Dave Stickler Credits Workforce, Automation for Hybar’s Efficiency

This story originally appeared in Arkansas Business. Read it here.

Dave Stickler loves telling the story of Hybar Steel, and to tell it from the beginning, he has to include Big River Steel, his first big project in Mississippi County.

Big River, which began building its two rolled-steel mills in Osceola in 2014, is now a wholly owned property of U.S. Steel, soon to be a “partner” of Nippon Steel of Japan.

“I would tell you that the thing that made Big River and Hybar Steel successful is the quality of the workforce,” Stickler said. “We train the heck out of our people and we create an extremely aggressive culture.”

A lean management hierarchy dominates the business model, he said. “We have a flat organizational structure, no bureaucracy. We give our employees on the shop floor decision-making authority. If you do those things, the rest will take care of itself.”

Hybar expects to make 250,000 to 300,000 tons of rebar just this year, and to quickly ramp up to 700,000 tons a year. “Automation makes a big difference,” Stickler said. “We have 151 employees right now, and we’ve just got three to go. We expect to make 4,545 tons of steel per worker per year. I have competitors who struggle to make 2,000 tons per worker per year.”

In speaking engagements around the country, Stickler often closes with a compliment to Arkansas’ business sense. “I tell the audience that Arkansas is a great place to do business,” he said. “And Arkansas is a really, really great place to be in the steel business.”