Contributor: John Packard

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In the early 1980s I moved from Minnesota to Marietta, Ga., to join Pacesetter Steel. It was an exciting time for the steel industry. New service centers were popping up all over the country. The companies started by the Leebow brothers – Pacesetter and Majestic Steel – were dynamic organizations providing opportunities to new people […]

SMU founder John Packard reflects on the passing of two friends from the steel industry.

I want to end by sharing a story of a ‘C’ high school student. The son of a factory worker and his Welcome Wagon hostess mom. Their home was modest at best. From the time he could remember, his parents encouraged him and his brothers to be the first in their family to go to […]

I want to end by sharing a story of a ‘C’ high school student. The son of a factory worker and his Welcome Wagon hostess mom. Their home was modest at best. From the time he could remember, his parents encouraged him and his brothers to be the first in their family to go to […]

I thought it was important that I provide my take on the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference. It was an enlightening and emotional experience for me. The 1,291 attendees who managed to make their way to Atlanta last week got to enjoy the best steel conference SMU and our CRU parent company have ever put […]

I was communicating with the head of commercial for one of the domestic steel mills about the recent spate of price announcements and what they have managed to accomplish to date. I was told, “Just another effort to get the momentum back to the other side. Partially successful if you ask me. Stops the erosion. […]

There have been a couple of attempts to move steel prices higher over the past couple of weeks. At the same time, there have been some very large orders taken well below current levels as published by SMU and our CRU parent. The question is are they repeatable? During a conversation on the sidelines of […]

We hosted the greatest conference we have ever held over the past few days. This year’s SMU Steel Summit Conference smashed attendance records with 1,291 registered attendees. This does not include the dozens who networked in the lobbies of the four hotels surrounding the Georgia International Convention Center. It was a wonderful and emotional experience […]

This is bittersweet. With the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference to begin on Monday morning at 9 a.m. and our “official” opening slated for 1 p.m. Monday afternoon, it is time for me to reflect on the conference, and for that matter, my history within the steel industry. For those who are unaware, this will be […]

This will be my last article prior to the SMU Steel Summit Conference which begins on Monday morning of this coming week. We are now six days away from the start of the conference. As you can imagine, this is a hectic time for the SMU and CRU events teams. Some of the event’s staff […]

This will be my last article prior to the SMU Steel Summit Conference which begins on Monday morning of this coming week. We are now six days away from the start of the conference. As you can imagine, this is a hectic time for the SMU and CRU events teams. Some of the event’s staff […]

We are now 11 days away from the start of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta. As of Wednesday, we had 1,174 registered attendees from all over the world. This year’s conference will be the largest one ever conducted by Steel Market Update, and it will be […]

Our events team has informed me that registrations for the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference have already eclipsed last year, and we are well on our way to having record attendance. We are passing through 1,100 registered executives, and we still have slightly more than two weeks to go. A couple of quick notes before […]

Today we are celebrating our 14th year of being in business. What began as an attempt to keep my steel-buying customers aware of the dynamics effecting steel prices and their mill orders morphed over the years into the Steel Market Update newsletter. I stopped selling steel during the first half 2008, and by early August Steel […]

The SMU Steel Buyers Sentiment Index collapsed last week to the lowest reading we have had since the early days of the pandemic. Current Sentiment, which is how companies feel about their ability to be successful in the current market environment, came in at +43 compared to the +60 recorded just two weeks ago. The […]

We have seen a flurry of activity as we begin the countdown to the start of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center on August 22-24. I want to commend Jill Waldman and our events team for the work they have done to date, and for […]

In my last lessons learned article, I began to answer a question posed to me regarding what I felt were the most important lessons I have learned over the course of my 45-year career in the steel industry. I wrote about honesty as being the simple answer and many of you have contacted me to […]

Lessons Learned Over the years, I wrote many articles about my sales experiences. You can find those articles on our website under the “Resources” tab. The sub-tab is entitled “The Truth About Selling Steel.” Recently I was asked to reflect on my 45 years in the steel industry and to provide some insights as to […]

In my last Final Thoughts article, I began to answer a question posed to me regarding what I felt were the most important lessons I have learned over the course of my 45-year career in the steel industry. I wrote about honesty as being the simple answer and many of you have contacted me to […]

Lessons Learned Over the years, I wrote many articles about my sales experiences. You can find those articles on our website under the “Resources” tab. The sub-tab is entitled “The Truth About Selling Steel.” Recently I was asked to reflect on my 45 years in the steel industry and to provide some insights as to […]

We are now 38 days away from the start of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference. Registrations are now approaching 900 attendees and we still expect another 200+ executives to register over the next five weeks. If you have not yet registered, you can do so by clicking here. The following companies registered for the […]

We are now 38 days away from the start of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference. Registrations are now approaching 900 attendees and we still expect another 200+ executives to register over the next five weeks. The following companies registered for the conference over the past few days (those with an * mean more than […]

I will briefly discuss the new app for the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference, which will be released later this week. I will then talk about the NexGen Leadership Award nominations, which will close on July 15, and the NEXGEN Metals Community organization that you, or members of your organization, may wish to join. SMU […]

I promised there would be more “Final Thoughts” from me before I retire. Today, I am going to write about conversations I had with steel buyers late last week about the market. But first, a couple of key reminders that are important (at least to me): • SMU Steel Summit Conference = 43 days (Aug. […]

We are now ~45 days away from the start of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference, which is being held at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta on Aug. 22-24. Registrations are nearing 900 executives representing 318 separate companies. Over the past few days the following companies have registered (an * means more than […]

I’m not gone yet… 61 days to go. First, thank you for all the kind phone calls, notes, posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., regarding the announcement of my upcoming retirement at the end of August. I truly appreciate the comments made, and I look forward to seeing many of you at the 2022 SMU Steel […]

On July 5th I will celebrate the 45th anniversary of when I first joined the steel industry. I never intended on joining the industry after I left college. It was the love of a woman, and a broken heart that led me to the door of Seymour Waldman and Rolled Steel Corporation in Skokie, Ill., […]

John Packard the founder of Steel Market Update will be retiring at the end of August 2022. Here is what Packard had to say during his announcement to the SMU customers: On July 5th I will celebrate the 45th anniversary of when I first joined the steel industry. I never intended on joining the industry […]

We are now eight weeks away from the start of the 2022 SMU Steel Summit Conference. Behind the scenes, there are dozens of SMU and CRU team members working diligently to ensure this year’s conference is exceptional for all our attendees. By exceptional, we mean entertaining content that is valuable and timely. And we also provide […]