Sierra--Hard Work Will Pay Off

Carl and Brenda Kienbaum

Carl Kienbaum grew up in the salvage and scrap business, learning about the trade while watching and helping his father at the family business in Whitewater, Wis. Two decades ago, in 1985, Carl and his wife Brenda moved north from Whitewater to Fond du Lac after acquiring a piece of property consisting of a small cinder block building and some vacant land.

Although the property had once hosted auto recycling and salvage companies, the Kienbaums started with virtually no inventory and no equipment, building a business from scratch.

The duo credits hard work and a handful of good decisions for helping it to grow from a vacant property to a company with three locations and 20 employees.

As its name implies, American Auto Iron & Metal operates in the auto salvage and the scrap markets.

Serving a semi-rural market in East Central Wisconsin, American Auto can provide more options for its widespread customer base by staying involved in both segments.

The salvage operation in rural Wisconsin yields resalable parts, but also a healthy amount of scrap metal in the form of car bodies and non-working parts.

Scrap metal service and processing makes up the larger part of the company’s business, however. "We buy cars and sell used auto parts, but the main thing is to concentrate on scrap," says Brenda.

A visitor to the Fond du Lac location would see a scale station toward the front of the property. Some grades of scrap brought in by customers are stored in an indoor facility, while other grades can be off-loaded outside.

Obsolete ferrous scrap grades include sheet, pipe and old farm equipment, much of which is processed by the firm into "3-foot prepared steel," Brenda says.

The company has been pouring concrete at its Fond du Lac yard to help customers navigate the sometimes hostile Wisconsin weather with less difficulty—and less mud. "Customers have complimented us on that; it is much easier to keep clean," Brenda comments.

American Auto customers come from a variety of industry segments, including building and HVAC contractors, farmers, property cleanup and hauling contractors and—with the recent pricing boom—collectors who target obsolete farm scrap for cleanup and recycling.

Brenda says the company has appealed to this broad cross-section of customers by offering different levels of service, depending on what is most important to the customers.

"We give them the opportunity to either unload it and be paid quickly or to wait for a thorough sort and be paid by the grade," she says.

Additionally, the company has begun to offer roll-off container services to some industrial and agricultural customers.

The American Auto philosophy has served Fond du Lac well, as the Kienbaums have been able to build a growing customer base in the city at the southern tip of Lake Winnebago.

Establishing a successful business model in Fond du Lac has given Carl and Brenda the confidence to buy two additional properties and establish locations in Mt. Calvary and Nekoosa, Wis.

The Mt. Calvary property was purchased in 2001 and the Nekoosa facility is American Auto’s most recent purchase, made in 2004. Brenda says operations at these two sites have largely been set up to emulate the operation in Fond du Lac.

Scrap is weighed, purchased and separated at these new locations just as it is at Fond du Lac. Additionally, the company’s most important piece of processing equipment can be transported to the new locations when it is needed there.

American Auto owns a T500 model shear/baler/logger from Sierra International Machinery LLC, Bakersfield, Calif. "The size of the machine is just right to serve all three yards and still be portable," says Brenda.

The Sierra T500 processes sheet steel, pipe, aluminum and sometimes auto hulks and is taken from location to location as inventory needs dictate.

Managing the additional locations has kept Carl and Brenda busy, but also has kept American Auto on a growth path that has also included a major facility expansion to its original cinder block building in Fond du Lac.

Brenda says the small cinder block building that was originally acquired with the land parcel now measures 60 feet by 100 feet.

"We always try to keep in mind that the customer comes first and we do whatever we can to make them happy," Brenda says.