committee (SSTTAC) has elected Walter Brooks as Chairman. Mr. Brooks is Vice President of International Sales & Key Accounts of Handy & Harman (Tube Group), residing in Houston, Texas. Mr. Brooks is a degreed Electrical Engineer – Tuskegee University with a Masters of Science – National Louis University.
“I am very pleased to have the opportunity to serve as Chairman of the SSTTAC,” said Mr. Brooks. “This is a particularly important time for our industry as we navigate the opportunities and challenges in the U.S. and international markets.”
The SSTTAC is a coalition of United States producers of seamless stainless steel and nickel-based alloy pipe and tube. SSTTAC members’ stainless steel is among the specialty metals that “are essential to the manufacture and performance capabilities of certain Department of Defense (DOD) weapon system parts, due to their unique properties, such as being highly magnetic, lightweight, corrosion resistant, or having high durability.”[1] SSTTAC members’ seamless tubes are produced to meet the demanding applications where maximum corrosion resistance or mechanical integrity is required. Seamless tubes are utilized in military aircraft, submarines, naval vessels, nuclear equipment and fuel elements, and in the manufacturing of chemicals such as nitric acid. The SSTTAC strongly supports the domestic procurement preference and materials source restrictions codified in the DFARS and encourages DOD’s strict enforcement of these laws with constant oversight of its weapons system contractors.
[1] Specialty Metals, DOD Dissemination of National Security Waiver Information Could Enhance Awareness and Compliance with Restrictions, GAO -15-133, p. 1 (2014).