In 1962, as conglomerates gained favor in American business, Nuclear Corporation of America considered acquiring Vulcraft Corporation in Florence, South Carolina. Vulcraft had been founded in 1946 by Sanborn Chase and his Auburn University friend Frank Cayce. After Chase died in 1961 at age 42, his widow, Madge Chase, became president and faced the decision of what to do with the growing company.

Because Nuclear’s executives knew little about steel, they asked Ken Iverson to evaluate Vulcraft, then the nation’s largest independent joist manufacturer. In June 1962, Ken traveled to Florence, met with Madge Chase and toured the facilities. He returned convinced that Nuclear should buy Vulcraft. Nuclear agreed, provided Ken would run it. Madge Chase accepted the sale on the condition that Vulcraft’s employees keep their jobs. The transaction closed, and Ken joined Nuclear Corporation of America in September 1962 as vice president of Nuclear and general manager of Vulcraft.

By 1965, Nuclear Corporation was near bankruptcy, and Vulcraft was its only profitable business. The board put Ken Iverson in charge, and he refocused the company on the Vulcraft divisions, sold or liquidated failing operations and began moving toward vertical integration by producing steel.

This cornerstone from the original Vulcraft South Carolina building dates from XXXXXXX

Ken Iverson wrote to James Buchan, grandson of Vulcraft founder Sanborn Chase, after Buchan received Nucor shares upon graduating from high school in 1984. In the letter, Ken called Vulcraft South Carolina one of the major foundations on which Nucor was built. He also noted that Chase had introduced team-based production bonuses at Vulcraft—when a team produced a high volume of joists, its members earned a cash bonus. Ken kept both the team structure and the bonus system, which became the basis for Nucor’s performance-based compensation for goal-oriented people.