WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING: Kristen Nelson

Plant manager at Novelis had planned to go into design engineering, but once at Anheuser-Busch, she said she enjoyed the fast-paced environment she found in manufacturing

by Mary Beth Roach

A job at the Anheuser-Busch plant in Baldwinsville right out of college changed the direction of Kristen Nelson’s career path.

That path would eventually lead her to Novelis in Oswego, where she is currently managing the company’s largest, wholly-owned facility in North America, which employs about 1,150 people, produces more than a billion pounds of high-quality aluminum sheet each year and is undergoing a $130-million upgrade.

When she graduated in 2007 from Clarkson University with a degree in mechanical engineering, Nelson said she had planned to go into design engineering, but once at Anheuser-Busch, she said she enjoyed the fast-paced environment she found in manufacturing.

“I knew very shortly after starting there that manufacturing was the place for me,” she said.

Starting with the Novelis Oswego plant 13 years ago, she worked as an associate reliability officer and then moved on to become an engineering, maintenance, reliability and automation leader for the company’s automotive finishing line department. From there, she became the continuous improvement manager and, she said, this position enabled her to learn more about the entire plant and the business. She became plant manager in Warren, Ohio, in 2019 and came back to Oswego to run that plant in 2022.

“I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to solve unique and evolving challenges to serve our industry, customers and community — it’s something new and exciting each day. It is gratifying to see hard work and collaboration result in a tangible solution or product you can be proud of,” she said.

She said that she sees her job as “managing our ability to adhere to our key performance indicators, which include safety, quality and production” as well as capital projects.

It’s an immense capital project — the multi-million-dollar upgrade started in 2022, shortly before Nelson’s return to the site.

The project, she explained, has been broken out into different phases. Those that would allow for the increase in the capacity of its hot mill have been completed and she said that they are currently working on an upgrade to the coolant house for the hot mill. She anticipates that the project will be done by the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026.

“To see it come to completion through the different phases has been really exciting because that’s really the output of all of the hard work that the team has been working on,” she said.

That sense of teamwork is essential to Nelson. She believes that by being a part of a team in her work, she has been able to build relationships and learn through experiences.

“What I’ve really found to be beneficial and successful throughout my career is getting that collaboration amongst teams and between teams. Each person has a perspective and a role to play. When you bring all of those pieces together and you start sharing them as a team, then you can really rise to the occasion,” she said.

And that ability to develop a collaborative spirit has been the hallmark of her work.

“I’m grateful to have built a rewarding career in manufacturing. For years, as plant manager, one of the most fulfilling parts of my job is creating those opportunities for others and developing high-performing teams who safely rise to meet the challenges before us,” she said.