WORLD WIDE EXPERIENCE
A TOTAL COMMITMENT TO QUALITY PRODUCTS AND IMPECCABLE SERVICE
Those companies on the leadership and forefront in every sector don’t become such just by decree, but rather by years of hard work supporting every achievement; many of such efforts were driven by the goal of surpassing -not necessarilyown challenges and limitations, but also those shared by the context and even the times. Corporación AG showcases its leadership in inclusion not just by creating a related program, but by actually making it part of its day-to-day operation, hiring professionals that have become...
Women of
Written by
Gabriela Roca, Head of Corporate Affairs and
Sustainability at Corporación AG
Creative Direction Omar Rodríguez
Produced by Jassen Pintado
I’mproud of belonging to Corporación
AG, where I’ve experienced family values becoming corporate values, which currently drive what we know as AG Culture.
AG Culture is made of different elements that may be very difficult to describe, but what I can tell is that it openly allows women participation by creating spaces where knowledge, experience and different perspectives are appreciated, turning teams with diversity into appraised teams.
I take part in a young executive team gathering industry knowledge, longterm vision, and awareness about the importance of decisions and its impact on our parties of interest. It’s a different kind of leadership and this is experienced from the brain.
During my professional career I’ve had the opportunity of meeting
different executive teams, some of them really good and tight, and others with a lot of improvement opportunities in leadership and capability among its members.
Nevertheless, since being hired by Corporación AG I was surprised by the interaction, openness and what I call “a world without individual ‘corporate policies’”, but rather an executive team whose members are motivated by common good, the group’s cause, and therefore, the company’s purpose.
The famous saying used more and more frequently, “tone at the top”, takes place; hence, the message to the rest of the organization is similar.
Openness, inclusion and opportunity are part of the AG Culture; though unwritten, such elements are experienced every day, becoming living stories that we can share.
I’d like to start with Carol Juárez’s
practices deployment supervision, creating routines for processes as management tech engineer. From this position, she had the opportunity to know the profiles, flat and rolling plants. This experience resulted in her promotion to Managing Tech story, who joined Corporación AG ten years ago as an engineer for control quality process in the wire drawing plant, two years later she took the challenge of moving to the Management Technology department, where she was appointed to best
SINOMETAL, with more than 25 years of experience in the field of Metallurgy, is dedicated to supplying top quality graphite electrodes and inputs, expert technical support and a high level of service for the Steel and Foundry Industry around the world
| www.sinometalunion.com
jack@sinometalunion.com
graphite@sinometalunion.com
One-Stop Service for Steel Industry
Lonsun Metallurgy is one of the leading producers of mill roll in China with 30 years’ experience in mill roll manufacturing. Through constant study and research, we always keep abreast of the demands and advance of the steel industry.
www.grupotritech.com info@grupotritech.com
Chief. The steel mill got her attention and soon after a better engineering position opened, that’s how she became part of the production process. Nevertheless, the higher challenge she embraced two years later was the management position in the Metallic Grounds; “The Grounds”, as we know it, means a relevant process to us, the plant where everything begins. Carol leads more than 70 workers, the management of thousands of tons of metallic material in every variety. Carol became the first woman in charge of “The Grounds” in Corporación AG’s almost 70-year story, and she undoubtedly broke a paradigm. In this position, Carol reached record levels in different processes, summing it up all as “a great experience with many professional and individual accomplishments”.
She’s currently the Head of the Manufacturing Front in what we call the “Transformation Office”, which, as properly described, transforms our business.
From the manufacturing front, Carol supports initiatives aiming at bringing improvements into every facility, with the purpose of optimizing the company’s day-to-day operations. Undoubtedly, Carol’s experience in transforming, improving process management and leading efficient teams is highly relevant and praised within the staff at Corporación AG. She expresses that “AG is a place to work offering multiple learning opportunities with individuals sharing their knowledge and always offering their support.”
At Corporación AG, when we talk about quality, Luisa Yat is on our
“AG is a place to work offering multiple learning opportunities with individuals sharing their knowledge and always offering their support”
- Carol
Juárez, Head of Manufacturing Front
mind; Luisita, as we call her. Luisa is an industrial mechanical engineer, and she’s been with AG for more than ten years. She began as an engineer working in plant management technology. Years later, she was in charge of deployment for management tools in nine of Corporación AG distribution centers. Always on the lookout for more options, Luisa stepped forward to become a key developer and user in the “Everest” project, deploying the SAP-HANA system in the organization’s system. Afterwards, Luisa continued her
journey along processes, working directly in the LBA rolling plant, one of our main lines. Some time later she took on a new challenge joining our strategy team, taking over the deployment of a new project related to quality. As part of the development opportunities, she pushed herself to take part in a recruitment project -actually an internal promotion-, which resulted in her being named Quality Manager, where she is in charge of our products’ and processes’ quality, a very important role within the company and its clients.
Quality is such a difference-maker for AG, quality in steel products, specially in seismic territory such as ours, is relevant, it’s a very important responsibility to take on. Luisa takes part in different committees in which, in her managerial role, she shares decision-making with other managers and leadership positions, creating a difference in our business. In this role, Luisa has never felt that being a woman limits her role’s performance, on the contrary, she feels her capabilities are respected, listened to and considered for decision-making.
“I want to keep growing, contributing with value and learning new things, and keep myself opening new paths in my journey in this sector,” Luisa commented.
Another AG leader experiencing growth in her area, clearly achieving the kind of leadership that enables our organization to drive our culture is Patricia Morales, or just Paty. She
joined Corporación AG almost four years ago as Culture and Development Manager; her position began with a team of five professionals, still a very diverse group in a time in which the business went through a lot of changes and transformation. Paty took on this challenge with support from the organization’s leadership, precisely from top management, taking her career as a psychologist and her master’s in leadership and coaching to the service of Corporación AG from day one. Her leadership flourished, she learned about the steel business and how to manage company culture in an organization with almost 70 years, with very deep values as well as a need for change, in order to be prepared for the future.
Paty took on the challenge of transformation, not only culturewise, but also business-wise, her department went through a series of changes that allowed for a custommade vision design, centered on
“I want to keep growing, contributing with value and learning new things, and keep myself opening new paths in this sector”
- Luisa Yat, Quality Manager
Michi joined AG for an internship before graduating as an engineer in industrial technology. She was individual workers. She’s now in charge of the Human Resource Management department, with a team that is part of every business and with a strategic role, developing the systems and processes in human resources able to bring value to talent development, culture and workplace relationships for the corporation, including change management. To me, Paty symbolizes the assurance of inclusion at every level, due to her professionalism and also with her capacity to look beyond, her
sensibility of understanding that talent management is about individuals, many fathers, many mothers and entire families that are part of our dear Corporación AG.
Another inspirational story is the one about Michelle Sosa, Michi is a leader able to show that effort, persistence and focus in the right company brings results.
assigned to the electricity area in the steel mill, the heart of our business, as we call it. Michelle went through different areas, stepping up to every challenge learning and training for each task she was assigned. She didn’t know much, but she was always willing to learn. Even though at first glance she perceived not being a technical specialist meant an obstacle,
her insight was that the company culture at Corporación AG and the leadership’s teaching ability closes such gaps, she recalled.
Michelle competed for a Project Corporate Management position, and her skills not only earned her this position, but she also became the youngest manager in the corporation. She has many stories to tell, but
“In AG there’s a culture of respect which has allowed me to develop in a pleasant way without any hassles. Being a woman makes us focus more on details, enabling us to create a culture about respect, safety and display details as a result of our femininity”
- Michelle Sosa, Manager in Charge of Production Facility
she considers her biggest challenge was to co-manage the LBA -our rolling facility- reboosting project.
This was, after the setup of Parque Industrial Sidegua, the largest project driven by the corporation, and as such, there were hurdles to surpass: aligning domestic and foreign teams, language barriers, culture clashes and unexpected events such as the pandemic and the logistics and transportation meltdown. Seeing the rolling mill working the first steel billets with a new technique
has been one of the most gratifying experiences, being the result of her and her mates’ teamwork, focus and constant efforts. “This project was like obtaining approval for my thesis,” Michelle commented, huge challenges resulting in the best apprenticeship.
Michelle’s latest challenge was becoming Manager in Charge of Production Facility at the transmetal, mesh, cutting and folding plants, thus accomplishing one of her main goals by becoming part of productive processes.
“In AG there’s a respect culture which has allowed me to develop in a pleasant way without any hassles. Being a woman makes us focus more on details, enabling us to create a culture about respect, safety and display details as a result of our femininity.”
The company’s finances are a
very important subject, and in this area we rely on Fabiola López’s leadership. Fabi joined Corporación AG as Accounting Manager, applying her more than 15-year experience in finance and project management in different endeavors. In AG, Fabi’s leadership is focused on guaranteeing the operational continuity upon wide-scheme scenarios, such as
the pandemic. Fabiola applies her knowledge and, from upper management she has taken on changes in processes, accounting leadership in new businesses, support for sourcing and planning.
She expressed that Corporación AG is a place that enables her to grow professionally as well as taking her place as a mother and wife.
When Fabi is part of a group, we are certain that things are happening with accuracy, compliance and transparency.
Before coming to an end, though there are plenty of stories from our Women of Steel, I would like to acknowledge Adriana Menéndez’s story, who has a professional success journey in Corporación AG, a story at the heart of our processes. Adriana started in AG more than nine years ago as Engineer in Quality Process Management, she was also involved in the Steel Mill and Electric Welding facilities, learning the industrial processes, which she was attracted to from the beginning. Afterwards,
“Corporación AG enables me to grow professionally as well as taking my place as a mother and wife”
- Fabiola López, Financial Analyst
Adriana received the opportunity to be promoted to Chief of Quality Control in both facilities, as she began to experience leadership with staff reporting to her. She focused on slag quality improvement analysis and wire rod chemical composition analysis, focused on meeting clients’ requirements to achieve satisfactory results, among other factors. In 2016, the Steelworks facility manager handed her the opportunity to become Steel Mill Chief of Production, being the first woman taking control of this process, where she had the opportunity to operate the furnace, a process considered the heart of our production. One year later, she applied to the Fire-Resistant Goods and Recipients Direction, which she obtained. In this role, Adriana and her team are in charge of maintenance for fire-resistant molds and containers, essential elements for steelworks
and its journey. This year, she led a time-shortening optimization during container change, thus achieving savings in this process. Adriana’s leadership is evident, and, along with her team, they keep contributing and thinking about different ways to improve processes, living one of the company values: “We strive every day to become the best.” Adriana expresses her satisfaction and is thankful for the opportunity to work in a company such as Corporación AG, where, besides using her creativity, she can also contribute with ideas, teamwork and relying on an always supportive leadership from the company.
In Corporación AG there are women in leadership positions, I can’t mention all of them, nevertheless, we are all part of this Women of Steel squad. We are aware that there’s still a very
“Openness, inclusion and opportunity are part of the AG Culture; though unwritten, such elements are experienced every day, becoming living stories that we can share”
- Gabriela Roca, Head
of
Corporate
Affairs
and Sustainability at Corporación AG
wide gap in Guatemala about inclusion and opportunities. This makes me engage even more with the need to show that diversity is a “very good business”, because there’s diversity in the world, and it will become better as we can find in a table -in every table-, individuals with different opinions, different
perspectives, different life experience, working together for one common goal.
I hope the future awaiting us is a more open, inclusive world and having every woman reaching the ceiling they set themselves to reach. From Corporación AG we keep striving to “Transform the present to build the future we all dream about.”
