Nucor/Vulcraft Steel Plant Visit – Tony Saucedo

We had the privilege of being able to visit one of the largest producers of steel in the United States – Nucor/Vulcraft. Nucor is the parent company and Vulcraft is the subsidiary that primarily makes steel joists, joist girders, and decks. We were able to see how the labors take the raw material and work step by step in teams to the final product for it to be shipped out to the awaiting costumer. The joist plant included an assembly line of hard-working American laborers. I was impressed to see all of the hard work and grit on the line – Vulcraft has put forth incentives for workers to make production and quick and efficient as possible. This helps motivate workers to work hard from the time the go in to the time they clock out. I was also impressed by the family-friendly culture that truly brings out the best in employees both in the offices and in the shop.
We also went into the steel deck facility. This plant was more automated with a few laborers for oversight purposes. The automated line begins with the steel coils and then they finish by stacking the steel decks and storing them until they are ready to be shipped out to customers. Vulcraft workers take a lot of pride in the work they do. During the economic recession, they stayed loayled to their employees by not laying off a single worker. The hard-working culture has created a competitive hiring process as well. Vulcraft does not necessarily look for the worker with the most educated background – they rather have someone who is a good teammate and is willing to work hard and learn. All of us interns really enjoyed this informative tour. Special thanks to Mark McCrindle and the folks at Vulcraft for making this trip happen!