nucor
Nucor Corporation is a successful “mini-mill” steel company with a reputation for cost efficiency and streamlined management. ... While many larger steel companies have typically eight or nine management levels, Nucor only operates with half as many with about 7,000 employees. ... Because Nucor uses scrap steel that contains a variety of alloys and impurities in the production of their steel, Nucor pays careful attention to maintaining quality of the steel it produces. Nucor was the first company to use “mini-mills” to focus on their manufacturing of steel. ... Nucor also began concentrating on the production of sheet -- flat-rolled steel used primarily by automotive and appliance manufactures. Nucor was the first to demonstrate that the mini-mills could be used to produce the flat-rolled steel. Nucor was also the first company to apply thin-slab casting, a technology that the Big Steel companies had written off as impractical. ... Nucor achieved its position of being one of the largest steel producers by focusing on the manufacturing segment of using mini-mills in the production of their steel. This process enables Nucor to save on costly labor, raw materials, and the machinery necessary to produce steel from iron ore. With this process, Nucor is able to offer its prices lower than those of other organizations in the same industry. Nucor was able to expand sales from the mini-mills by keeping costs below those of its competitors, both in the United States and internationally.