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 on the future we have a really incredible guest um I am clearly biased on the first name we have Jennifer lutter she is an account manager for metalis formerly Tim Canin steel for those that are in the know she graduated with her undergraduate in Material Science and Engineering from the University of Minnesota and has almost 20 years of technical sales experience in the metals and forging industry she’s a lifelong lover of the science and Metal Manufacturing and does everything in our power to promote steam studies for all kids but especially for young ladies is looking to break glass ceilings she’s a passionate supporter of volunteering in all capacities and believes in giving more than what you take she’s involved with several industry organizations

such as Association of women in the metals Industries Wisconsin chapter that’s awmi forging industry Association and metals service center Institute as well as the metalis employee Resource Group Inspire while also volunteering for our kids BSA Cub Scout Pack and on their school’s PTO since spring baseball started she’s also a chauffeur to practices and games while also managing the Relentless requests for snacks which I very much can relate to some of that endless I just want to say a huge thank you Jen for coming on here because I understand that it is a very busy season uh in life for you so thank you very much for for taking the time and coming on and just sharing a little bit more about you know your background uh your your career and and what you’re working on these days thank you for having me I’m excited um you know I always like to figure out you know a little bit more about you know how somebody gets into this because traditionally um it doesn’t really seem like somebody wakes up one day and is like you know in their childhood and they’re like you know oh

I want to get into the mid game right like for for most people I would say what how did you find out about the metals industry like what was that turning point for you so I think I am that person that woke up this is something I want to do from a young age um I’m from Northern Minnesota so an area called The Iron Range I grew up with us steel and arser middle Cleveland Cliffs um Bethlehem eie my grandfather was a an accountant for one of the um iron or mines in northern Minnesota my Dad ran a Foundry um and then was part owner of a Foundry in northern Minnesota so I really grew up with um you know the names the companies the mining trucks and wondering as a kid even how is that made how do you take it from the red dust that doesn’t come out of your clothes when you stomp in a puddle to you know a car um and so manufacturing is always something that’s fascinated me fascinated me um and from that you know I kind of followed the path of stem math and sciences engineering

um I did start off as a chemical engineering major in college and then um my first lecture was for an intro to Material Science class and it was on chocolate I changed my major the that after that first lecture so it was a different it was about the different confirmations of chocolate and how you can um fudge can be smooth or chocolate CH you know chalky or um bitter or sweet all based on the chemical structure of the chocolate the temperature the humidity all those things affected it and so it really I mean I changed my major based on the one class and from there gravitated towards Metals the whole my whole college career that’s really interesting I I to to learn a little bit more of that that background that that structure you know you you think about baking or cooking kind of as this creative skill set and the way that you described it is much more from that scientific mindset there’s a lot of chemistry that goes into it I mean I think that if you’re a candy Chef you absolutely know um PV equals nrt whether you know it or

not uh yes yes it’s it’s something that I mean most people don’t really think about on on that aspect okay so so you’re you’re in college you’ve you’ve taken this course you you’ve you’ve switched it over you know a little bit more into that materials Focus you’ve gotten the the metals Focus um I mean was there an internship in college like you know did you see an eaf did you go to a blast furnace like what was that you know first Spark I should say I mean really the first Spark was going through my dad’s Foundry as a kid and seeing the daa that they had and the molten metal and the Cool Shapes they were making and um they used to make the tops on all the fire hydrants and walking around and saying like hey my dad made that or you know um I think that’s really where it started um internships in college I actually tested asphalt samples for the Department of Minnesota the mot Department of Transportation for Minnesota um and polymers was not the direction I wanted to go yeah that was pretty clear but um it was a

great internship I learned a lot um paid very well so it it was a great exper experience but it also helped me realize like I don’t I don’t think I want to work in a lab and I think that it was really kind of from that internship I started looking for more customer facing social um roles within the metals industry where I thought you could use my technical background but I wouldn’t be designing Bridges or um I didn’t want to do research and development basically well that kind of gets me into you know I’m kind of skipping over a few years here um you know what is it specifically that you’re doing now you know you you’ve got this really interesting background um and this expertise you know at metalis slash it’s going to be hard for me to conceal but um you know at metalis what specifically are you doing in in your role now so I’m in sales basically outside sales and it’s really a lot of helping customers understand material capabilities what they’re ordering if there’s maybe an alternative that would help them with their application um I spend a lot

of time comparing Heat Treating practices to food uh that seems to be something that most people can relate to so when you’re you know talking about a kneeling Cycles or things like that um so it’s more kind of bridging that gap between what a customer wants to buy what the materials capable of doing there’s a lot of you know someone reads a reference book and they think a 1-inch cross-section performs the same as a 20inch cross-section and how those don’t quite equate that way no not not so much right it’s you know it’s a lot of doing that um you know like I said if here’s our problem help me find a solution to it here what grades can you offer that help and I I do want to take a little bit of a very macro view here yeah because the the listeners um on this podcast can range very much from raw materials all the way to the oems and not everyone is as um you know aware of what each individual Steel company produces can you give just like a very kind of broad overview of what metalis

I’d say more specializes or focuses in okay so we are an sbq and seamless mechanical tube manufacturer so we um have an electric Arc furnace and eaf we you know recycle over a million pounds of scrap every year um a million tons of scrap every year and we you know are taking that making it into bars from one inch up to 16 inch or tubes from 3 to 13 inch and it’s seamless mechanical so it’s not you know rolled and welded plate um and so yeah that’s that’s what we do very cool um and your plant locations are in which part of the country just for reference for folks so we in Canton Ohio okay all right um it’s very cool to hear what you’re working on um because you’re not in Canton Ohio and I think that’s very interesting from um perspective that people don’t necessarily talk about in terms of careers that most people think that you have to be in certain locations for the metals industry and this probably applies more for sales per se right yep that’s true that’s right right um but your products can travel further because they

are specialty right like they are more specialized so you do need to be closer to where your customers are right is that right so I’m out of the Chicago office and so I mean the sh our Chicago team here is probably calling on you know the majority of the Midwest so you know Iowa Minnesota Wisconsin Indiana Illinois we have a team in Houston we have a team in Charlotte so I mean we are spread out kind of all over yeah I mean that that’s kind of a nice territory though I mean it it it seems like that particular region of the country though is is growing though from a construction standpoint right uh yes yep uh off of I90 I think I35 is going to be another Hub so living within 45 minutes of O’Hare is not terrible I can get almost anywhere direct uh yes that does not seem uh too terrible uh for for you um I I’ve I’ve noticed and I think I I want to say that I think I got connected with you through awmi I want to say or maybe through msdi one of those um industry associations

um how did you get involved with those associations like how in your career did did that come come to be so I um I came to metalis in 2016 and that’s when I kind of made the switch from inside sales on a desk to outside sales and I wanted to learn the territory and networking in the territory um and so just getting involved in those trade organizations and going to the smaller chapter events gave me a taste of who the players were how companies you know um how companies are intertwined who owns who I would say like the Wisconsin chapter of awmi was absolutely wonderful with just a close-knit group of ladies um and how supportive they were of you know helping me um Making Connections introducing me to people in the territory and you know I’m just a strong proponent of if you have a complaint have you volunteered first have you volunteered to help fix it before you come with a complaint and so I want women to participate in the metals industry I need to to step up and help Mentor those women um you know and really from a

industry perspective Ive we need young people male female it doesn’t it doesn’t matter we just need people because I think that the industry in general hasn’t done a great job of marketing all the amazing things that we make in this country 100% all day long yes um and you know spoiler alert depending on when this gets released but earlier this week um I posted on LinkedIn some of the top five facts that um people in my comment sections on other apps post basically not knowing about the metals Manufacturing in the United States and actually one of my I’ll call it air quote favorites um is that basically they don’t even know that we have a steel industry in the United States I just flat out don’t even know they think it’s gone away like that we don’t even have it and it’s incredibly frustrating to see that lack of awareness or knowledge and it makes me sad for recruitment for legislative purposes for I mean it’s it’s it’s frustrating right yeah it I mean you see it and it doesn’t I mean there’s different jobs if Finance is your thing there’s a ton of

steel mills and met steel manufacturers that need Finance people or um you know supply chain quality assurance any of those there’s so many auxiliary jobs just and production jobs I mean it’s a great typically great wages typically great benefits I you know and it’s I think it’s just a wonderful industry and we haven’t done it justice with the marketing I I agree and I’m I’m clearly biased right I yeah I’m I’m from the United States right I’m clearly in in uh you know in the industry I I come from an eaf background and electric art for those that maybe um are new to the industry which uses recycled materials um to make new steel um but you know from a Global Perspective like the United States is really actually at the Forefront for Metals manufacturing um we have some of the lowest carbon emissions when it comes to Metals manufacturing we have some of the greenest energy options for Metals manufacturing um and yet it’s it’s not well known um right it it it’s just uh you know it’s frustrating from that perspective right yeah I mean just at metalis you know we have

a water treatment facility where we’re using our own water we’ve got um the bag house that collects dust particles and that gets recycled it’s all of those things that we should be talking about that we were already doing before it was cool to do it yeah yep exactly I mean now we have an ESG report so it’s getting reported out on but I mean like those none of those were new things for what we were doing yes agreed um and it was something that a lot of the steel industry was doing I think more from a market perspective not necessarily from I don’t know what the right word is um but I think the market was demanding it right I think the market was saying um we we want these things and the industry listened from it too like they that’s why we have so many eafs in the United States right it’s just a more efficient way to manufacture steel it’s easier to set up those shops it’s easier to to run them and I’m very much blanketing that that statement but it is easier to turn them on and off right um

right and metal can be melted and remelted an infinite number of times so generation it gets to be a car and the Next Generation it gets to be you know a garage door all the different things that it can be over the course of its lifetime agreed and it really does take the full supply chain to participate in it and that’s why I really like the awmi as one of my preferred associations in the industry again clearly biased female here but it is open to male and females the organization yep it’s all inclusive the association of women in the metals industry is one of the few fully vertically integrated associations in our industry I can’t really think of another one where it’s all the way from the raw materials all the way up to the oems and I really encourage people to get involved with it again male and female because um from a networking perspective you will have access to the raw material the metal recycling facilities if you have any questions about how to handle your scrap at your facility all the way up to the oems of how am I generating

my scrap to the steel mills that participate like yourself even Logistics how am I G to get my scrap from me to the mill yes exactly the trucking companies the I mean you have um powder coating companies you know or the paint supply or chalk suppliers for marking parts I mean it it’s it is a very diverse group of members I would say yeah it it is and I do have to say you have some really fun events as well oh good yes yeah um uh I I don’t get back to the Midwest as much as I used to I used to be in Cincinnati so it used to be a little easier for me to back there um I’m on the west coast now um but I do see your events on l they look um and I hear from participating members that they are they look like a a good networking time from golf events to um happy hours to um you know just a variety of good events yeah and for the Wisconsin chapter specifically in May we’ve got an etiquette launch for young professionals nobody knows I mean I suppose

some people do but for the most part when you’re young and entering the industry you don’t know how to network you don’t know how to um go to a lunch and you know how to be on and still trying to eat not spill on yourself and what to say and not to say and where to put your name tag and so I mean I think awmi is a great example of the chapters doing stuff like that just for mentoring from the mentor mentoring young professionals on how to go to these events and get more use out of them that’s a really great Point well especially with Co um Co we all a little socially awkward needed some help well my you know a little bit off topic here um Express just declared bankruptcy right you remember that that company and my husband and I were talking about that and he was like you know a little surprised I’m like well think about it co killed a lot of work um clothing lines like we’re all in view we’re all in like athleisure now right you know right I I mean it there’s a lot

of work from home folks now at this point that I mean how many I mean I still like my blazers but um right yeah you know maybe not so many people need those office clothes and so that kind of translates to your etiquette point of the the folks that have been entering the workforce the past three four years haven’t had to do those things haven’t had to learn those um you know uh there’s an art to networking there’s definitely an art to it it takes practice it takes experience it’s intimidating I mean some of those msci events are a couple two 300 people that’s intimidating to walk into a room and not feel like you know what you’re doing um and so it’s you know I think even msci has individual chapters I think those chapter events are a great one they’re a little bit smaller there’s probably 25 to 50 people a little bit smaller less intimidating to break your teeth in um any of those just practice going but really having someone tell you okay this is where you put your name badge and you know when you have a place setting

this is how you I mean if you don’t know you don’t know I I think that’s a really great idea because I mean most people don’t know or you know you can’t really look at your phone up on YouTube during the event right right yeah you could beforehand but it doesn’t Dawn on you until you’re sitting there right until you’re sitting there and you may not you know out of those two 300 people you may not know someone or you may not feel comfortable enough in that moment to ask someone right what what do you do in this situation right I Lear I remember the play settings from actually Girl Scouts yes as a kid yes um but yeah I mean any even the art of networking and how to um remember names which is huge you could meet someone multiple times and not remember a name and I’m a terrible person for this as well I will remember a dog’s name and where your kids are going to college and what your GPA was and I will forget your name is Chad or you know some of those things so there’s tips and

tricks on how those things or how to follow up even from the events and is this particular Event open to members non-members like what yep okay it’s members non-members um and it it it is an in-person event in Milwaukee but I mean any of those associations they do webinars they also do inperson events so I mean for anyone across the country I would say look up your little local chapter and see what they have but okay you know when any one chapter is a great idea we’re all kind like oh that’s a good one let’s put that in the schedule for next year in our region yes and so just for reference because this is uh video and audio um easi ways um what LinkedIn and then um the uh the website as well yes so awmi.net on there typically msci is msc.org that when your company has to be a member for you to get to attend those but I mean there’s if your company is involved in a trade organization outside of those look and see what that Trade Organization offers a lot of them have some

sort of mentoring ship a lot of them have some sort of webinar that you can take maybe it’s a Metallurgy for the non-metal orist class to help you understand what you’re buying or selling or even what your company makes if you don’t know yes um all those a lot of those trade or organizations have all of that information available and I just don’t think people use it the way it’s meant to be used I agree I I think there are a lot of really great resources out there that maybe people to your point maybe people just aren’t either aware of um or or don’t use um the M that I mean that would be really beneficial um I’m a finance major I really shouldn’t be this far deep into the medals industry right at this point right but I’ve I’ve taken those you know met 101 met 21s like um they were provided to me through new core um you know through AK Steel like I’ve taken the stainless courses that they’ve had um I still have those binders um just for reference whenever I have a question um because yeah I I

didn’t know I didn’t I I never took a material science class because again I was taking ACC counting 101 right and like I mean that’s just it is if you’re in you know accounting or Ian really what the metals industry needs is more marketing people I think it is an underrated skill just working on that trying to get some more I mean and just companies in general but yeah um there’s a lot of free resources or I suppose if your company is paying for it they’re not necessarily free but a lot of those trade organizations have wonderful resources take a look at them and use them yes yes absolutely there there really are and also um there’s a lot of there’s there’s more and more um resources available online that people are posting um via LinkedIn even um YouTube uh you know there are some really interesting people that I like to follow on LinkedIn um there’s one individual I like to call him my aluminum Guru that I follow on LinkedIn because he provides some really interesting thought leadership on LinkedIn so you can find these experts that can provide resources to you

because they are experts in their field and you can follow them that way as well agreed yeah um I have to imagine that you know you’re you’re two two years two decades excuse me into this industry you have that family connection um you’re not going anywhere right like you’re you’re in it at this point I’m in it I don’t think I stood a chance I’m in it um and you’re obviously very committed to getting the Next Generation in what do you think you know some of the biggest hurdles are for us as an industry to get that next Generation in like where do you see some of those challenges are for us um I think that our industry has been slow to adopt change I think that you know it’s hard to recruit people when you have very rigid hiring practices or very rigid in office policies or you know whatever the case may be and we’re ultimately competing with Google who I don’t you know you hear things they have yoga balls to sit on and um Pizza Tuesdays I don’t know yeah like but when you’re competing for jobs or for applicants

for jobs you know you’re competing with jobs that can be fully remote or fully so finding a way to recruit this next Generation still get the output and outcome that you want but having to adjust to compete with other Industries the tech industry is hard to compete with when they’re offering you know work from home across the country and you know so we I think as an industry have had to relook at some of those policies that I mean before covid I never would have imagined the number of metals companies that have allowed people to work from home agreed yeah I it shocked me and like now a lot of them have hybrid schedules and I think that works for people that’s enough flexibility for people in so you know in many cases but um I think that the industry in as a whole has struggled to adopt some of those changes from the younger Generations we can’t manage people the way we managed 50 years ago we can’t manage people the same way we managed 20 years ago the world that existed then no longer exists today and we have to be quicker

I think to adapt to some of that I’d I’d agree with all of that I would also add that the next generation is not all of them excited about desk jobs I think there is a part of them that are saying I don’t want debt I don’t want college debt but I don’t think they’re aware of some of the opportunities that we provide that could be good paying jobs that mean that when they leave the the the job they don’t take it home with them right right that could be very lucrative for them could provide a very comfortable you know career for them and they’re not necessarily aware of it um right right so I there was one individual that um I was talking to relatively recently um they live in Charlotte North Carolina and they uh had never heard of the steel company that’s headquartered there until like six months ago I like which is mind-blowing to me that that was a thing um until six months ago so I think we to your point have some work to do from a marketing perspective to get that next Generation aware that there

are options here yep I think that and I think that the um previous generations that are still in the workforce also need to do more to bring people up yeah so I mean I there’s an industry event in June here there’s 70 some registrants and there’s not a single female oh attending how is that happening in 2024 what now no there’s still time to register by the way ladies like there’s still time but um I it just is shocking to me that that is still happening at this point of the game because we just need people to fill jobs in this industry and we don’t we can’t afford to discriminate on anything 100% you know I I will preface we are not 5050 in this industry yet no yet not yet not yet um the uh uh women in manufacturing um their stat is roughly 30% of the manufacturing industry is female um the women in steel I think their stat is roughly 20% so that’s it’s not ideal I think it can be better obviously but yeah if to your point if there’s uh an industry event that that has any attendees we

it it should at least reflect where we’re at 20 to 30% 20 30% should at least be attending at that point um because if you take a look at the SE sues the leadership teams that are out there that’s a I’d say we’re pretty close to those those numbers to be honest um along along this we we are starting to reflect out there so those events should be reflective of right what’s happening so and I think that’s I mean that’s a detriment not saying that this one particular event but I mean I think that is one of the hurdles that we have yeah for recruiting the Next Generation oh 100% I I think there are definitely some events that still exist out there in our industry that um are still um a little behind the times um that are not necessarily helping the cause for recruiting Because when people do get into this industry and then they are invited to those events there is a bit of a pause for for those individuals because they do question wait why are we still doing this why why is this still happening um but I think

it’s just the the folks that have been in the industry so so long that I don’t think they stop to pause and wonder should this still be happening as it is should we be opening it up to others should it be adjusted in any way so I think sometimes we just have to pause and reflect and see if there are other ways of doing things to help our industry move forward agreed yes um on that note because I know that we are probably running up a little bit on on time here is there anything else that we that we missed um that you wanted to share um on this podcast because I know that you you have a very long list of um experience and um I just want to make sure that we didn’t miss anything on on that front no I think we touched on all of it wonderful um well Jen if anybody wants to get a hold of you is LinkedIn the the best way to get a hold of you yeah that probably is just say my email address is all of the letters jennifer. ler metal.com that’s

a lot so okay all right I me on ledin all right that sounds wonderful um Jennifer lutter is the account manager from metalis forly Tim can steel I’m going to put in all the buzzwords the keywords for all the algorithms on there um thank you so much much for for hopping on here it’s been really wonderful learning about your your history your background all the volunteer work that you’ve been doing um for our industry it really is incredible we need more people like you um it it really is uh fantastic to hear what you’re doing so thank you so much I really appreciate it um and uh yeah you can find her on LinkedIn you can find her um ai.org um if you uh if your company is a member of msdi which is the metals service center Institute you can um find her networking through her uh uh organization that way as well so Jen thank you so much I really appreciate it yep thank you