Worthington Extends Scrap Arrangement

OmniSource Corp., Fort Wayne, Ind., and Cohen Brothers Inc., Middletown, Ohio, have announced an extension of their agreement with Worthington Industries Inc. to fulfill a scrap service contract that allows the two companies to serve Worthington’s 47 facilities throughout North America through a joint venture known as Industrial Scrap Consulting LLC.

The service contract covers a broad range of services related to scrap handling, logistics and marketing arrangements.

“The arrangement and synergies realized are a good fit for all three companies involved,” says Perry D. Roark, the scrap initiative manager at Worthington Industries. “Worthington’s scrap byproduct is a non-core business and outside our expertise. This centralized scrap management initiative allows Worthington Industries to focus on our core business while allowing our partners to concentrate on their expertise—the management of our scrap byproduct, for the benefit of our program.”

Adds Roark, “The strategic alliance with both OmniSource Corp. and Cohen Brothers Inc. has been very accommodating throughout our initial term of our contractual agreement, and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.”

Donald L. Zulanch, a vice president with Industrial Scrap Consulting, says the arrangement has provided downstream benefits for Worthington Industries and some of its customers by offering “a comprehensive, centrally coordinated scrap management program.”

Richard A. Gertler, also a vice president with Industrial Scrap Consulting, says Worthington was willing to renew because, “Worthington has realized greater net scrap revenues for its scrap marketed through the OmniSource and Cohen Brothers joint venture. It is our continued objective to strengthen our partnership with Worthington through our continued focus on cost structure, market expansion, service, and innovative solutions to their inter-plant scrap handling needs.”

Worthington Industries is a diversified metal processing company with annual sales of more than $2 billion. Among the products it makes are automotive aftermarket stampings, pressure cylinders, metal framing, metal ceiling grid systems and laser-welded blanks.

OmniSource Corp. is one of the nation’s largest scrap companies, handling more than 6 million tons of ferrous scrap annually, with 1,750 employees and annual sales of more than $1.5 billion.

Cohen Brothers Inc. is an 80-year-old scrap company that is among the 15 largest in the U.S., with more than 200 employees working from locations in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.