Recapping the 2022 FMA Annual Meeting: The value of in-person networking for the metalworking industry

Ed Youdell, president and CEO, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, participates in a question-and-answer session with Lourenco Goncalves, chairman/president/CEO, Cleveland-Cliffs, at the FMA Annual Meeting in Miami in early March.

The Fabricators & Manufacturers Association went two full years without having an in-person annual meeting because of the pandemic. That’s why the organization’s annual meeting in Miami, March 1-3, felt like a big family reunion full of laughs, wisdom, and industry gossip.

If you missed it, you missed a lot. Here are some tidbits that give you an idea of the breadth of topics covered during the event.

The Search for Stability in the Steel Market. In probably one of the most newsworthy keynote addresses in the history of the FMA Annual Meeting, Lourenco Goncalves, chairman/president/CEO, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., explained why steel tariffs and steel prices that are at least triple what they were in August 2020 are good for the U.S. manufacturing industry. He has a unique point of view in that he has turned an independent iron ore mining company into the largest flat-rolled steelmaker in the U.S. after acquiring the domestic steelmaking operations of AK Steel and ArcelorMittal in 2020. The following year his company purchased Ferrous Processing and Trading Co., one of the largest U.S. processors and distributors of prime ferrous scrap. Cleveland-Cliffs now owns the inputs that feed both its more traditional blast furnace operations, which rely on iron ore pellets, and its electric arc furnaces, which require steel scrap.

“When you believe you need to buy everything cheaper, you are wrong,” he told the audience of metal fabricators and steel distributors. To drive home the point, he made reference to the very good financial years that many in the room experienced in 2021 even with steel prices at historic highs.

Goncalves defended his company’s actions and his support for the tariffs as a way to correct the wrongs associated with “globalization.” The North American Free Trade Agreement and subsequent trade deals signed since then decimated manufacturing industries in the U.S. and gutted the ranks of the middle class, he said. Establishing a robust manufacturing economy in the U.S., where workers, management, and business owners can share in the success, is key to fostering economic prosperity and avoiding the pitfalls of a far-flung supply chain.

“People like us can do it. [The banks] are not going to come to the rescue,” Goncalves said.

The Future You Don’t Want to Hear About. Sheryl Connelly, manager of global consumer trends and chief futurist, Ford Motor Co., made attendees think about what might await them in 20 or 30 years down the road. For instance, 8 billion people populate the planet now, but that will grow to 9 billion in 2040 and 11 billion in 2050. How do you feed that many people? Where will the water come from to grow water-thirsty livestock and crops?

Well, it takes only about a gallon of water to produce a gallon of cricket powder. I’m not sure if it tastes like chicken, but bug-based foods could supply much-needed protein to food-starved populations.

This type of news doesn’t necessarily excite the steak-loving crowd, but it’s an opportunity for metal fabricators. Somebody has to make cricket powder-processing machinery. Change is inevitable, and food consumption patterns are likely to alter to reflect real-world circumstances. Fabricators have the chance to build that future.

Most Improved Manager. During one of the breaks, a company president shared with me a fairly dramatic step he had taken to boost the effectiveness of an employee-management relationship committee. To create an environment where anyone felt free to say anything without repercussion, he prompted an employee on the committee to say that the company president needed to step up his game. The subsequent discussion focused on ways the president could improve communication and relationships with staff, and later metrics gauging this improvement effort were shared on a shop floor bulletin board.

The company president got his wish. If he could be held accountable, everyone could be held to the same standards. It wasn’t about finger-pointing. It was about continuous improvement.

License to Drive. Lisa Wertzbaugher, a columnist for The Tube & Pipe Journal and part-owner with her husband of Wertzbaugher Services, West Liberty, Iowa, led a presentation on what it was like bringing three Generation Zers (born mid-to-late 1990s to the early 2010s) into the family fabrication and trucking business.

“They want to work. They have a positive attitude. They are never grumpy,” she said.

When one finally received his commercial driver’s license after a handful of attempts, the young man drove straight to the shop to show everyone. He wanted to share his hard-earned success with his colleagues.

Young people might not have the mechanical aptitude and desire to work long hours like previous generations, but they will work hard and want to do a good job. They just need a helping hand, according to Wertzbaugher.

Want to be part of this type of event? The next FMA Annual Meeting is scheduled for Feb. 28-March 2 in Las Vegas. Click here for more information.