When Megan Patton was working toward her chemistry degree at the University of Alabama, she didn’t picture herself overseeing processing operations at a steel fabrication shop. In her mind, future Megan wore a lab coat and goggles--not steel-toed boots.
“I originally wanted to go into food science,” Patton says. “You know the Lay’s potato chip flavors that nobody keeps asking for? Yeah, I wanted to do that.”
The 24-year-old Naperville, Ill., native first came across GMF Steel Group at a career fair, where she was drawn to the breadth of opportunities steel fabrication offered--and a chance to stay in the South.
After graduation, she started out as a plant engineer and quickly worked her way up to production engineer. She oversees the processing of all the shop’s raw material, which includes managing machines and humans. Her biggest challenge is working out the kinks that come with brand-new processing technologies, whether that be mechanical or software troubleshooting.
“The name of the game is anything I can do to ensure everything is running as efficiently as possible and preparing it for the next step which, for our shop, is welding the material,” Patton says.
Patton considers herself analytical and active--two things that made the steel industry a really good fit for her, she says. Throughout college, Patton competed in multiple SEC Championships for cross-country and distance running, and she envisioned herself as a coach one day. Now, she coaches GMF’s machine operators through their daily processing tasks.
“The steel industry is interesting, because it doesn’t matter what your background is--just how willing you are to invest your time and learn,” Patton said. “There’s so many different aspects of this industry that there’s not really a limit to what you can do, how much you can learn, or where you can go with it.”
Visions in Steel subject Megan Patton discusses her experiences with an exhibition attendee.
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This story is part of Visions in Steel: The People Who Bring Designs to Life, exhibiting through March 11 at the AIA Tampa Bay Center for Architecture and Design. Visions in Steel shines a light on the fitters, welders, machine operators, and other professionals the steel industry relies on every day to bring designs from concept to reality. Interested in bringing Visions in Steel to your city or your fabrication shop? Reach out to Hope Hrabowy at hrabowy@aisc.org.