Steel Products
May 14 & 15 Steel 101 Workshop Open for Registration
Written by John Packard
March 12, 2019
Your college degree is not going to help you understand how the steel markets work. To do that you need to attend one of our Steel 101: Introduction to Steel Making & Market Fundamentals workshops.
Our next workshop is being held in Davenport, Iowa on May 14-15, 2019. We choose our locations because our workshops are unique in that they include a tour of a working steel mill. In May we will visit the SSAB mini-mill (electric arc furnace) located just outside of Davenport. This will be our second visit to the SSAB plate mill and we look forward to a great tour and a full workshop.
Our workshop will help you to better understand:
• Learn how steel is made (both EAF and full integrated process)
• Understand how various qualities are made and how they are used
• Learn about the rolling process of both long and flat rolled products
• What factors impact steel prices in your market
• How does the world market affect North American supply and pricing
• How steel is bought and sold
• Understanding supplier/customer relationships
• How will trade suits impact the industry
• What resources are available online that will help you to better understand the industry
These are just a few of the topics that are covered during the course of our two day conference. What makes these topics especially interesting are our instructors. We have two metallurgists on staff in Chuck McDaniels (retired Severstal NA) and Roger Walburn (currently employed by NLMK USA). The two of them are also involved in the commercial side of the steel industry.
We have a former top purchasing manager in Mario Briccetti (Metal Sales, Gibraltar Strip Steel, Nordyne) who is also an engineer. Mario writes articles for Steel Market Update and you can find some of them in the Steel Buyers Basics portion of our website. Mario is also an instructor for the SMU Sales Training workshop.
Also on the commercial side of the business is John Packard, publisher of Steel Market Update and a 31 year veteran of the flat rolled industry with mill, service center and trading company experience.
Our program is well suited for:
• Anyone new to the industry no matter what their job function
• Sales and purchasing professionals (new and experienced)
• Executives changing roles or coming into the industry from outside of the industry
• Marketing managers
• Logistics managers
• Operations or Quality managers/employees
• Anyone wanting to “brush up” on their industry knowledge
What do our past attendees have to say?
“Having participated in other similar Steel courses and mill tours, I have to say this is the best and most complete one I have had the privilege of attending. All the instructors were very knowledgeable and personable. The course is geared to accommodate all levels of steel people. Nothing about the course was dull or too high level that made things difficult to understand or follow. The course was lively and flowed very well. The mill tour and staff at the mill was an excellent bonus to this course. Hats off to the SMU staff for putting this course together…well worth the time invested!” Michael J Trocchio Jr Account Manager Kloeckner Metals Corp.
“I walked away from Steel 101 with a greater knowledge of steel and the steel market. It is a great workshop for anyone that is new to the industry.” Kelly Kowalczyk, Brown-Forman, Sourcing Manager
Our Program and How to Register
You can find our complete program on our website or by clicking here. The cost is $2,000 per person with discounts for SMU member companies and those sending more than one person.
We look forward to seeing you in Davenport in May.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products
Price gap between domestic, offshore CRC narrows
The price spread between US-produced cold-rolled (CR) coil and offshore products tightened in the week ended Jan. 17. Domestic CR coil tags were lower week on week (w/w), while offshore products ticked higher. The result? The US premium over imports shrank. In our market check on Tuesday, Jan. 14, US CR coil prices averaged $895 […]
US HR price premium over imports narrows slightly
Hot-rolled (HR) coil prices ticked down in the US last week, while tags abroad varied. The result: US hot band margin over imports on a landed basis has narrowed to a slight extent. SMU’s average domestic HR price last week was $685 per short ton (st), down $5/st from the week before. US hot band […]
SMU Community Chat: Jan. 22 with Alan Kestenbaum, founder of Bedrock Industries
Alan Kestenbaum, the founder of Bedrock Industries and the former CEO of Stelco, will be the featured speaker on the next SMU Community Chat. The webinar will be on Wednesday, Jan. 22, at 11 am ET. It’s free to attend. You can register here. We’ll look at Stelco’s recent sale to Cleveland-Cliffs and what made […]
December service center shipments and inventories report
Flat rolled = 77.1 shipping days of supply Plate = 58.1 shipping days of supply Flat rolled Flat-rolled steel supply at US service centers ballooned in December with higher inventories as well as seasonally lower shipments. At the end of December, service centers carried 77.1 shipping days of flat-rolled steel supply on an adjusted basis, […]
SMU Community Chat replay now available
The latest SMU Community Chat webinar reply is now available on our website to all members. After logging in at steelmarketupdate.com, visit the community tab and look under the “previous webinars” section of the dropdown menu. All past Community Chat webinars are also available under that selection. If you need help accessing the webinar replay, or if your company […]