Going High Tech

The scrap peddlers of yesterday might not recognize the industry if they could see it today. Long-gone is the horse-drawn cart: Today, even many recyclers whose companies could be considered small or mid-sized are handling hundreds of customers, processing thousands—even millions—of tons per year.

For modern scrap recyclers, especially those handling industrial accounts, theirs is an industry as sophisticated as any other, and they employ the high-tech tools to match.

Custom software specifically designed for the scrap recycling industry has become as vital a tool to doing business as shears and balers. Recyclers have come to rely on it to improve their level of service, particularly to their generating customers.

Thinking back 10 or 15 years ago, when the few recyclers using software at all were struggling to adapt generic programs to fit their specific business needs, Mike Munafo of Carolinas Recycling Group LLC in Spartanburg, S.C., marvels at how far things have come.

Munafo’s Carolinas Recycling Group, which moves more than 1.5 billion pounds of ferrous and nonferrous metal per year through its 10 locations, according to the company’s Web site www.cgrmetals.com, uses a program called RIMAS from software provider Shared Logic in Holland, Ohio. "This particular package allows us to manage our business infinitely better than we did 10 or 15 years ago," he says. "I don’t know that we could do this without some kind of custom-made software for the scrap business."

Software users boast accurate pricing, timely processing and easy access to information as some of the chief benefits to their business.

BUILDING TRUST. As a general rule, software helps recyclers run their operations more efficiently. There’s less paper, less math and far fewer opportunities for errors.

But when dealing with industrial accounts, scrap recyclers have noticed additional benefits.

"Being able to add value to our customers’ scrap mix is where we can provide superior service," says Dale Watkins, CFO of Joe Krentzman & Sons Inc., in Lewiston, Pa.

Watkins’ operation uses ScrapWare2000, a program by ScrapWare Corp. of Rockville, Md. Watkins says custom software has helped him help his generating customers get the most out of their scrap.

"We understand that scrap is not the bread and butter of many manufacturers," says Watkins. For some of his industrial accounts, scrap is more of a necessary by-product, and that attitude means that generators can miss out on the true value of the scrap they bring in by mixing lower value materials with those of higher value.

Watkins recalls a company that was bringing in both steel turnings and brass turnings. The software showed that the customer was producing both, but combining the turnings and getting far less for its material.

The software enabled Watkins to pull that information and inform his customer that it could get a better price by separating the material.

That’s the kind of honest service that builds trust between a recycler and a scrap generator, according to Watkins. "I want to be able to pay that customer more if they’re bringing that volume to the table," he says.

Even if they don’t get the opportunity to go above and beyond the call of duty, using software helps build trust in other, everyday business ways, according to Jennifer Nicoli, assistant manager of Cherry City Metals in Salem, Ore.

Cherry City Metals uses Recycling Operations Manager (ROM), a 21st Century Programming (Long Beach, Calif.) software system.

The accurate weighing provided by software is an invaluable way to build a trusting relationship with generators, Nicoli says. She says the ROM program has a feature that locks a scale weight so that it can’t be manipulated—either on purpose or by accident.

Cherry City Metals employs a "double-weight system," where an entire truck is weighed, that weight is locked into the computer and then the material is sorted and separated and weighed again to make sure that the numbers match, according to Nicoli. "The double-weight system creates a lot of trust," she says. "We can assure that no one is taken advantage of."

Using digital photos of material, in addition to providing proof of weight, goes a long way toward smoothing relations between scrap recyclers and their generators, especially if there’s a question, according to Mark Weis of Wimco Metals in Pittsburgh, which uses software from RECY America Inc., Collegeville, Pa.

In addition to having pictures and computer records as proof if there’s a weight shortage or a shipment of a commodity that doesn’t match the sales order, Weis says that software makes the whole process of addressing the problem a lot quicker.

SAVING TIME. Time is money in any business, and software helps scrap recyclers move more quickly in everyday operations, in addition to when questions or problems arise.

"We used to bring in a customer, weigh him in, hand write the weight, send it upstairs to the office to rewrite the weights and figure the prices…you can imagine how tedious that got," recalls Nicoli. "What used to take multiple steps now only takes one or two."

The prompt payments are definitely appreciated by Cherry City Metal’s generating customers, Nicoli says.

The ROM software from 21st Century Programming prints the customer a receipt with a bar code, which is scanned by a cash machine that doles out payment for the shipment, Nicoli says. "This way, we don’t have to program anything. The bar code knows exactly what to pay—that’s pretty slick," she says.

In addition to getting paid in a timely fashion, generators also appreciate the speed at which general information can be retrieved through custom software, recyclers say.

Watkins says many of his customers are required by the state of Pennsylvania to prepare reports on their activity throughout the year. With a software program "we can effortlessly retrieve historical reports in respect to tonnage to assist our customers in preparing their own reports," he says.

The information a recycler can give his customers is also far more detailed and readily available. "It’s really easy to answer a customer’s questions at any given moment," says Nicoli. "There’s no going through papers, going through files. It reduces the time the customer waits on us."

The detail included and the speed at which it can be pulled also benefit both the recycler and the generator when it comes to tracking containers. When it comes to tracking, custom software gives recyclers an edge when handling large or small accounts.

"No account is too large or too small," says Watkins. "We’re here to serve all our customers." Watkins says using software helps Joe Krentzman & Sons to provide accurate tracking to customers of all sizes.

It’s important to demonstrate the ability to track any container shipped at any time to all customers, agrees Weis of Wimco Metals.

In fact, custom software can sometimes be more useful when tracking or servicing containers from a smaller company rather than a larger one, according to Nicoli. "It’s just as likely that we need to know where that one box is as opposed to 10," she says. "It’s the small ones that can get lost in the shuffle. The software allows us to track the big and the little alike."

While custom software has already built a reputation in the industry for helping recyclers provide more accurate and timelier service, some programs are using Web-based applications to further improve communication and relationships between recyclers and their generators.

GETTING ONLINE. At Carolinas Recycling Group, Munafo says he will begin testing a Web-based program in the next few months that will give his customers secure access to their recordsover the Internet. Shared Logic’s RIMAS e-NT/P will allow Munafo’s customers to check shipment status, offer materials for sale and check prices—all online.

"They can go online and see what we picked up and when rather than depending on us at the end of the month," Munafo says. "It gives them more control."

That independent and easy access to information is attractive to customers, agrees Jerry Martz of software provider Systems Alternatives International LLC (SAI) of Maumee, Ohio.

SAI also offers a Web-based program called Scrap Information Portal (SIP), which gives customers access to account information, including the status of orders, shipments, receipts and payments, as well as the ability to view shipments over the Internet.

REAPING THE BENEFITS. In addition to offering improved service to their customers, recyclers also reap the benefits of using custom software.

Not only does software tend to make business in general run more efficiently, but it also gives scrap recyclers the ability to sort and catalogue the types of commodities shipped by their customers, which is "a nice tool in evaluating the total sales percentage and how significant that customer is for each commodity," according to Weis.

With all its benefits, many recyclers can’t imagine going back to doing business without the aid of custom software. "It makes us more efficient, and, as we are more efficient, we are better able to serve our customers," says Watkins.

The author is assistant editor of Recycling Today and can be reached at jgubeno@gie.net.