In April 28, 2009, Recycling Today convened nine scrap industry veterans for a discussion called the Heritage Roundtable. The event, sponsored by Metso Recycling, was held at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino during the 2009 Annual Convention of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. Moderators Brian Taylor and Jim Keefe of Recycling Today asked the assembled panel to consider several aspects of how the industry had changed and how they might advise those who will be in scrap industry leadership positions today and in the future. The participants were:
• Richard Abrams
Consolidated Scrap Resources, York, Pa.
• Yale Dorfman
State Metal Industries, Camden, N.J.
• Irving Ehrenhaus
Glenrich Metals, Forest Hills, N.Y.
• Kalman Gordon
L. Gordon Iron & Metal Co., Statesville, N.C.
• Harry Kletter
ISA Inc., Louisville, Ky.
• Stanley Kramer
Kramer Metals Inc., Los Angeles
• Ira Moskowitz
Moskowitz Bros. Inc., Cincinnati
• Stanton Moss
Stanton A. Moss Inc., Bryn Mawr, Pa.
• Larry Sax
Recycling Today Global Edition contributing editor and retired nonferrous scrap trader.
Recycling Today: Is there any single lesson that you’ve learned in your career that it seems important to pass along to others?
Larry Sax:
Irving Ehrenhaus:
Ira Moskowitz:
Stanton Moss:
Stanley Kramer:
The conclusion is that there is no single lesson—that’s the lesson that I’ve learned. Every single day of working in this industry has brought a new and important question, and I continue to learn every day. Now I have my sons working with me, and they bring a new and different perspective on what’s going on. So I feel that there is no single, important lesson. Every day has been a learning experience and every day has brought a new lesson. The quality that I have always run my business on is honesty. I was hit with a couple of major bankruptcies [of consuming facilities] at one point, and I made a decision that everybody that I owed money to would be paid according to terms. A lot of my customers didn’t even know that I had been hit by those bankruptcies. That was my commitment. I could have gone out of business and come back later, like we’ve seen other people do. But I made the decision to make sure that everybody got paid and to keep my reputation and my name. That name on the door is my name.Stay true to yourself and be confident in yourself; that would be the best thing that I can say. If you have to narrow it down to one word, I would say integrity. In the relationships I had on both the buying and the selling side, it always came down to keeping my word. I think that is what has allowed me to survive for all these years. I have seen many, many people disappear from this industry, and I know about some dishonest things that people have done that they don’t know that I’m aware of it. I just want my name to be a good name until the day I die. I don’t think in this business you ever stop learning. I have found that each and every experience I have had has been a good one. The philosophy I recommend is that if you make a mistake, well that’s fine, but don’t make it a second time.
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