Transcript 0:00 [gentle music] Think globally and we act locally. How are some of that kinda thing going to help us rebuilding the economy after COVID? 0:09 We've gotta start doing a lot of things, and that's also gonna help the infrastructure. It's gonna reboot the economy. Do you see that happening? Absolutely. 0:17 President Biden recently mentioned that China's taking our lunch when it comes to infrastructure. They are investing in infrastructure, and they, they're just way ahead of us. They're, they're building for the future. 0:29 We need to look at the future, build for the future. [upbeat music] Welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 0:43 Hello, listeners, and welcome back to The Peggy Smedley Show. I'm your host, Peggy Smedley. My final guest today joined Nucor in 1995 as an electrical supervisor. 0:53 For the past 26 years or more, he has held a variety of positions within the company, including maintenance manager, executive vice president of engineered bar products, and most recently in January, he was named to his current role. 1:08 He is known as a leader for his strategic thinking and passion for helping his teams generate exceptional results. Today, he joins me to share his thoughts on the 2021 ASCE report card. 1:22 Please welcome Dave Samusky, COO of Nucor. Dave, welcome to the show. Hi, Peggy. Nice to be here. 1:30 So Dave, we've got a lot to talk about in a very short time, so I'm kind of curious your takeaway from the ASCE report card. It's one that comes out every four years, and now the new one just came out. 1:43 As a Nucor representative, what's your take? A grade of C-minus for our country's infrastructure, that's troubling. But we have a great opportunity to make a significant investment in upgrading our infrastructure. 1:55 Our nation's highways or the, the railroads, the inland waterways, and ports serve as the arteries for American commerce. 2:02 But unfortunately, many of these infrastructure arteries are on life support right now, and we can no longer keep kicking the infrastructure can down the road. 2:10 The condition of our infrastructure creates a real safety risk for all of us, and at Nucor, safety is our number one value, and unfortunately, today's American infrastructure is far from safe. 2:21 You know, that's a very important point because we all know... I mean, I, I live in Chicago, and it's pothole s- heaven here. 2:28 I think, you know, I think it's one of our five seasons instead of four seasons when we, we go down and we think about crumbling roads, bridges, whatever we might talk about. 2:36 So I guess from your perspective, I'd love to know if you could tell me how can we make, when we think about the future, we're talking about making things greener, we're talk- talking about making things safer, how do we use the innovation of steel in general, steel products, to build a more resilient, a, a safer future? 2:56 You must have great ideas for that. Yeah, Nucor, our, our, our team has innovated the AF steelmaking process. It's allowed us to become the, one of the cleanest, if not the cleanest steel companies in the world. 3:08 Our processes are environmentally responsible, and the products will be made in the US. Other innovation that we have, 50% of our products go into the construction markets. And we don't just provide the products. 3:18 We, we provide engineered solutions. Uh, we work with different market leaders to develop different products that make sense. We have the largest breadth of product, and we can supply all markets. 3:29 We can take care of the infrastructure needs of the United States. I love the idea that you talk about making it in the US. 3:37 I know that you guys, you just built a new plant, and the idea behind that, we always forget about... We talk about act. We have to think globally, and we act locally. 3:47 How are some of that kinda thing going to help us rebuilding the economy after COVID? We've gotta start doing a lot of things, and that's also gonna help the infrastructure. It's gonna reboot the economy. 3:58 Do you see that happening? Absolutely. We've spent around $10 billion in the last decade to, to upgrade our steel mills to, to position us so that we could provide the, the infrastructure that the United States needs. 4:12 President Biden recently mentioned that China's taking our lunch, uh, when it comes to infrastructure. They are investing in infrastructure, and they, they're just way ahead of us. 4:22 They're, they're building for the future. We need to look at the future, build for the future, and that's what Nucor is all about, to build it safely and environmentally. 4:31 We will be the most environmentally friendly steel company in the world. And it's so important because we don't wanna have another steel crisis if I'm... Correct me if I'm wrong, but we had one back, what, in 1973, '75. 4:44 I mean, we need to make sure that we are looking to the future. I mean, we can't go into a recession. We need to be doing things here because we do know China's taking our lunch. 4:54 They have been doing it in manufacturing for years as more and more plants went there. So now doing things here, but we still have to think about a global world. We can't just think about ourselves. 5:03 We have to think globally, but yet the idea is we can act locally, and that's what I think you're talking about. 5:09 I think we have to think about when we think about a greener, cleaner world or whatever we're all trying to do to be more sustainable, that next part of that helps about improving America's infrastructure, improving the grade. 5:22 That C-minus, you know, I'm, I'm going to ask the ASCE, do we grade on a curve? Because [laughs] I have to say, the infrastructure is so bad, it should have been a worse grade. 5:31 I mean, I really think that it is in trouble, and we need to say, "We have to do more," because it's not gonna be... If we talk about EVs, we're gonna have what kind of people on the road right now? What kind? 5:43 We're, are we gonna do it by miles? I mean, it's not gonna be by gas. So we have to think about things differently. 5:48 So what's your overall, what steps, you know, is your company gonna keep doing to help and make them think differently about how the future's gonna be in improving the, you know, roads, bridges, levies, all of these things we're talking about? 6:00 Well, a- as for the steelmaking process, many people are really surprised to learn that about 70% of all American steelmaking is made by recycling old scrap metalAnd not by c- burning coal in the old-fashioned way, but by recycling. 6:14 So when we are bringing products from overseas, they're mainly built with those dirtier processes. 6:19 So the United States has come a long way over the last several decades to, to, to really become the greenest steel industry in the world. 6:27 So with that, it just makes sense that, you know, putting that green steel into our infrastructure is incredibly important to, to really to the decision makers. It's something that's, uh, extremely important to us. 6:38 It's always been important to us. 6:40 It was important to us before it became popular to be green, and, you know, we may, may not have touted that ov- over the years as much as we should have, but we really are a green steel making company. 6:51 It does not look like the steel making industry of the '70s. It's modern. It is great, great talented people, very high tech. 6:59 So we, we are ready to, to provide the, the products for the infrastructure, and we, we have, uh, people that are... 7:07 We have a DC office that definitely br- brings attention to the, to, to our politicians and to our decision makers that this is critical. 7:16 Infrastructure is critical for the economy in general, and it's very, very critical for the safety of our, our folks. 7:23 And to provide infrastructure that's built with the greenest steel in the world is important to a lot of folks. 7:28 So we, we are definitely, uh, making, making those statements, and w- we have the ear of our, of, of our folks in Washington. 7:36 What I love here, what you're saying right now, Dave, when you talk about that environmental stewardship, sustainability, you know, because everybody has to understand in our country that when we think about green and clean, we have to prepare and anticipate things that are coming. 7:53 You know, I wrote in a book that I just introduced, it's, it's called Sustainable in a Circular World, is we have to understand about circularity. 8:00 We have to understand what you just described, and that's a part of everything that you have to do when we're engaging and trying to understand what that means in, in rebuilding our economy, is we have to design and restore our ecosystems, and you just described that, and that's what's really important. 8:16 And maybe you didn't brag about it, but you should. 8:19 That, that's something you should be proud of because as we start going and developing and understanding our scopes from eliminating, you know, our CO2 emissions, as a company like you're doing, you have to tell the world what you're doing to make our world a cl-- 'cause we get slammed as a country not caring about emissions that we've put into the atmosphere. 8:41 So as a company like yourself, you need to tell the world you've cared about it for a very long time. Absolutely. We are providing a lot of resources right now. We, we're gonna tell that story. 8:50 Uh, we've started telling that story. 8:52 We're putting a lot of effort into making sure people understand our story, the Nucor story when it comes to environmental, when it comes to our belief in our team safety is the most important thing to us, and we're spending some money on that, and you'll, you'll see some things. 9:09 So when you look at what we are talking about, just in general to the infrastructure right now, when we talk about trying to get our administration, trying to get the average consumer to understand, and when we talk about rebuilding our roads and bridges, this isn't going to be something that happens overnight. 9:27 How are we going to actually improve that vision for the future for the infrastructure? 'Cause when I think about it, you know, we're a society, and this is what I always talk about, we're a make, take, waste society. 9:38 We've been this way. We always have to have the latest and greatest, but we never did it with our infrastructure. We don't know when it's crumbling. 9:45 We, we, we've alwa- It's been an afterthought, but it's gotta be a forethought now. 9:49 When we think about what road should be the right one we travel on, we've got to redesign our cities a little bit differently because a lot of us aren't gonna go back to our cities. 9:59 So it can't just be repairing the bridge. We have to be very considerate about the way we think about what's the next infrastructure and how we build that infrastructure. 10:09 Ha- have we given all of that is, is the way the cities are? Because we've seen through COVID, we've destroyed a lot of cities, unfortunately, of what's happened in the, the chaos that's happened here. 10:20 That's a great point. A lot of things have changed based on COVID and might not go back to, to, to the way they were pr- prior. 10:26 Uh, just in general, you know, our infrastructure, we hope that we can make a big investment now to make up for years of neglect, and once we've done that, we need to keep investing regularly in our infrastructure. 10:37 You know, we build for today, and then we forget about it until our infrastructure's literally crumbling, so we're still driving on those roads and bridges that are designed and built during the Eisenhower administration. 10:47 We're relying on past instead of building for the future, and this gives us an, a, a great opportunity to look to see what the future is going to be and, and address our infrastructure in that way. 10:57 If you had your way, if you looked at this from a steel company, you know, that says, "Look, we understand what steel products can do," is there something that you would say, "Look, you know, we, we wanna be, have input on what the future roads are gonna look like"? 11:13 Is that where you wanna be a part of? You wanna say, "Look, we are going to be a part of this. We're not just gonna say build anything. We're Nucor. 11:21 We want to show our innovation, and we wanna be a part of the future of how we build our cities." Absolutely, Peggy. As I said, you know, we, we make steel products, but we, we have a lot of engineers. 11:32 We, we have a lot of designers, and, and we're talking to, we're talking to different markets. Uh, you know, and again, construction market, infrastructure market, the automakers. 11:42 Uh, we wanna be part of, of the solutions moving forward. 11:45 Yeah, we provide the steel, we make the steel, but we also provide those solutions, and, and we're very engaged with that, and we very much wanna be a part of the design on how America's rebuilt. 11:57 I have to tell you, Dave, it's really exciting to hear you talk and, and to express the excitement when I hear not only are, are you providing the steel, but the innovation and the sustainability to talk about where things are and that we're gonna continue to be a leader, so thank you for sharing that with me. 12:13 Dave Samosky, CEO of Nucor, thank you so much for all your time today. 12:17 Where can our listeners go to continue to learn more about how sustainable and how exciting things are at Nucor that you guys aren't bragging about, but I'm gonna help brag for you because I love your vision, not only what you've been doing, but what you're doing for the future? 12:32 Thank you, Peggy. Yeah, you could find us on www.nucor, N-U-C-O-R,.com. We're also on Instagram and LinkedIn. All right. Thank you, Dave, so much. All right, listeners. 12:44 That's all the time for this segment and what I want you to do, but most importantly, we want you to tweet at us at ConnecttheWMag. Share your thoughts on what we just talked about today. 12:53 But that's all the time we have for this broadcast, and remember, we are broadcast live every Tuesday at 12 PM Central. Check out our website at connecttheworld.com or our show website at thepeggysmedleyshow.com. 13:04 And again, tweet at us at ConnecttheWMag or check out our LinkedIn site for anything you wanna see that we've been posting. All right. 13:10 This is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. Have an awesome week. [upbeat music]
