Growing faster that a speeding bullet, able to produce enough steel to construct a tall building in a single bound. Nucor Steel is the super plant of Montgomery County. Reporting an amazing average production wage of $75,000 per year, Nucor is certainly one of the best all around employers in the state. Their technological breakthroughs have resulted in opportunities to make steel faster, more efficiently, and more environmentally friendly than ever before. Nucor Steel, in Crawfordsville, was the first thin-slab cast mill in the world.

The company settled in Montgomery County in 1988 with a 300 million dollar investment that has grown to over 1 billion. Initially employing 150, they now directly provide income for 750 families and indirectly provide jobs for at least that many more.

Ron Dickerson, Vice President and General Manager says, “The company is investing in new technology with the newest addition being the Caststrip, where sheet is directly cast from liquid steel, this is absolutely cutting edge and Nucor is once again revolutionizing steel production.”

Nucor is a high tech, environmentally friendly company with an operating philosophy that is a great fit for our community. Their leadership in providing a healthy working relationship with employees has spread to the other companies in the steel cluster like Heidtman Steel and DuBose manufacturing. Scheduled to start operations in the fall of this year, DuBose will be a customer and supplier to Nucor. They will fabricate the metal strapping that bind the coils from the steel sheet produced at Nucor that will result in better efficiency for both companies.

Nucor is the primary driver of development for the Nucor Road Industrial Corridor and in collaboration with county government and MCED, partners in developing the regional sewer district. This will complete the infrastructure for future expansion of the steel cluster and provide opportunities to attract other business and industry. Much, but not all of the growth, will be directly related to the steel industry in support of Nucor.

It has become trendy to associate new development with electronic and life science industries and ignore some of the more traditional manufacturers. In reality, almost all companies are high tech these days and are more efficient by utilizing technology to offset production costs. This allows them to compete more effectively with developing countries where labor costs are much less.

You know that Nucor is very happy with the work ethics of our community when Mr. Dickerson Says “We have found the workforce to be talented, dedicated and hard working.”

The employees of Nucor are giving back to the community by contributing over $53,000 to the MUFFY campaign in 2005. Nucor Corporate gave an additional $20,000 to push the total contribution to around $70,000. Nucor also gave over $200,000 to local charities including the Boys and Girls club, Youth Athletics, Red Cross and Make a Wish Foundation, not to mention over $4.3 million in property taxes in 2005.

All of us at Montgomery County Economic Development are proud of the company and its employees. It gives us great satisfaction to present the MCED “Bright Star Award” for Outstanding Corporate Citizenship to Nucor Steel. We look forward to working with them and the other steel cluster companies towards the future development of the Nucor Road Industrial Corridor.