NUCOR: A REVOLUTION IN STEEL TEAMMATE SPOTLIGHT

BLUEPRINT: Did you grow up working with your hands?

SAMMY SANCHEZ: All my life, I’ve always worked with my hands. In Chicago my family had a mechanic shop, so I was always around tools. My dad was always working on trucks or fixing things. I love doing those type of things. I love fixing things.

In school, I took wood shop. I also took mechanics because I wanted to know how to troubleshoot problems with equipment and the tools used to fix them. Also, in the summer when I was growing up, I’d work at the golf course running the tractors, front-end loaders, backhoes.

Cold Mill 1 Coil Bay Supervisor, Nucor Steel Arkansas

Hometown: Chicago

Age: 39

Years with Nucor: 16

BP: How have you improved your skills since you have been at Nucor?

SS: Out here, you learn skills that you wouldn’t think you would use. I learned how to weld from teammates who are certified welders.

I took classes and learned how to operate heavy equipment.

BP: What’s the Nucor culture like?

SS: Continuous improvement is promoted here. It doesn’t matter who you are; you make your own career path. It’s here if you want it. If a teammate has that drive to advance, we help them with leadership, help them with public speaking, with business acumen to help on the business side, dealing with new teammates and hiring teammates. We put them through the courses to help them get better.

BP: What’s the best advice you could give to someone looking to follow in your footsteps?

SS: This is a great company. If my kids wanted to come here and work, I would promote that because I would want another generation of my family to work here. It takes drive and it takes effort, but your career is all up to you.

Hometown: Armorel

Age: 57

Years with Nucor: 31

BLUEPRINT: Where did you grow up?

CHARLES CASEY: I grew up right here in Armorel. I can look out the door and see the patch of woods where our house sat years ago. I ride on the same roads to work that I rode on the school bus as a kid.

BP: Do you have a college background?

CC: I have training from technical school in machine experience, CNC machines and others like that.

BP: What made you want to come work at Nucor?

CC: Nucor-Yamato was built in ‘85 or ‘86, and I graduated in ’84 so I had heard about Nucor. When I got out of school I went into a vocational/technical school to learn how to be a machinist – which was a highly sought-after opportunity for people. I got into that kind of work and one thing led to another as far as my machine experience.

I worked for Milwaukee Tool, and they sent me to CNC training. I left there and went to BorgWarner and made car parts there, and then I got a call and was asked if I would be interested in interviewing here at Nucor Hickman. I came in for an interview and they offered me a job a few days later. The rest is history. I’ve done very well at Nucor for my family.

BP: Have other family members followed in your footsteps?

CC: Since I’ve been at Nucor, two of my sons came to work for Nucor. One is in shipping at Nucor-Yamato Steel (NYS) and the other one works in the mill. My oldest son works at Atlas right next door. We’re all in the steel business.