welcome to bets on the future where we highlight the various career paths in the electrifying Metals World from the vehicle you ride in to the bridge holding it up metals are everywhere why not in your career too I’m Jennifer Betts a medals industry veteran with almost 20 years experience here to highlight these incredible career paths As Told by the women who are living them this week on bets in the future we have an incredible guest Anna frown faler Anna is a professional in the midds industry and she has cultivated nearly a decade of continuous growth and advancement her unwavering curiosity and passion for learning new things have been The Guiding Light for her career with roles spanning from executive business liaison to Quality EHS and claims associate and Senior inside sales representative she has consistently sought to broaden her expertise her drive is anchored in modernizing and propelling the industry forward particularly through the integration of technology and inspiring the Next Generation to find their place in the space while currently enjoying time with her young family Anna anticipates the opportunity to embark on a new chapter within the metal sector on this week

on bets on the future we have a really incredible guest with us that I’m pretty excited about because about actually over a year ago maybe about a year ago I put out this video about trying to put this call out to the technology industry about coming and joining our industry particularly to the metals industry because you know well one we’re awesome and two we have a lot of opportunities that the technology industry could bring to the table and really transfer a lot of that wealth of knowledge over to us and this particular individual is doing just that she brings a wealth of Knowledge from the metals industry and she is is in that space where the technology aspect is merging with the metals world and she’s been working on some really fascinating aspects of that and so I just want to introduce a really incredible individual Anna frown Falker is a Metals industry professional and she is just really incredible and I got introduced to you Anna via the power of LinkedIn and um somebody in our mutual Network reached out to us out to me and then maybe individually also reached out to

you and was like you two need to talk because of that mutual love of Technology Metals everything so um shout out to him for for that uh introduction so thank you so much uh on that one and Anna thank you so much for for uh hopping on today I really appreciate you taking the time and and uh chatting uh today on on here no thank you I super appreciate it um I love talking about this stuff my mom says I’m the most boring person in the world to talk to because I’m all about talking about this stuff so I’m here for it um well and I I do have to um you know give you uh some street cred in in the background here because this is an audio and video podcast um for those that are listening uh in the background of your office you you have a US steel book I’m guessing that is where you look up every single carbon um alloy of uh known out there like what what’s what’s happening in the background for reference so that thing is super cool quick backstory it’s not a book it is

actually you pull it open it was a training module from us steel I think from maybe the 60s or 70s and it has little vials in it about it’s got pig iron it’s got carbon it has everything in there to show you what steel is made out of what okay so how do you how do you get that how how does that how does one acquire such a thing is that like I have so many questions how does that happen so cool do they still give that out I have no idea I doubt it um the only thing that is missing because I’ve ebayed this before because this was actually a gift given to me um long story short my sister uh she has um she’s an owner of a printing company in the Pittsburgh area because that’s that’s where I’m originally from uh they were cleaning out a new office space that they got in the Pittsburgh area and it was randomly amongst like a pile of paper papers in this office that they bought um so she gifted it to me it doesn’t have the actual like paper pamphlet in it anymore

which is what I think came with it along with the vials so um yeah I think now especially it’s probably worth a lot more than it was a few years ago okay so wait does it have the pig iron and like the other wait here okay I to here it’s huge it’s yeah so here we’ll open it up real quick oh my gosh okay so she is opening this massive what looks like a box book s it does it does yeah it totally does it has this has got a little film in it and I think they would have used it for training purposes to like show everybody uh via film back in the day what okay can you read off what the the five vials say sure there’s iron ore Coke limestone Pig Iron and Steel Rod wow that’s yeah amazing I’m very jealous shout out to your sister for a recognizing um what what she found and B giving it to you on that front um again this this podcast is for the metals industry but it’s also um supposed to go out to folks outside the industry so one um we’re

geeking out here because we’re from the industry but I have to translate to those that are not in the industry or maybe they’re a part of the industry that they don’t understand what we’re talking about here but that is essentially the building blocks for steel in terms of the integrated from scratch steel making process um that is the ingredients and that’s very cool that you what looks like a book but basically it it’s uh I’m going to call it a starter kit that’s right that’s right it’s the starter kit I love that that’s that’s a that’s like your um atome starter kit to Steel making don’t you know I have a whole bof right in my backyard I’m like ready to go over here okay yeah maybe okay but for the lawyers that are out there yeah don’t don’t make your own B Blast Furnace um uh integrated process in your your backyard please not recommended by this podcast thank you leave it to the professionals that’s amazing that’s that’s really that’s really cool um you know it it okay spoiler alert this podcast may come out you know weeks or maybe a couple

months after we record this but um you know we’re talking about us deal it’s in the news quite a bit lately um and and part of the in the news is because it it has fallen from Grace a little bit um and so it is in the process of being acquired by um a company um nepon steel and part of it is because the the infrastructure that it owns those those Blass furnances that we’re talking about that those starter kit ingredients um would go into is you know there haven’t really been a lot of techn technological upgrades let’s say that have gone into it um the steel industry I would say generally speaking very broad Strokes here has more or less been unchanged what would you say in the past like 50 60 years again very broad Strokes here um so I find it very interesting your background because you you have that metals experience but knowing what I know about you there was like this switch that happened in your career where you’re like I want to take my background and I want to apply it from a technology standpoint so I kind

of want to like go back a little bit sorry the shiny object of the US distracted me for a second like growing up people don’t typically say you know I want to get into Metals I want to get into steel making um you are from you know the Pittsburgh area so that’s probably a little different from you you probably did know about us deal um like how did you get into metals like how how did that happen sure I mean I guess I’ll preface it with I have a degree in communication and theater so you know met seemed like it was absolutely the perfect fit for me oh of course it’s right yeah same thing yep very similar right so it was really kind of a happen stance thing which I feel like is the the I don’t know the tail to story of all people who enter steel or Metals it’s like oh yeah it just kind of happened and that’s exactly what happened to me um you know I was living in Columbus Ohio and I was living with my husband who was my fiance at the time we got an opportunity

to come to the Cleveland area through his work um which he’s from here originally and that’s where I’m at right now is the Cleveland area um and I was just looking for work so I went to a job fair uh for veterans and Veteran spouses and I was going to be a veteran spouse in just a few months so I went and I was just passing my resumés out I was literally heading out the door the convention center I had one resume left and I was like oh Majestic Steel’s Banner was there I’m going to hand them my resume and I did and I just told them you know I don’t know anything about steel other than I’m from the Pittsburgh area and I think it’s supposed to be in my blood uh do you have any jobs I’ll take anything I’m looking for admin work whatever um so I left was on my way to the parking lot got a text to come in that week for an interview and the rest is kind of history from there um I did start doing admin work for them I was the office and Hospitality

specialist so I was just doing like office work answering phones front desk that kind of stuff um but I really feel like that was the pivotal moment where I entered the industry not knowing at the time that that was where I was going to you know plant my flag um because I was at the front desk I met everybody who worked at the company so I got an introduction to what everybody did um which is what trans transitioned me into working with our vice president and our director of sales as their business liaison um and I very much feel I guess for lack of a better term blessed to have had that happen to me because I found a mentor in this industry through that and he 100% thought I needed to see and be exposed to anything I possibly could so I could learn and grow um and I was definitely in meetings that I probably had no business being in at the time but nobody questioned it because they were like okay there’s he’s doing something with her here that he’s allowing her to be uh have visibility into everything and I

did it was amazing um so I did that for a while went and jump shipped to another uh sorry into another service center um where that uh VP of sales at the time had also gone over to the service center and he called me and said hey I need you to help me build a culture here um where again I got so much exposure and visibility into purchasing procurement financing anything I could touch in the industry he wanted me to see and be touching um and I was the executive business liaison for him there um and that’s where I really started to see this trend of there was no technology or at least least a a very small amount of Technology being utilized in that space um we were trying to push the boundaries a little bit there um you know and I was doing quality and claims even while I was there too so I was out on the floor watch a material run uh with my hard hat my steel tote boots with our shop guys um and again seeing that that like lack of Technology from the top all the way

down was super prevalent and I was one of the youngest people there which I guess is no great surprise if we know anything about the metal space um but I was like we it just became very clear to me that we need to figure out a way to modernize this industry because we don’t have enough young talent coming in to keep it going for lack of a better term and so we became customers of Rebus at the time um because I really loved what they were doing and I was all about it and again like my mentor who I could not be where I am today without him for sure I give him all the credit in the world um he saw the value in it as well and that that Tech was going to be necessary to sustain this industry so we started doing business again I’m like really pondering on the whole thing I’m passionate in the industry at this point it’s been a handful of years I’m here I’m feeling very strongly about about my future I had an opportunity of door just kind of open where then I went from

being a customer of Rebus to working with them um because I felt like they were the people where I could be jumping on the train while the tracks were still being built and I felt like it was so necessary to be doing something more where I could be super impactful and helping to change the way the industry functions um so again I was there doing quality and claims just what like anything I could do and could learn and grow from there um to absorb what I could I went from quality and claims to senior inside sales rep because I was like I hate being stagnant that’s kind of been my whole career like what else can I be doing how else can I learn and grow um and then you know unfortunately the tech space is is it has been what it is for the last few years and I was part of um the tech space layoff um so I took a little bit of time just took a step back I had just had a baby so I was like I’m going to just take a moment to see what I want

to be doing um so I was approached by a former colleague of mine who had just begun a startup company um again in the metal space and I absolutely believed in what he was doing what he is doing um you know the tools and technology that he’s trying to utilize from a category management space in metals which that’s just not something that exists in the metal space it’s kind of crazy to me like you’re you’re talking about all these things that in other Industries they exist like when I worked at um a a service center and honestly when you know I traded recycled materials I almost said scrap but recycled materials um I I still would get emails of spreadsheets attached to them with with the various Commodities that were attached to them or honestly sometimes they just wouldn’t even have a spreadsheet and that’s that’s how they communicated what their inventory was right like there was no online inventory there wasn’t e-commerce are you kidding me like that didn’t exist there weren’t marketplaces that’s not a thing like if you wanted something you had to pick up the phone and know someone

so good good luck finding it like and and you know you’re you’re talking about things in the 2020s like this stuff right it’s still mindblowing to me I I still get emails of of people sending me the spreadsheets or or the daily emails of like here’s what I’m buying today like it’s still happening like we’re we’re still doing that it’s the technology just we’re getting there it’s just not not the the adaptation pace is what is a bit of a hurdle of what we’re that that’s what we’re struggling with I see a lot of on that front no I agree and I I don’t I don’t mean it to sound as maybe Gruff as it’s going to sound but I think we’re going to end up seeing like that kind of hockey stick growth um probably over the next 10 years I think it’s going to take probably another 10 years uh to really see that because I think we’re going to start seeing more young people the generation will start making its way in maybe slowly but surely but that maybe second generation of ownership as well is going to have been the

younger ones using the tech and now they’re going to want to start enforcing that and utilizing it with their company because it’s necessary to stay alive and that oldest generation is going to start phasing out that I’d say little resistant to the the technology and the modernization um but I I just think that we are still away from that a smidge of time I think but but I think bringing the awareness now and understanding what it could be now is crucial to be bringing more of I’d say the the Gen Z generation and even you know the youngest of the millennial generation which I I’m certainly part of that into the steel industry it it is quite mindblowing to me that on my Domino’s app I can track my $10 pizza from a location standpoint know exactly where it is in the process of making it through the oven you know in the car through the whole neighborhood right but if I have a million dooll order with a company of you know say HRC steel coils good luck no idea where it is no idea where it is shipped has it been slit

yet has it been like I no idea no idea it’s mindblowing to me that the majority of the customers there’s no digital record translation of it good luck it that technology to me is mind-blowing that that that’s not just standard in our industry well and I would think that if nobody had that idea yet they should take advantage of the Pizza Tracker but I I think especially what we saw in covid right I mean one from the highest level Co obviously showed us that we could do business differently than we ever thought possible but also I mean from the metal space in particular covid certainly brought about where buyers were let down by their suppliers so diversify your supply chain I feel like is something that a lot of people had to do coming out of Co but what a difference technology like that would have made for people who were waiting on their steal I get it you know there was a lot of demand and there was not a lot of availability understood but man wouldn’t have that been so big for people just waiting and sitting like emailing every other

day where’s my steel where’s my steel so yeah technology could have been a GameChanger when it came to how we had to do things through Co it it really would have been and that technology existed in other Industries they knew again the Pizza Tracker I think has been around since before Co right like again why why has the Pizza Tracker been a thing before how how come I can door Dash food and know exactly where it is why do I know where my like Target delivery is and I can’t seem to track where my recycled material shipment is like in in the full supply chain wh why is that a thing it it’s just um yeah so if you’re listening out there I will take a um just a 1% cut of your company um idea just just go ahead Jennifer bets magar medals thank you recycled media thank you love it like I at this point so the 10 years is is that mainly for you know enough companies to get up and running to the point where the people in the industry have to say like it’s time or is it more

of the generational shift where like you said the next generation is going to start taking over like what or a combination of both I think it’s a combination of both though I would lean more on the generational side of things um I hate it I hate this more than anything but the one thing I feel like is very prevalent in being said in this IND hisry is well that’s the way we’ve always done it yeah oh so we should probably keep doing it that way right because if the wheel’s not broken why fix it um so I definitely I I go against Against the Grain on that for sure I don’t love that kind of mindset uh I certainly look for things to be a little more open-minded and I think again as we progress and that new generation starts coming into ownership that they will see the value and obviously being able to sustain the industry and let’s be honest again you don’t want to let your customers down so something as simple as trackers or you know just being able to say like here Mr customer here’s something where you can

see where your material is and it’s not just having to do the email blast back and forth even something as Antiquated as just email blasting I think that’ll end up going away uh yes uh you know whenever somebody you know pushes back on the technology front um or the we’ve always done it this way I always go back to one of my business courses in in college it actually was senior year crazy enough it was um after i’ already accepted my job with the David J Joseph company this was before new had bought them so you know it kind of was foreshadowing but there was a Harvard Business um case study that had been done on new cor at the time um and it was when they were deciding I think this was probably I’m trying to think what the time frame was probably in like the 70 80s is when they were deciding whether or not to really go all in on the electric Arc furnace right because up until that point it was only the integrators it was like you steel making was you know from scratch from from your us steel

you know um starter kit you know it was um the iron or Coke Limestone like that that was it that’s like how you made steel and so here comes along this company that wanted to go all in and they were trying to decide well we hadn’t done it this way this wasn’t what we had done before and now look at new Corp you know 50 years later obviously and they’re the largest steel manufacturer in North America and arguably the most profitable one right but it didn’t happen overnight right but they did it their way they and they’re constantly evolving right they’re not necessarily the ones that are going to say well this is just always the way that we’ve done it so yeah I always push back on that and and say well look how the US is structured in terms of E eafs versus integrated and then look at the rest of the world and we usually are at the Forefront of technology so I’d like to believe that we’re going to adapt it quicker than some of the other areas so hopefully fing crossed hopefully um do you see in terms of

you know Ferris versus nonf feris do you see you know I feel like there’s always like a little bit of a divide there do you see those markets maybe the adaption rate being higher in one versus the other in terms of Technology like is you know would one maybe pull the other one along Kicking and Screaming possibly um that’s a good question I I don’t know like I guess I will say you know I I’ve touched in the metal space in general I’ve hit untouched all sorts of metals steel is definitely where like I’d say my My Heart Belongs to steal at the end of the day um so I don’t know I I tend to think that particularly the Steel World I think it sets itself back a little further than maybe some of the other metal players out there um but I do think we’re at least at a point with social media and just our visibility into things and news and everything so much faster that once one starts going the other ones are going to jump on board um but I I still think it’s pretty hard to uh to

change a lot of ways uh very quickly at least uh yes yeah it it’s but I agree with you I think once one starts to be more prevalent online I think the others kind of have to come along maybe begrudgingly but yeah it’s it’s it’s definitely um going to happen I hope I hope um and I mean this in the nicest way I hope you’re wrong about the 10 years I hope it’s me too I hope it’s quicker I hope it’s quicker than that but you know it there are a lot of moving Parts at steel mills um you know there’s a lot of moving Parts overall um just Metals Manufacturing in general um it costs a lot a lot of money um to update these facilities to install this type of Technology um so it it’s an investment I mean the ROI you know is hasn’t always been um studied quite yet right there’s only a handful of case studies in our particular industry I mean you can go look at other Industries I’m sure find the numbers um but it it it will take time on that front when you look at

the next I guess areas of opportunities are there any spots that you’re like this is where we should focus like what do you see as like the next you know opportunities I should say I that’s good I don’t know that I’ve really delved too far into it because I’m I uh next ER is of opportunity I don’t know I think probably the biggest thing that we need to focus on baby steps right you can’t eat an elephant anyway but one bite at a time um so I do think having that sort of online presence um and there are a couple of companies now like Rebus is one of them there are a few other companies that are trying to do that sort of online presence now that’s a small like Niche area I realize because you know that’s great for more of that spot world but I think that could grow exponentially um I think that’s how we as consumers in general like to shop I think it’s very proven we are online Savvy people at this point if we don’t have to go into a store meet in person with somebody like I

think that in general not that you’re hopping over to the steel mill to like hey I’d like to buy this today obviously that’s not happening but I I do think that online presence of let’s really get it Sol where we’ve got that spot business really hammered down that people utilize that efficiently and then you can start taking it more to that Mill level and doing some of that online transacting from the mill level bigger buys obviously contract type buys um versus the spot world I know that’s what’s starting to be focused on now but I think we really need to get that solid before we start muddying the waters with lots of other techie type things um my opinion I guess but I’m sure there’s other options out there that would be crucial but I think that those are the kinds of baby steps that we need to make sure we’re taking and we are getting so tight and clean before we can keep saying hey let’s introduce this let’s introduce this I I think that’s a really good um I’d say Foundation um for the industry is is that kind of um digital

presence is is a good way to to recognize it um again spoiler alert recorded this at a previous date but I was just in um Vegas um a couple weeks ago for the uh Rema conference the recycled materials Association and I’ve been going to that for a couple decades at this point and it was really great to see from a materials Metals perspective at least on the raw material side the amount of technology companies that are coming to these types of conferences have significantly increased um especially in the past five years I would say versus at the beginning of my career so baby Stuffs the elephant is slowly getting eaten but it’s it’s happening um so I I I think you’re right we’re we’re on that path um hopefully more and more people are recognizing you know the opportunities that do exist in the space um it sounds like you have found these opportunities these entrepreneurial um areas that exist where people are seeing you know metals and technology and really solving those issues and it it’s really incredible it’s really exciting what you’re working on so I really just want to say thank

you for for coming on here it’s been really cool listening about your passion about you know uh your experience um I’m very jealous about that um starter kit that you have um but uh before we go I just want to um ask you is there anything else that you would you would want to um share with our listeners before we go no I just think I guess if there’s any advice I give right um I have almost a decade in and I am nowhere near done my growth and and what I want to achieve in my goals and my dreams and those things um but I think if I have again just like a a piece of advice it’s it’s kind of twofold but I think they go hand inand never stop looking for the opportunities to learn and grow um I think you and I highly believe in lifelong learning uh there’s never an opportunity where you can’t be learning from a situation um but I think the other big thing and I guess I say this because I I want so badly for this industry to continue to grow from uh the

younger generation perspective and and start bringing more of those people into this industry don’t fall victim to the narrative that you know the American dream is dead or you can’t grow up the corporate ladder unless you know somebody or anything like that um I don’t think any successful person would tell you that there is such thing as an overnight success sometimes you have to be really gritty sometimes you have to make some sacrifices is um but ultimately there is a possibility for you to grow if you work really hard um I feel like I very much embodied that and again I still have a long way to go of my my goals and dreams being hit but I I certainly think that there is opportunity in this industry for sure for people to be successful um and to continue to grow so I I welcome it I’m excited about it I I hope I can be a mentor to somebody and give back what was given to me at some point well I I think that’s really wonderful advice um and and on that night note um the the best way to get a

hold of you LinkedIn is that would that be fair to say so you can find um Anna frown faler on LinkedIn um Metals industry professional she has a wealth of knowledge um it’s been really wonderful great conversation I’ve really enjoyed this um find her on LinkedIn uh Anna thank you so much it’s it’s been wonderful no thank you I really appreciate it