Indiana's Entrepreneurs of the Year.

• Author: McKimmie, Kathy

Indiana's Entrepreneurs of the Year for 2003 were announced in eight categories in June, continuing Ernst & Young's tradition of honoring top business people through 37 regional award programs in the United States and in more than 30 countries. Unlike some awards that name the company as the winner, the entrepreneur awards focus squarely on individuals and the part they have played in the success of the venture.

Recipients become lifetime members of the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame and are eligible for the National Entrepreneur of the Year Award at ceremonies hosted by Jay Leno in Palm Springs, Calif., in November.

MANUFACTURING

Keith Busse, Steel Dynamics, Fort Wayne

Creating a new kind of steel company from scratch in 1993 when much of the industry was in bankruptcy--and turning a profit six months after the state-of the-art flat-roll mini-mill opened in Butler in early 1996--was quite a feat for Keith Busse, president and CEO of Steel Dynamics. Taking the company public later that year was icing on the cake.

Formerly with Nucor Steel in Crawfordsville, Busse thought the time was right to create a new company and left with two colleagues, Dick Teets and Mark Millet, to co-found Steel Dynamics. While respecting the pioneering strides of Nucor, they believed they could make improvements in its thin-slab casting method and lower the cost of production. Busse was honored in 1997 with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Emerging category. So what has he done since?

Plenty. The Butler facility now also produces cold-rolled and galvanized sheet steel. A second mini-mill in Columbia City produces structural steel and standard and premium rail. And in mid-2002 it announced plans to acquire the idled Qualitech Steel mini-mill in Pittsboro after its purchase by Nucor fell through. It will begin construction to reopen the facility as soon as air permits are approved, which could happen this month, and production will begin next year at what will be called the Steel Dynamics Bar Products Division.

When all three plants are up and running, the company will have a production capacity of 4.2 million tons a year, says Busse, out of 90 million tons in the country, making the company about 10th-largest. Ultimately, when other plans are fulfilled, it should be the seventh-largest. The three plants will employ 1,400. Total revenues were $860 million last year and should reach $1 billion this year.

Making money in the steel business is all about productivity, how many man-hours it takes to make a ton. Steel Dynamic's numbers are the envy of the industry at 0.3 man-hours per ton. The U.S. industry average is two to three man-hours per ton of flat-roll steel, says Busse. Even that is an improvement on historical numbers of seven to eight hours.

State-of-the-art manufacturing methods and highly motivated employees who make more in incentive pay than base pay make it possible for Steel Dynamics to compete even with the $1.20-an-hour wage in China. It takes 10 man-hours to produce a ton of steel there, he says, so even with an average wage and benefit cost of $33 an hour Steel Dynamics can compete.

REAL ESTATE/CONSTRUCTION

Paul Shoopman, Dura Companies, Indianapolis

Like many 18 year-olds, Paul Shoopman started in construction by doing concrete work. He subcontracted his labor with Ryan Homes for three...