February 2023 Volume 5

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

Whenever I meet someone new within the industry, it is common to hear at least one of the following questions: My Manufacturing Journey By Danielle Smith

was exhilarating! I got to manage paperwork processing, material movement, and even some of the union personnel. After about 5 months, I was asked to come back upstairs to manage my previous territories, as well as our booming oil and gas market. After about a year back upstairs, in 2012 I was promoted to District Sales Manager over the Northern Ohio territory, and moved out to the Cleveland area. The territory included all of our product lines (ingot, mold, die, custom, and fluid ends) so it was a wonderful place to start.This was also the year that I first got involvedwith and joined the FIA's Marketing Committee. I roughly doubled the territory in 2.5 years and was asked to come back in 2015 and manage the Inside Sales Department in Chicago. Coming back to Chicago for the Inside Sales Manager role was my first real role managing a team, which also included a portion of those that had helped to train me. Even though that may sound intimidating, I was excited! With this change in role, came the official name change to Finkl Steel, and the closer working relationship with our other two business units (Sorel &Composite). This experience drove me further into process improvements, team cross-training, intercompany communication, and a continued focus on customer satisfaction. From there I continued to grow in my leadership positions, moving from Inside Sales Manager to Regional Sales Manager (managing outside sales) and then adding Product Line Management. Even though I was promoted to different roles, I typically held onto the Inside Sales Department within Finkl Steel – Chicago, with dotted lines of responsibility to the other business units. After managing a few product lines, including Forged Bar and Mold Steel, I was asked to move into the Marketing Administration territory in 2021 while continuing as Director of Inside Sales. As of December 2022, I was promoted to the Director of Inside Sales, Marketing Administration and Estimating. This long title/ role now includes all four business units and allows me to further focus on process improvements within sales and estimating, marketing, cross-training, leadership, and even more of the things that lead to our overall customer experience. When I first started at Finkl Steel, I could not have imagined where I was going to end up, but I knew that manufacturing ran in my blood. (My dad has worked at the bearings company, NTN Corp, for 40+ years!) Knowing frommy experience when I started that we ran lean, I figured the next step for me after I started as an Inside Rep was Inside Sales Manager. Little did I know 17 years later that I would be where I am today in the company. One of the reasons I said I would share my story, was so that I could share the journey that I have taken to get to where I am now. The beauty of this journey is that I have grown with every opportunity that I took on. I worked hard, showed patience, continued to learn

• How long have you been with Finkl? • How did you get into manufacturing? • What type of degree did you go to school for?

That being said, I have been with Finkl since 2006, when we were more formally known as A. Finkl & Sons Co. I got involved first as an Inside Sales Intern during the summers and breaks from school. (I can thank my coworker MaryAnn Bartalone for the suggestion to start here!) Those that know me have a tough time believing me when I say that I did not want to talk on the phone or deal with customers when I first started, but it’s definitely true. I thought the job was going to be data-entry, and I loved the idea of an office environment in downtown Chicago. But even as an introvert, the culture at Finkl was hard not to fall in love with. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my degree, and little did I know that in 2008 when I graduated from college it would be extremely hard for my class to find jobs. I knew Finkl ran lean, but I thought I'd take a chance and ask if they were willing to hire me on full-time. That was the start of my career as an Inside Sales Representative. When I started I was matched up with a fewDistrict Sales Managers (outside sales) and territories. It was then that I first started to learn more about the open-die forging process and took on estimating. It was a skill that I thought would help me better service my customer base, because then I could do all my own quotes and have a better understanding of the process and what we were offering. Over time I gained more responsibility as I continued to learn the systems, customers, and products. After a while I knew that the only way to really learn the manufacturing process was to spend some time in the shop. I decided to ask for time to do some official cross-training. Since this type of cross-training did not exist outside of the Finkl Forging Forum, I was told I could spend some time in the shop before going to work my 8-5 in the office, and I was beyond excited. After our VP of Sales & Marketing saw my commitment to spending my early mornings in the shop, he decided that he was going to give me 5-6 months out there full time. I made my own schedule, so I decided to spend time in all the areas of the process, including the melt shop, forge shop, heat treat, lab, service center, and our multiple machine shops. The whole experience was eye-opening and gave me so much more pride in what we do. (I mean, how many people can say they got to be part of the process of a forging that was 120,000+ lbs.!?) While in the shop, I got to collaborate with people from the floor to the management teams within each department. It gave me an opportunity to feel the pride that the shop carried through the process as well. I have always believed that we would not have jobs without our shop employees, so to work closely with them each day

FIA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2023 48