For Seven Years, The Gain-Sharing Plan At Ameristeel Corp.'s five steel mills has had impressive results, at one point spurring annual productivity improvements of an estimated 8% by focusing employees on keeping the mills running at full capacity to maximize production. But things change and, thanks to worldwide overcapacity in steel production and declining prices, "some things have become more important to the company's success than just producing tons of steel," says Tim Malkiewicz, the company's director of compensation, based at corporate headquarters in Tampa, Fla. As a result, the gain-sharing plan, which pays out based largely on productivity gains, is outdated. Ameri-jsteel's future success will depend not on maxed-out production but on its ability to increase operating effi-jciency by, for example, cutting costs and waste, optimizing power usage, and reducing imperfections that require steel to be re-rolled.
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