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MiMfg Magazine
November 2019
2019 MFG Lifetime Achievement
Mark Marcucci
Gerdau Special Steel North America • Jackson
Manufacturing is about people. As technology
becomes a greater part of the process, the industry is
still built around creative people inventing products,
hardworking people building them and people from
around the world buying them to better their lives.
Mark Marcucci understands people. They’ve
been his focus for 43 years, through every twist and
turn of the global steel industry and at the helm of
Gerdau Special Steel North America.
“Gerdau really is concerned with people and that
has always aligned with me,” Marcucci explained. “No
matter who they are, people have a stake in what we
do — they are all stakeholders — and manufacturers
need to be conscious of that.”
Marcucci’s path to president of Gerdau was neither
straight nor simple. His story is an example of how
hard work pays off. Advancing through the industry,
Marcucci began as a worker in the melt shop and
each step along his journey provided a wider view of
the steel industry.
“I’m a geek — I’m an engineer by trade and I’ve
always loved to learn about the business; from the ground
up and from both the technical and the operational
sides,” Marcucci recalled. “But it wasn’t until I had
seen the entire scope of the business that I really got
it — understanding how the work being done on the
floor translates to the success of decisions made at
the leadership level. Nothing happens in the board
room if you can’t align it to the shop floor.”
Marcucci’s mission has been to create value. Value
for the customer, value for the employee and value
for the community.
“The biggest challenge that we all face every day
is how to really control costs and keep yourself
competitive and sustainable,” said Marcucci. “At the
same time, there’s the challenge of understanding the
customer values. They are under the same pressures
we are so our solutions can’t be self-serving, the
solutions should allow us to grow together.”
Investment has been Marcucci’s driving solution
to improve value for the company and across its
supply chain. In recent years, Gerdau has committed
to investing nearly $500 million toward improvements
at its Monroe location and other Michigan-based efforts.
It also provides charitable donations to non-profits
in Jackson and Monroe counties — among them United
Way, Salvation Army, American Cancer Society, Jackson
Interfaith Shelter and AWARE Inc. Time is also an
investment — Marcucci is an active voice for leading
trade associations including MMA, Jackson Area
Manufacturers Association, the Forging Industry
Association and Steel Manufacturers Association.
“Gerdau has done a great job reinventing its culture,
making itself purpose-driven and empowering its
people both globally and especially in Michigan,”
said Marcucci. “Get the right people in the right
chairs doing things the right way.”
How does a business the size and scope of Gerdau
(30,000 people globally and 1,500 on Marcucci’s team)
ensure that the right people are in the right spots?
“You have to plan for the future and understand
the aspirations of the people you have in place,” advised
Marcucci. “Get them to ask questions and be curious —
your people should provoke leadership to think deeper.
Finally, have an honest dialogue with them and
make sure they have a passion for what they do.”
Throughout his journey — one that has taken
him across the country and to Brazil and back —
Marcucci continued to study people. While the
places, language and culture might change, he sees
that people are mostly the same. They want to feel
respected and listened to. In that way, he has stayed
humble in how he leads and, as he prepares to retire
at the end of the year, his best memories are, again,
all about the people.
“The things I’ll remember most aren’t found in a
metric or a KPI. They are the moments when I get to
stop and catch up with my team,” explained Marcucci.
“Learning about them and their lives, what they are
feeling, what drives them and motivates them. They’ve
helped me as much or more than I’ve ever helped
them. It’s those subtle things that I’ll take with me.”
Looking back at a career spanning almost a half-
century, Marcucci looks at each day as an effort to
add another piece to the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle.
It’s not finished — it never will be — but now he
can see the bigger picture and how everything
connects and how everyone he’s met has played a
role in Gerdau’s larger success.
“To be recognized with the MFG Lifetime
Achievement Award — I really was blown away.
There are some very deserving leaders in Michigan,
so for me to be honored like this, it says so much
about the team I have here,” Marcucci said. “I’ve
valued every relationship and exchange I’ve had in
my career and this award shouldn’t be about me. It’s
about the ones I’ve been privileged to know along
the way.”
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