Air Systems Design (CONT’D FROM PAGE 42)
quadruple bypass his father had at age 67, which essen- tially re-energized him for the next two decades. “He was 85 and was still helping us run installation crews and com- ing to the office to consult when we needed his expertise. He was 89 and I had to make an appointment to see him,” marvels Zacary Jr. “When he couldn’t hit a golf ball as far as he once did and stopped playing golf, he joined three bowling leagues to keep his competitive edge. A while af- ter my mom passed in 2013, he started dating again and was out dancing three or four nights a week, coming home past midnight in his LS-500 Lexus 2-seater.” He pauses to remember a story that captures his fa- ther’s entrepreneurial spirit. “I recall a funny story about one of my first sales calls with my dad. It was to review a proposal with a group of engineers from Federal Paperboard. Dad took over the drawing board, explained the rationale for his engineering to them before they finally got down to price. The Federal Paperboard executive asked Dad if that was his best offer and Dad firmly said ‘yes,’ which is when their lead engi- neer turned to him and said, ‘I imagine that you have sold snow cones to Eskimos.’ Everyone in the room laughed. And yes, he got the order. I will never forget that.” At 67, Zacary Jr. still has the enthusiasm and energy for the traveling and the work involved in selling some of the industry’s highest quality scrap and dust systems, a trait he’s apparently inherited from his non-stop father. Is there an end in sight? Is the word retirement in his vocabulary? Zachary III, 32, chips in, saying the running joke be- tween his parents is that “Dad needs to get a hobby,” to which his mother replies, “His job Is his hobby. He loves it.” His mother, and Zacary Jr.’s wife of 43 years, Tammy, has been an invaluable and loving member of ASD’s “sup- porting cast” since the two met in college in 1982. Tammy owned dance studios and taught dancing for 35 years be- fore retiring to part-time work with the company, as need- ed or whenever a special event – industry trade shows, conferences, the annual company Christmas dinner and the occasional crab boil (this IS Louisiana, after all) – is added to the ASD calendar. “Most of all, Tammy continues to be supportive of my travel schedule and understanding of all time I’ve been on the road all these years,” says Zacary Jr. “We love to travel together, especially to Italy, and we treasure the time we can spend with our three grandchildren in Florida, as well as the time the entire family can get together for a day on our boat.” The Zacary’s daughter and the mother of said grandchildren, Brittany Bailey, also happens to be ASD’s Spare Parts Manager. ASD has developed tremendous customer loyalty and a great base of business, which is to be expected after engineering, selling and installing quality scrap and dust system solutions for more than four decades. So, what is Zacary Jr. and Air Systems Design doing to celebrate the 43-year anniversary of its founding this June? “Honestly, I don’t know, I’ve been too busy to think about it,” he says. “We’ll think of something.”
tem, along with rising steel prices and inflation, that were $500,000 20 years ago top out at more than $1 million today. A system for a single new machine can be as much as $150,000 to $500,000. Upgraded rules and regulations for baghouses and dust collection systems means projects are only getting more expensive. With new plant openings and machines coming on line all the time, ASD’s business continues to increase with no signs of stopping. Recent system installs include six sheet feeders running BHS corrugators, which helped make 2022 and 2023 the company’s busiest years to date. Then
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there was the new Akers plant in the Chicago area and a few projects out west, during which ASD needed to add personnel in the “drawing department. There were times when its three project managers were handling 10 jobs each. The Third Generation The Zacary family is now in its third generation, repre- sented by Zacary Jr.’s son, Robert Zacary III, who joined the company in 2015 fresh out of college. He considered the pursuit of a law degree but opted to join the family business instead. With no pressure to join the company, his father offered him a position with the understanding that if he didn’t like it, he could go to law school. Ten years later, Zacary III is one of three project managers at ASD and is now part of the succession plan that will see him accrue ownership shares as he continues to work for the company, the same arrangement Zacary Jr. had with his father. Robert Zacary Sr. passed away around Thanksgiving of 2023 at age 90. To people that knew him and worked with him, in the industry and out of it, he was “hell on wheels” and never stopped moving, which his son attributes to the ASD has been designing, engineering and installing scrap and dust systems around the world for more than four decades.
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April 28, 2025
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