Corporate News

 INTERMETCO, AMG FORM ALLIANCE

Marvin Goldblatt, chairman and CEO of Intermetco Ltd., Hamilton, Ontario, has joined the board of AMG Industries Corp., Pittsburgh. In turn, Allan Goldstein, president and chief executive officer of AMG, will join Intermetco’s board. The companies will be linked when Intermetco officially purchases 13.3 percent of AMG – which is privately held – in exchange for shares equal to 10 percent of the Canadian company’s common shares. Intermetco will continue to supply scrap to AMG, and will gain access to the U.S. company’s 350 gondola cars.

“We can’t use their railcars in Canada, just for our business in the states,” says Bernard Poplack, president of Intermetco. “Their knowledge of rail shipping is good for us. In return, we are part owners of a trucking company, so we can share that knowledge. It will be more knowledge sharing than equipment sharing.”   

Intermetco also brings to the partnership its strengths in processing higher volumes of scrap, and knowledge of Canadian markets, whereas AMG has knowledge of U.S. markets, as well as detinning and other specialized scrap processing applications, Poplack adds.

“We are great believers in partnerships with our customers and suppliers,” he says. “We obviously entered into it because it is beneficial to both companies.”

BIRMINGHAM STEEL ACQUIRES SCRAP FIRM

Birmingham Recycling Investment Co., a subsidiary of Birmingham Steel Corp., Birmingham, Ala., has acquired Richmond Steel Recycling Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia. The acquisition also includes certain assets of National Metals Corp., also located in Vancouver, which were recently acquired by Richmond Steel.

A significant supplier of ferrous scrap to Birmingham’s Seattle minimill, Richmond Steel’s current production capacity after the National Metals acquisition is about 130,000 tons of scrap annually.

Through Richmond Steel and a joint venture agreement with Simsmetal Ltd, Sydney, Australia, Birmingham intends to collect additional supplies of steel scrap in western Canada and Alaska.

SCHUPAN & SONS CONSOLIDATES, EXPANDS

Schupan & Sons Inc., a multi-faceted recycler based in Kalamazoo, Mich., recently merged its Dana Metals operation into its new Elkhart recycling facility in Indiana. The move was planned for some time. According to Dan Healy, CFO at Schupan, the expansion into northern Indiana was a “good move” for the company as that operation is on an aggressive growth pattern.

As for future expansions, Schupan has made a land purchase in Michigan as a possible site for a future recycling facility. Healy would not say where the acreage is located in Michigan until plans are finalized.

SCHNITZER STEEL OFFERS STOCK SHARES

Schnitzer Steel Industries, Portland, one of the largest steel scrap recycling businesses in the United States with an annual ferrous scrap volume of about 1.5 million long tons, has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a public offering of more than 2 million shares of the company’s Class A common stock. Proceeds from the sale of its shares will be used to repay outstanding bank loans. After the sale, the additional borrowing capacity may be used for acquisitions, capital expenditures, working capital and general corporate purposes.

IMCO RECYCLING RESTRUCTURES MANAGEMENT

IMCO Recycling Inc., Irving, Texas, has restructured management responsibilities in order to align the company’s organization with its strategic growth plan. The company’s management team will be restructured into four major functional groups that include commercial, manufacturing, purchasing and engineering, and finance, according to Frank Romanelli, president and chief executive officer.

“The principal goal of our strategic plan is to become a world leader in nonferrous metal recovery, and that must be accomplished through growth in revenue from the commercial sector,” he says. “We are thus assigning Richard Kerr, president of the metals division and chief operating officer, full responsibility for all of IMCO’s commercial activities. These responsibilities include sales and marketing; customer relations; business development; emerging technologies; international activities; and metal procurement, sales and trading.”

In addition, key officials in manufacturing, purchasing and engineering, and finance – whose responsibilities have been clarified and restructured – will now report directly to Romanelli.

HARRIS LAUNCHES IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

Harris Waste Management Group Inc., Peachtree City, Ga., has undertaken a $4 million modernization effort to improve quality, reduce manufacturing time, cut manufacturing lead times, boost operational productivity and trim manufacturing costs.

Among the manufacturing refinements underway are the installment of new computer-aided design and engineering systems to move products from design to manufacturing more quickly; a new high-tech parts tracking system; and computerized machine centers that can make multiple parts at once.

CYPRESS ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES HANDS

Cypress Environmental, Phoenix, Ariz., a recycling company that specializes primarily in metals and electronic component scrap, has been acquired by Waste Management Inc., Oak Brook, Ill. The company is now called Waste Management of Arizona, Industrial Recycling Services. The acquisition expands WMI’s precious metals recycling business.