Big River Steel’s Bula looks to leverage multiple modes for mill on Mississippi

A creative entrepreneur who loves to win, Mark Bula, chief commercial officer at Big River Steel, believes in embracing innovation and teamwork. By leveraging barge, rail and truck transport modes, Bula looks to advance a cohesive supply chain, moving scrap material into and finished product out of the mill his firm is building in Osceola, Ark., about 60 miles up the Mississippi River from Memphis. In an interview with the American Journal of Transportation, Bula, who began his steel industry career in 1989 in sales for National Steel Corp., candidly talks of how varied experiences – including as an Ohio city councilman and as a volleyball player and coach – have brought him wisdom applicable to logistics, business and life. With Big River Steel building a $1.3 billion mill along the Mississippi River in Arkansas, you’re no doubt planning on using multiple modes for transportation. How do you look to combine the various modes to create an integrated supply chain? Our choice to locate here in Osceola, Ark., was largely driven by two things: We need affordable electricity and we need favorable logistics. And favorable logistics go hand-in-hand with your proximity to your marketplace, to your target markets. With our ability to have all three modes of transportation – a barge dock on our property, a Class I [BNSF Railway Co.] rail line that was already here and had a siding adjacent to our property and, obviously, at the hub of the United States as far as truck traffic goes – it was a great location to be in. It’s important for both our inbound and outbound purposes. The Mississippi River allows us to pull scrap – which is our major raw material input – from really anywhere along the river system. This makes our scrap buy much more efficient, effective and really affordable, to be able to pull from different parts of the country rather than being isolated into a land-locked area. Also, because we’re going to make hot-rolled, cold-rolled and galvanized steel in phase one, those products are basically domestic products. Our focus is in the Southeast predominantly. We look at a 250-mile radius as a day’s truck drive. But having the river system and the Class I rail gets us into other parts of the country for these products to ship. So that’s critical. But, more importantly, the ability to be on the Mississippi River here was critical because of phase two and phase three, which is a doubling of the capacity of this mill up to in excess of 3 million tons a year. The most important component of that is that we’re going to be making fully finished electrical steels, or silicon steels, which are used in motors and transformers – everything from a fractional motor in your home appliances to much larger motors in power generation plants and transformers on electric and telephone poles or transformers in large manufacturing facilities. That is a truly global marketplace, and so the ability to move that finished product downriver to a port for export is critical to why we located on the Mississippi River. It makes us more competitive. We also have a third party [Mid River Terminal LLC] building our barge docks and that will operate our barge docks for us; they will also have their own tug and some barges, so we’ll have some of that in-house. We’ve got lots of great truck companies headquartered in Arkansas. One of the larger steel truck companies is [Little Rock-based] Maverick [Transportation]. We think there are a lot of great trucking companies that are in close proximity. And that’s a small percentage of the total trucking; there are a lot of individual truck drivers out there, and we hope to rely on all of them. What are some of the inherent transportation challenges for the steel industry, and how are you addressing them? I think the single largest one on everybody’s mind is the truck driver shortage. I believe the average age of a commercial truck driver is about 55, and, wow, that’s scary. That says to me that things are going to get worse before they get better. I’ve had people tell me that the construction industry, at its height, in 2007 to 2008, was using over half of the flatbeds in the United States. So, with an already short marketplace, when construction really comes back, there’s going to be additional pressure for steel companies to be able to ship truck. That’s a big problem. Big River Steel is not big on lobbying, so I doubt you’ll see us getting involved in the politics of federal regulations on trucking. While I’m not an expert, it does seem regulations have negatively impacted trucking and, probably more importantly, the domestic commerce flows in general. While Big River has no silver bullet regarding truck driver shortages, we will strategize to minimize the impact on our company. One way is that we’ll focus on using all three modes of transportation available to us. We need all three modes to be competitive. We’ll also utilize intermodal opportunities. West Memphis [Ark.] is enhancing and building a larger intermodal facility and port facility, and West Memphis is pretty much our backyard. This will provide us an opportunity to even have an additional Class I rail line [Union Pacific Railroad] that’s accessible through an intermodal-type move. While we value our partnership with BNSF, there are areas where BNSF may not be as competitive, so, having the UP as a second option via an intermodal move, boy, that just gets us that much further into markets we might not otherwise be able to get into. I’m the commercial officer of the company, but I’m also going to have logistic responsibility reporting to me, so, one of the things that I’m more excited about is that I believe we have committed to make Big River be the steel shipper of choice for the thousands of truckers we will work with and depend on annually. It’s critical that our computer systems and our shipping and logistics processes get drivers in and out efficiently and safely. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into trying to engineer that upfront. We intend to build lounges and even shower facilities for truckers to utilize here at Big River. In the longer-term view, we may consider additional properties so we can create our own park and rest area – a safe zone for truckers to sleep before they pick up at Big River and start their road time. How can the steel industry better attract quality young talent and advance innovative approaches? We, as an industry, need to focus on producing steel that companies will need in the long-term future, not just the near future. We find ourselves well into the 21st century, but we’re still too entrenched in serving the needs of the 20th century manufacturers. We need to think about what steel users – and I mean consumers – will demand from their products seven to 10 years down the road, because that’s what our manufacturers need to be thinking about. People buying their products, what are they going to need seven to 10 years down that road? We need to anticipate that. We need to partner with our customers to be able to do that. That’s what technology companies have done. Tech companies have thought far in advance. They use an innovative approach to how they do business to attract young talent. They’re the ones who wear innovation on their sleeve, the tech companies. You can’t have a product without steel. We need to get young people to realize that steel is a necessary part of your life and be innovative in the way we do everything. If steel wants to do more than just survive, our competitors, our supplier partners, we all need to initiate the kind of innovative thinking necessary to ensure we position steel as it once was – the material choice for construction manufacturing – but also a place where people can go and make a good wage to support themselves and their families. I think we can do that. Really embracing that path to innovation is the critical part of it. We have a few things that we talk about as an oath at Big River. It’s refocusing our efforts and assets on research, product development and collaborative engineering to once again make steel a destination industry for people to want to come work. People want to be part of something new and exciting, and steel isn’t thought of that way. Second, we want to become more competitive by using better steels and better materials to help our customers build better products. Third, we want to partner with the auto industry to continue to build vehicles that are more environmentally friendly, both on the road and once they’re out of service. Fourth, make steel a destination industry for graduates once again, attract and nurture the young engineers and the emerging talent we need for this transformation. And the fifth one I’m probably most passionate about. Let’s stop this thinking in the United States that everyone must have a college degree. Kids are racking up debt they can’t even pay for, and the good jobs they think are necessary with a degree, everything else is beneath them. And, you know what, it’s not true. Not every kid needs to go to college. Not every kid should go to college. And there’s nothing wrong with not going to college. Our jobs here at Big River, we’re guaranteeing an average income of $75,000 a year. That’s a great income, especially when you live in the Delta Region of Arkansas. If you want to hunt and you want to fish and live outdoors in the Great Natural State, as Arkansas calls itself, you can earn $75,000 as a worker here at our company, and I would bet it will be even more than that. The European countries, particularly Germany, do a great job of apprentice programs for non-college-bound kids. We’ve talked about trying to institute something like that here in our local community as Big River. I think you’ll find two to three years down the road that Big River will have executed on this idea of developing apprentice programs that go all they way back to getting kids interested in the middle school and high school years. While heading a strategic marketing firm you founded in Sylvania, Ohio, you served from 2006 to 2007 on the city council of that Toledo suburb. What did you learn from that experience, and do you have designs on a further career in politics? It was a fantastic experience. I only regret that I did not finish my term, because, unexpectedly, my wife [Megan], who’s an attorney, was offered an in-house counsel position with International Paper Co. at their headquarters here in Memphis. As a married couple, we try to do our best juggling two careers, and we made that difficult decision to move to Tennessee midway through my first term as a city councilman. The opportunity to serve my community was full of learnings. It helped me gain better insight into who I was and who I wanted to be. I’ve gotta tell you, it’s harder than it looks making decisions in the light of day. And I was big on being transparent. I started a blog. I actually recorded city council meetings despite the rest of the council members and the mayor saying, “Oh no, don’t record these.” I wanted to be confident and steadfast on my value system and my core beliefs. I felt always confident that my decisions were consistent and, while they may not have always gotten approval from all my constituents, they got their respect. Be consistent and value-driven on who you are, and you can look them in the eye and give them an honest answer on why you did what you did. Life gets considerably easier after that. I’m glad I served my time. I’ve been asked by a few people if I’d ever consider it again. I don’t like to say never, but I suspect I would like to help other people who’ve not had the opportunity or the gumption to do it. I’d like to help them to do it. I’m a big believer in term limits. I think term limits would solve a lot of our problems in this too-political system we have. I could tell you the dirty side of the things I saw even in the brief time I was there, and I believe it is all around this term limit situation. People serve too long, and there are too many issues that come with that. From your varied background, would it be a proper assumption that you enjoy taking on a wide range of pursuits, and, if so, why? I suppose, being honest, I get bored easily. I don’t think I’ve really said it to anybody before, but I get bored easily. In a more traditional sense, I would say it like this: I’m a hunter, not a farmer. I’ve done a lot of introspection over the years, and I guess that comes with a very different professional career and interests that have allowed me to really do a lot of introspection. I enjoy considering where I’m at in my life, and I change, but I think I’ve been consistent in that I’ve been a creative entrepreneur, different than just any other entrepreneur. Sometimes, my creativity might have been viewed as disruptive in more traditional corporate environments and management structures, so sometimes I didn’t always fit into the places I wanted to work or be a part of. Creative entrepreneurs like ambiguity. They like recreating things to make them better, so they’re constantly re-engineering. The status quo is not me. I like to solve difficult problems with my mind, and, yeah, because of that, I have a tendency to usually get bored. I’m not sure I appreciated it at the time, but probably one of my more enjoyable and certainly the largest personal growth opportunity I had was with a strategic consulting company called Root Learning [as managing director from 1999 to 2001]. They have a very impressive client list. I was in executive boardrooms around the world with Fortune 500 companies. We had a saying that was sort of my hook when I was in front of potential clients. I would look chairmen of Fortune 500 companies in the eye and say, “People will tolerate the conclusions of management, but ultimately they will act on their own.” And I always repeated it… I remind myself of it every day. You have to create some alignment, and you have to let people come along with the journey of why we want to do something. Specifically, having been a volleyball player while earning your industrial marketing degree from Robert Morris University in suburban Pittsburgh, you continue to share your abilities now as a coach. So could you tell us a little about that experience and why you think it’s important to pass along your knowledge and inspiration to kids? I have two kids. My son, Tim, my 11-year-old, he’s one of these typical boys, playing electronic games all the time and is focused on going to MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. He has his heart set on being an engineer, a very bright kid. Everything seems to come easy to him, and I love him for it. My daughter, Kathleen, on the other hand, works very hard. She’s 13. Things have changed for me lately. I coach less with this new opportunity in my career. And, more importantly, I now get to watch my daughter play volleyball. She’s truly driven to play at the highest level, and I don’t honestly believe it was her dad who forced her into it. I still play, I still coach, so she sees me doing it, but this is her goal. Having coached her for a few years, now it’s fun to sit back and watch her enjoy the game the way I do. Sports are so important in life, and I suppose I could talk to you about the pleasure of watching kids having fun and all that good stuff, but, I’ll be honest with you, I love to win. I love to win, and I have a very competitive spirit. I do not coach to be a glorified babysitter or cheerleader. I want my players to be challenged. I want them to grow as individuals. I want them to grow as human beings and as players. I want them to learn how to win and how to lose, because learning to win and to lose is a very important lesson in life. I’ve gotten much more patient with age. Having kids helped me with that, I suppose. But I still have this drive to win. Because I’ve been predominantly a coach in the Junior Olympic program, most kids who participate at that level are there because they want to win and, more importantly to me, they want to develop skills that may get them an opportunity to play in college. I didn’t come from a lot. My father worked two or three jobs; he was a tool and die maker. My mom didn’t work. I put myself through high school. I put myself largely through college. I was fortunate I played college volleyball, but there are a lot of kids who may not get the chance to do that at that level… I open every season I’ve coached with basically the same comment to players and parents, that volleyball is the truest team sport. It’s nearly impossible to score and win a match without your teammates. That’s the same as in life. You need friends and you need family in life. There are four ways to score in volleyball. Usually, everyone gets the three majors – an attack, a block and a service ace – but rarely does anyone think of the fourth. The fourth one is it’s your opponent’s errors. And that’s a lesson in sports: Work hard and do it right, reduce your mistakes by continuously learning and anticipate the next move, and you will not only win in volleyball but you’ll win in life. That’s why I coach.