Press Release
Like the name implies, the new Nucor Detailing Center in Norfolk will make sure the company's products will fit specific customer needs.
Dirk Petersen, Vulcraft general manager in Norfolk, said the company already employs detailers who work with steel products made in Norfolk, but the new center also will design products made from other Nucor divisions.
The Vulcraft plant in Norfolk makes steel joists used in roofs at such places as the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., or the new Northeast Community College Ag & Technology Building.
Some of the other products that detailers will be designing will include joist girders and steel decks, he said.
Petersen said detailers make sure the products meet the customers' specific needs. A steel joist used in a roof, for example, is made to conform to specifications set by an engineer for a specific job, he said.
Cindy Morrow, Vulcraft detailing supervisor, said detailers do most of their work in front of a computer. Vulcraft requires a minimum of a two-year drafting degree or two years of drafting experience to work as a detailer, she said.
"They work with our production people," she said. "They work with our shop-order people, with our design engineers and with our customers."
Morrow, who is a graduate of Norfolk High School and Northeast Community College, said Vulcraft currently details about 80 percent of what the Norfolk plant produces.
Once the new center opens, it will detail all the local product, as well as products from all other divisions of Nucor.
"We're doing this to offer our customers more services," she said.
Petersen, a graduate of Wisner-Pilger High School, said Northeast Nebraska has many quality people and strong school systems. He said the new center hopes to immediately start attracting high school graduates from Norfolk and the region to receive training at Northeast Community College to work at the center.
The company already has hired eight employees to start putting together the new center, with plans for 200 to 400 employees in the next five to 10 years.
Petersen said most of the detailers who work for Vulcraft were trained at Northeast Community College.
Petersen said he looks forward to expanding that partnership, which will include more cooperative training opportunities and more specialized training for other products.
Dr. Bill Path, president of Northeast Community College, said Northeast would double its drafting department this fall from 18 to 36 students to help meet Nucor's need.
Path commended Nucor for providing highly technical jobs for Northeast Nebraska, noting that many of its current plant supervisors are from Northeast Nebraska.
"They have been marvelous to work with over the years," Path said.
- Story Courtesy of the Norfolk Daily News
