Personnel notes

ISRI elects new slate of officers

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), based in Washington, has elected four new national officers, three directors-at-large and one associate director to its board, all of whom will serve two-year terms ending in 2016. The elections were held during the ISRI 2014 Convention & Exposition in Las Vegas, April 6-10.

Among those elected were Doug Kramer of Kramer Metals Inc., Los Angeles, who will serve as ISRI’s new chairman.

Elected as ISRI national officers were Chair Elect Mark Lewon of Utah Metal Works Inc., Salt Lake City; Vice-Chair

Brian Shine of Manitoba Corp., Lancaster, New York; and Secretary-Treasurer Gary Champlin of Champlin Tire Recycling, Concordia, Kansas.

Three directors-at-large also were elected: Josh Joseph, Muskingum Iron & Metal Co., Zanesville, Ohio; Tom Knippel, SA Recycling Corp., Orange, California; and Eva Shine, Shine Bros. Corp., Spencer, Iowa.

Tim Shuttleworth, CEO of Eriez Manufacturing Co., Erie, Pennsylvania, was elected as associate director.

“ISRI welcomes the members of our newly elected board, whose strong leadership, recycling expertise and personal backgrounds will help guide the industry over the next two years and set the tone for many more,” says Robin Wiener, president of the trade association. “There are many exciting opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for the recycling industry, and under their direction we are certain to rise to the occasion every time.”

Steel Dynamics CEO receives industry accolades

Mark Millett, president and CEO of the steel producer Steel Dynamics Inc., headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, has been named 2014 Steelmaker of the Year at the AISTech 2014 convention. Millett also was recognized with the 2014 William Hogan Memorial Lecture Award.

The AISTech event, held May 5-8, 2014, in Indianapolis, was organized by the Association for Iron & Steel Technology (AIST), Warrendale, Pennsylvania.

AIST established the Steelmaker of the Year Award in 1991 to recognize an individual’s steel industry contributions.

Upon receiving the award, Millett said, “It is both gratifying and humbling to receive such an award when it is at the discretion of one’s peers.”

Millett also received the William Hogan Memorial Lecture Award, which was established in 1990 in memory of the late Rev. William Hogan, director of Fordham University’s Industrial Economics Research Institute. The recipient shares Hogan’s views of the importance of steel and is selected in recognition of outstanding leadership to the iron and steel industry. Millett was recognized for his presentation titled “Making Money in the Steel Industry is not a Mystery.”

In this presentation, Millett said it was easy to make money and outperform peers by doing three things right. First, Millett advised ensuring the average raw material input costs are lower than the competition’s. The symbiotic relationship between its steel and scrap operations helps SDI achieve this, he said.

The second tenet he offered was to ensure average product selling prices are higher than the competition’s. SDI achieves this by creating value for its customers, developing niche market opportunities to insulate it from imports and by exploring new markets, he said.

The third focus area, and the key driver to SDI’s success, Millett said, is a lowest-cost operating culture. While having state-of-the-art facilities producing quality products is important, it also is critical to have a passionate culture in which to exploit it, he said.

Vecoplan appoints project management director

Vecoplan LLC, based in Archdale, North Carolina, has named Mike LaGoe director of project management. LaGoe has worked as a manager in Vecoplan’s project engineering department since 2011 and brings a total of 15 years of engineering management experience to his new position. Prior to joining Vecoplan, LaGoe worked as an engineering manager with a leading manufacturer of air pollution control systems.

LaGoe’s responsibilities include directing the design and development of large, turnkey, mechanical systems for the processing and production of alternative fuel feedstock from biomass and waste, as well as general waste recycling and treatment systems. In order to ensure continuous quality control, he also will oversee the manufacture and implementation of projects once the engineering phase has been completed.

“Over the last three years Mike’s job performance as both an engineer and as a manager has been exemplary. When the need arose for a director of this department, Mike was the obvious choice to fill the role,” says Len Beusse, COO of Vecoplan.

Vecoplan is a global leader in waste and biomass processing technologies, including receiving, size reduction, screening, separation, optical sorting, material handling, storage, metered feeding and integrated control systems.

Nucor announces personnel changes

Nucor Corp., headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, has announced a number of personnel changes.

Chad Utermark was promoted to the position of executive vice president of beam and plate products. He previously was vice president and general manager of Nucor-Yamato Steel Co.

Nucor, which manufactures a range of steel products, also has announced that Joe Stratman, executive vice president of beam and plate products since 2007, will focus on the business development activities for which he assumed responsibility in 2010.

In addition, SDI has appointed Leon Topalian, vice president and general manager of Nucor Steel Kankakee Inc., to the post of vice president and general manager of Nucor-Yamato Steel.

John Ferriola, Nucor chairman, CEO and president, says, “The promotions of Chad and Leon result from the thoughtful and orderly succession planning that has been a significant strategic initiative through the Nucor organization in recent years.”

He adds, “Chad will be a strong addition to our executive management team and will continue the success that Joe and his team have achieved in optimizing existing operations and completing strategic acquisitions to profitably grow Nucor’s beam and plate businesses.”

Rumpke board names new CEO

The Rumpke Waste & Recycling board has named William J. Rumpke Jr. president and CEO of the Cincinnati-based firm, effective immediately. He previously served as chief operating officer.

“The decision was unanimous,” says Doug Gowland, a Rumpke board member. “The time is right. Bill continues to grow Rumpke in market share and market size while elevating attention to research, innovation, compliance, customer service and employee development.”

Rumpke says, “I would like to thank my father, who has played such an integral role in my education of the business and industry. I am also grateful for our team of blood relatives and our extended family of 2,600 employees who come to work each and every day sharing their best skills, insights and talents to assist us in reaching our vision for the company.”

Recovered fiber trader writes book

Recovered fiber trader Ranjit Baxi of London-based J&H Sales International will soon have a book available from a United Kingdom-based publisher. In addition to being a fiber trader, Baxi is a long-time officer of the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) and its Paper Division.

Baxi’s book, Recycling our Future: A Global Strategy, is published by Whittles Publishing. The company says the book is about the forces and drivers that affect the recycling business.

A news release issued by Whittles Publishing says Recycling our Future also “provides some interesting or shocking facts and figures,” including:

• In 2004, 55 billion aluminum cans were landfilled, littered or incinerated, which is 9 billion more than in 2000. This is enough cans to file the Empire State Building 20 times.
• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a 100-watt bulb for almost four hours.
• Recycling 1 metric ton of paper saves 24 to 31 trees, 4,000 kilowatt hours of energy, 1.7 barrels (270 liters) of oil, 10.2 million Btu (British thermal units) of energy, 26,000 liters of water and 3.5 cubic meters of landfill space.
• More than 80 percent of items buried in a landfill could be recycled.

Those seeking more information about the book can visit www.whittlespublishing.com.

CP Group adds new sales engineer

The CP Group, headquartered in San Diego, has announced that Dale Walker has joined the company as a sales engineer.

Walker has an extensive background in shredding material to produce a product or fuel, along with biodrying and material handling experience. He brings 30 years of experience and expertise to the CP Group.

In his previous position with a large international equipment manufacturer, Walker assisted the sales department by designing systems per customers’ demands and helped in the sales process.