Individual Case Analysis
BUS490 Comprehensive Examination
Nucor Steel Corporation
Written by: Lukas Kubilius
Professors: Bonnie J. Straight Julian J. Prewitt
Lithuania Christian College
2 March 2005
Overview of situation
Nucor Corporation with 24 plants/divisions and 8,000 employees, operated in nine states recycling more than 10 million tons of scrap steel annually. Producing carboy and alloy steel in bars, beams, sheet, and plate; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; and metal building systems, the corporation was known as the most modern and efficient, having streamlined organizational structure,
…show more content…
More attention to own business than to competitors is their strategy. South magazine observed that Nucor is “stripped down, no nonsense” organization. It keeps maintaining low cost and efficiency, which is the key to making profit in steel industry, by keeping the employee force at the level it should be, empowering them, being totally honest, involving them in decision making process, and using effective incentive compensation system.
Nucor’s ten year goals are:
• Achieving average annual earnings growth of 10%-15%.
• Exceeding return on capital
• Maintaining minimum 14% return on equity.
• Delivering 8%-10% return on sales.
• Becoming market leaders of every product group and business where they compete.
Key Issues and Problems
Growth in troubled steel industry. How to sustain Nucor’s earnings growth in the industry, which has many marginal competitors and production overcapacity.
Market position. How to protect and establish Nucor’s market position.
Organizational structure. Need for expanding size of executive management team and adding new corporate layers in the corporation.
Human Resource Management. Need for reanalyzing employee wages and bonus system.
Finances
A typical Gross profit margin depending on the industry may be 25 to 30%. Nucor’s Gross profit margin ratio indicates that industry is intense and cost of goods is one of the main of factor in profitability. After examining the five year
3/ What is your recommendation regarding Nucleon’s long-term manufacturing strategy? What should this company look like in 10 years (e.g. an R&D boutique, an R&D boutique with pilot scale manufacturing capabilities, or an integrated manufacturing enterprise)?
Another recommendation that I have for Nucor is instead of buying existing plant capacity, make new plants elsewhere or form a joint venture with a supplier to help save money. (Exhibit 3) This would decrease cost of supplies so they would have the extra money to build elsewhere or build a ne plant. By using the SWOT analysis (Exhibit 1) it let me break up Nucor into different parts to see what their strengths and weaknesses are. Nucor is solid with technology and treating the employees correct but the weaknesses that affect Nucor are more market based with some internal problems. Nucor has products for many different industries including automotive and housing. This can cause issues for Nucor if those industries take a fall, which they have over the last 5 years. It’s a good idea to be in these industries but Nucor has to realize what can happen to sales and revenues when one or both of those industries take a fall. Nucor has been expanding more in the United States, recently just building a plant in Louisiana (Exhibit 5). This plant will be a 750 million dollar purchase and will be a mill for pig iron. Nucor is expanding all over the United States but needs more presence internationally plan and simple. Nucor is a solid company with shareholder equity increasing each year; they have a solid stock in the NASDAQ market and continue to be a healthy steel company. They can and will
The National Steel Car company is based in Canada in Ontario and it happens to be the leading railroad freight cars company in North America. The company has been respected for its respected value in the market and has always been committed to success. National Steel Company is 9001:2008ISO certified, and it is the only freight car in the region to have been awarded the certification. It was established in the year 1912 and took the right turn when it was purchased by Gregory James Aziz who has made the company improve capacity since the purchase date in the year 2005. Greg Aziz happens to be the president, chairman, and the company’s CEO and has dedicated his time and resources to the company success. His only commitment is making the company
On December 7, 1986, F. Kenneth Iverson, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nucor Corporation, awaited a delegation from SMS Schloemann-Siemag, a leading West German supplier of steelmaking equipment, at his company’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Iverson had to decide whether to commit Nucor to a new steel mill that would commercialize thinslab casting technology developed by SMS. Preliminary estimates indicated that the mill would cost $280 million, and that start-up expenses and working capital of $30 million each would push the total cost to $340 million, or nearly as much as Nucor’s net worth. Successful
B. Nucor (NUE) was ranked the first of steel producer in the U.S., and the first “mini-mill” operator, with operating facilities in 14 states. Nucor’s products include sheet steel, bar, structural, plate and others. The company was known for its aggressive pursuit of innovation and technical excellence, rigorous quality system, environmentally friendly products. Nucor’s core strategy is that of cost leadership through the use of technology; it is known as being the low-cost provider. Most business is conducted in the U.S., but the company does have foreign operations and looks at international expansion as a strategic opportunity.
National Steel car success has been realized by working together as a team. Its customer care skills are as well above par as it treats all its clients with much respect as it values their contributions in the freight car industry. Currently, the company has employed more than 2000 employees who are expert in their work and are full of integrity. For that reason, National Steel Car has been internationally certified by ISO. The Company has also been honored with the highest award for its provision of quality, TTX SECO, from 1996
Bradley Barron, the CEO of NuStar Energy, contributes the company's success to its positive, hardworking employees. Bill Greehey, the chairman of the board, states that “if you take care of the employees, they will take care of our company, unitholders, customers, and communities. NuStar prides itself on being a company that values and respects its employees. In the their mission statement NuStar includes various statements regarding the well-being and growth of their employees including: the safety of employees, the development of employees, providing challenging and rewarding environment, and encouraging leadership in the community. One of their main priorities is the safety and security of their employees, customers, contractors, and the environment. NuStar shows its interest in its employees by providing numerous amount of perks and very good compensation for those who excel at their positions. As well as providing those things as an incentive, managers are also very encouraging and have developed personal relationships with their
Nucor's has had a stimulating company history that emerged from two corporate failures. Nuclear Corp. which objective was to participate in the conglomerate trend popular at the time. Nuclear at this time acquired a various high-tech business, such as radiation sensors, semiconductors rare earth, and air conditioning equipment. The company did not create profits and was eventually reorganized in 1966 with Ken Iverson in charge. Iverson should be viewed as the founding father of what we know as Nucor today. Iverson was hired because of his great knowledge and experience of both Aeronautical engineering and business management. He singled handily prevent Nucor's 1965 Bankruptcy by liquidity and permanently closing esoteric, unprofitable, unrelated, high-tech divisions and concentrated on the steel joist business. This action proved to be successful. Nucor contained on this successful trend by opening additional joist plants and in 1968
Nucor Corporation (NYSE: NUE), a Fortune 300 company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the largest steel producers in the United States, and the largest of the "mini-mill" operators (those using electric arc furnaces to melt scrap steel, as opposed to companies operating integrated steel works with blast furnaces). Nucor claims to be North
1. Discuss the trends in the steel industry and how it may impact Nucor’s strategy
Nucor began as a steel company under the new leadership of F. Keeneth Iverson in 1964. By 1985, Nucor became the seventh-largest steel company in North America. Nucor is now well-known and also the second largest steel company in the U.S. Nucor offers steel and variety of steel products. Nucor is known for its innovation and technological excellence in the production process, streamlined organizational structure, and incentive-based compensation plan. Nucor’s relationship with its employees is the greatest strength, which allows it to retain employees and increase productivity. The main issue of Nucor is opportunity pertaining to global expansion, which can be addressed by the acquisition of foreign subsidiaries.
Alongside Nucor’s low-cost strategy, it places emphasis on innovative steelmaking technologies to reduce environmental waste, increased efficiency and production innovation. However, Nucor has had some struggles financially over the past
Nucor’s strategy focused on two major competencies: building steel manufacturing facilities economically and operating them productively. The company’s hallmarks were continuous innovation, modern equipment, individualized customer service, and a commitment to producing high-quality steel and steel products at competitive prices. Nucor was the first in the industry to adopt a number of new products and innovative processes, including thin-slab cast steel, iron carbide, and the direct casting of stainless wire.
Their mission is as follows: “Nucor is made up of more than 20,000 teammates whose goal is to take care of our customers by being the safest, highest quality, lowest cost, most productive and most profitable steel and steel products company in the world. We ae committed to doing this while being cultural and environmental stewards in our communities where we live and work.” Their commercial excellence is based off of five principles: stay market driven, forge strong and loyal relationships, be easy to do business with, create sustainable results and do everything together. The Chief Finance Officer, John Ferriola, said “We care about our teammates, customers, environment and communities in which we live and work. It’s not just our way of doing business; it’s our
Fourth, base wages were lower but incentives were higher than average, and direct communication on expectation vs. performance provided feedback on compensation. Also, during down times, officers and CEO pay dropped dramatically while average workers did not. This led to lower employee turnover 1-5% vs. 5-10% for competitors. Fifth, Nucor’s hiring practices focused on making sure that they focused on hiring people based on potential, not experience. Finally, Nucor’s business hierarchy was different- mostly flat, resulting in less bureaucracy and more productivity per worker. In short, many of these advantages led to Nucor becoming the second most productive steel maker per employee in the world due by 1985.