J. Solotken and Co., which has been involved in the scrap metal business for close to 100 years, has officially relocated its operation to a new facility in Indianapolis, Ind. The new facility officially opened March 1, 2010.
Solotken, a processor of non-ferrous scrap metal, purchased the 140,000 square-foot building in December, 2008, and invested about $4.5 million to renovate the facility to meet its needs.
“We’ve changed the entire structure of how we recycle the metal that comes to us,” says Brian Nachlis, vice president of Solotken. “From the docks on which materials are received to the processes we use to move it through the facility, everything has changed. Now, our production capacity has increased dramatically. We’ve gone from packaging scrap 500 pounds at a time and hand tying it together to 2,000 pounds and it’s tied automatically by a machine.
To modernize the new facility, the company has installed a baling system to process non-ferrous metals. In addition, the building is equipped with energy-efficient lighting, new fire suppression and security systems, as well as a more advanced HVAC set-up.
The company’s previous building, from where it has operated since 1936, operated on three floors, making it a more challenging environment for processing. In a release, the company notes that moving to the new facility makes it possible to put the entire operation under one roof, with a 40-foot high ceiling. Materials are received on three receiving docks, including a bulk storage area that includes drive-through access for easier loading/unloading. Inside, the facility features two scales for weighing loads and a third scale outside.