ynot:" recycling chat "
I think you're the first person I've come across on the 'net who has had any professional experiences in this biz, ynot. ( BTW, is ynot = "tony" ? )
Like you, I have a financial background; came up through the accounting ranks (banking) and then followed the "analyst" career path. What both of us saw, perhaps because of this, was that METAL = CAPITAL, regardless of its form.
The "converter" you were talking about is a great example. When I looked at these recycling yards = conversion sites, what I saw was metal "deposits" coming into a "metal bank". The customers didn't care whose metal units were used when they made their withdrawls, so long as they got their ingot, billet spec back.
So when I was starting out (California) I re-organized these "converters" as "metal banking ops", applying sophisticated portfolio optimization tools (like Linear Programming) to "blend" the capital = metal units in the metal bank to some customer's specs. This made about $30 per Ton direct cost reduction; there was another $10 per ton indirect benefit earned by giving these operators a more sophisticated "business model" by which to organize, manage their employees and assets.
These proto-sites were acquired by larger players, who inherited the licenses, consulting arrangements I had sold for this mode d'emploi. So then I was working with these players, centered in the industrial heartland from Illinois to Pennsylvania.
My ambition was to go to Japan {grin}. But these MidWest, EastCoast metalmakers had alliances with Europe, and I ended up going over to TheContinent, when Norsk Hydro a/s gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. I've spent the last ten years doing research and development with Hydro, focused on "scaling" the mode d'emploi.
imho, your observation that "recycling" is fundamentally a financial rather than simply an "industrial" process, is not only valid, but also revolutionary for this industry.
-Steve |
