Making Sparks

I sat down this week with Randy Charles, a metallurgist who's spent his whole career watching the steel industry reinvent itself, and he's not done yet. Randy graduated as a metallurgist from the University of Pittsburgh and started out at a plate mill at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point. From there he jumped to Nucor's Crawfordsville plant right as the industry was arguing over whether compact strip production, a brand new way to make flat rolled steel, would ever actually work. He was living proof that it did. He went on to help start up one of the first Steckel mills in the South down in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and after the pandemic he founded his own company, Greenway Steel, to help manufacturers make sense of something the industry still can't agree on: what counts as green steel. That's what makes this conversation worth your time even if you've never thought twice about where your steel comes from. Steelmaking is somewhere around eight or nine percent of global carbon emissions, and that number is starting to show up in places you wouldn't expect: tariff policy, state emissions laws, and the contracts big equipment makers sign with their suppliers. If you're running a laser or a press brake and buying coil or plate, some of this is already headed your way. We get into why steel tariffs actually exist and what happens to that logic once you factor in carbon, what California's new emissions reporting laws mean for anyone selling into that state, and why companies like Microsoft and Meta are suddenly buying more steel than they ever have, mostly to build data centers. Randy also walks through why there's still no single agreed definition of green steel, and who actually gets to decide what that word means for your business. Stick around for the part about converting from CO2 to fiber lasers too. Randy's seen that ROI story play out from the utility side, and it's a good one. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) Catching up before IMTS 2026 and the DN Solutions machine giveaway (1:47) Randy Charles of Greenway Steel joins to talk steel, sustainability, and tariffs (2:07) Randy's path from Bethlehem Steel metallurgist to Nucor's pioneering CSP mills and the South's first Steckel mill (5:16) Founding Greenway Steel after Nucor, and getting pulled into the green steel movement (6:26) Building a carbon-tracking pilot in Google Sheets that caught Mobius Risk Group's attention (6:52) Why steelmaking is roughly eight to nine percent of global emissions, and how that flows down to your fab shop (8:12) Eagle's inline power and gas meter on its lasers, and Greenway's energy-monitoring partner Guidewheel (9:49) Structuring equipment deals around sustainability commitments, and the ROI story behind converting from CO2 to fiber lasers (12:42) Mapping carbon footprint all the way down a tier-one automotive supply chain (14:06) Why you need to check out Elevate, powered by AMT and Women in Manufacturing, at IMTS 2026 (14:48) California's SB-253 and SB-261, and what Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions reporting actually means (16:15) The EU's CBAM and CSRD, and the real reason behind carbon border taxes (17:52) Why hyperscalers like Microsoft and Meta are suddenly the biggest new buyers of steel (18:59) Meta's deal with Electra, Microsoft's with Stegra, and how Environmental Attribute Certificates work (21:48) A 10 to 20 times jump in steel demand from data centers, and what it means for mill investment (23:19) Why there's no single definition of green steel, and who actually gets to decide (26:06) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions (27:17) Certification standards trying to define green steel: the Global Steel Climate Council and ResponsibleSteel (29:33) Why tariffs exist in steel, from 232s and 301s to the new PROVE IT Act and a possible foreign pollution fee (34:11) Digital material passports, blockchain, and the end of anonymous steel (36:03) Kennametal's Next Level Shop at IMTS 2026, featuring motorsports legend Carey Hart (38:31) Greenway's next bets: a biocarbon operation in Alabama, plus why energy diversification beats betting on one winner like hydrogen Resources Mentioned Eagle Lasers Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions Enter to win a free CNC machine at the MakingChips Giveaway Brooke Takes Over MakingSparks #67 Elevate Conference IMTS 2026 Kennametal Connect with Randy Charles Greenway Steel LinkedIn: Randy Charles

I'm filling in for Brendon this week, and I decided to dig into the topic I probably know better than anyone on this team: shop culture. Not the stuff that shows up on a quote or a spec sheet, but the stuff that decides whether your best people stick around and whether your shop floor actually runs without you standing over it. Joining me is Jason Davis, CEO of D&D Enterprises, a CNC machine shop that just turned 50 years old and is now three generations deep. His team runs 50 people through aerospace, firearms, defense, marine, and industrial work, and he's also a co-host of our sister show, The Manufacturing Blueprint. We get into why Jason hires for culture and character before he ever looks at a resume, what actually happens in an employee's first few months that decides whether they stay, and why the size of a mistake matters less than whether someone owns it. We also talk about the gap between generations on the shop floor, and how leaders earn trust instead of demanding it. If you've ever felt like your shop survives on a couple of heroes instead of a system, this one's for you. I bring some of my own perspective into it too, from coaching youth volleyball to being one of the few women on a shop floor, because it turns out the lessons translate a lot more directly than you'd think. What's Covered in this Episode (0:00) Filling in for Brendon, I dig into shop culture with Jason Davis, CEO of D&D Enterprises and co-host of The Manufacturing Blueprint (2:13) Inside D&D: 50 years in business, three generations deep, and 50 people running aerospace, firearms, defense, marine, and industrial work (3:07) Why Jason hires for culture and character first, and will wait months for the right fit instead of filling a seat (4:47) Skipping formal apprenticeships in favor of a hyper-selective, relationship-driven hiring process (8:14) Win a fully tooled DN Solutions SDM4100 CNC machine, plus an IMTS scavenger hunt for extra entries (9:14) What actually happens in an employee's first few months that decides whether they stay (10:11) The real cost of a mistake, and why taking ownership matters more than the dollar amount (12:16) My volleyball coaching rule: I'll always take coachable over talented (12:51) Earning respect across generations instead of demanding it (12:51) The 40-to-130-parts story: coaching a young operator instead of just correcting him (16:07) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions (18:42) Why humility beats experience, and how D&D gets tribal knowledge out of people's heads with ProShop (18:42) The instant-gratification problem, and why shrinking attention spans are making shop training harder (23:51) Why being alone with your own thoughts makes you a stronger leader (25:44) Breaking through the "how was your weekend" small talk to actually get real with people (26:45) Why I refuse to be a complainer, and how being open about my own struggles gives other people permission to be honest too (31:16) Losing a major customer to China overnight, and staying steady as a leader when the business takes a hit (31:16) Why you need to join us at IMTS, September 14-19 in Chicago (31:16) What Jason had to unlearn as a young, hands-off leader, and why he still resets on the production floor himself (38:42) My own leadership path, from running a gym team at 19 to starting over at the bottom in the union (39:32) What it's like earning respect as a woman in a male-dominated shop (39:57) Knowing when to hold your ground and when to let it go, plus the father-in-law wisdom that ties it all together Resources Mentioned Eagle Lasers Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions Enter to win a free CNC machine at the MakingChips Giveaway Why you need to join us at IMTS 2026 ProShop ERP HireMFGLeaders Connect with Jason Davis LinkedIn: Jason Davis LinkedIn: Manufacturing Blueprint Podcast