No layoffs for Box Elder County company, no matter what the economy

PLYMOUTH, Utah -- Economic times have been tough in Box Elder County the past couple of years. ATK, Autoliv and Lay-Z-Boy, which went out of business, have all laid off workers.

For a rural community like Box Elder County, it can be difficult to find similar paying jobs and stay home. Some have gone to the new Proctor & Gamble plant.

However, there is one large company in the county that hasn't laid off a single worker. In fact, it's never laid off a worker, period.

"We've never had to lay anyone off that I'm aware of, and I don't see it being a problem here at Nucor," says Andy Peters, a 27-year veteran of Nucor Corporation.

About 400 people work at Nucor's facility in Plymouth. According to the company's philosophy, not a single one of them has to worry about being laid off.

"Nucor's philosophy, from day one, was to never have a layoff," says Dennis "Stomper" Jones, who has worked at Nucor for 29 years.

"We'll be all right," Peters says.

The steel industry isn't immune to the tough economy. Last year, work at Nucor's Plymouth facility was down 50 percent.

"We absolutely had way more employees that we needed to serve the market," says Nucor General Manager Dave Smith. "We are seeing levels of production throughout the entire steel industry that we haven't seen since the Great Depression."

Even still, laying off workers to balance the budget was never an option.

"If you tell guys, 'make as much steel as you can, and then we're going to lay some of you off as soon as you get the orders filled,' you just get in a situation where it's a downward spiral of morale and productivity," Smith says.

Workers have noticed a lot less work but say they're all in these tough times together. Nucor has a motto: Share the gain, share the pain.

"This past couple of years it's been a challenge," Peters says. "We've definitely felt the pain, but we'll be all right."

"We have cut back hours and days off and on -- take an extra day off here and there -- but they have taken care of us and our families and have kept us on the job, and we are so appreciative of that," Jones says.

In fact, over the past two years, Nucor spent $18 million on new equipment and technology, like an electric transformer for its furnaces.

Spending that much money for new equipment is completely opposite of what many other companies are doing during these tough times, but for Nucor it makes sense.

"When we and other companies are in full production, we have the money to make these changes, but we don't have the time," says Smith. "When things are slow, other companies have the time but not the money. We just swallow hard and take cash we've saved up and put it in during a time like this."

So far this year, work is increasing at Nucor. More jobs and orders for steel are coming in. However, that doesn't mean they will automatically add more workers.

"Part of never having to lay people off means we don't get silly about how we hire," says Smith.

The company may add a worker or two every couple of months, but Smith says except for new plants, you'll never see a large wave of workers being hired at a Nucor facility.

"We're all part of a team," says Smith. "We're all in this together."

"We do the best we can and keep making this company successful by being here on the job every day and doing what they ask us to do to the very best of our ability," says Jones. "I just feel blessed that I work for a great company."

Smith says the average worker at Nucor stays for about 20 years.

Nucor's Plymouth facility makes about a million tons of steel a year, accounting for roughly one percent of the country's steel production.

Overall, Nucor' facilities across the country make about 25 percent of the United States' steel production.

"These last two years have been hard," says Jones, "but we as a team, we've stuck together and we're going to make it through these tough times and come back stronger and better than we have in the past."

E-mail: acabrero@ksl.com

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