DTG Recycle, Mill Creek, Washington, has hired Andrew Pickering as the company’s new chief financial officer (CFO). Pickering, who joined the company effective June 1, was selected after a search led by Texas-based executive recruiting firm Global Recruiters of McKinney.
In addition to corporate and operational accounting responsibilities, Pickering will be tasked with overseeing the upfront evaluation and the ultimate integration of the financial aspects of DTG’s pipeline of acquisitions. He also will be charged with leading an upgrade of DTG’s management reporting systems to help the company optimize profitability across its lines of business.
“We were impressed with Andrew’s experience bringing together multiple accounting platforms into a single, cohesive reporting mechanism,” Tom Vaughn, CEO of DTG Recycle, says. “This competency is critical to DTG as we continue to expand with acquisitions and new service and product lines. Andrew’s experience rapidly scaling companies was also very attractive to DTG, and we are eager to leverage his expertise in our growth plan.”
Vaughn says that conducting an executive search during the COVID-19 pandemic presented some challenges, but Global Recruiters of McKinney President Tyler Frisbie helped expedite the process via the company’s nationwide network. This process allowed DTG to fill the role quicker than anticipated.
“Engaging Tyler Frisbie allowed us to view a variety of candidates from across the country and from a multitude of industries in a relatively short period of time. Given the COVID-19 challenges, it was impressive that Tyler was able to marshal a significant number of highly qualified candidates, particularly from our home market here in the Puget Sound region,” Vaughn says.
Earlier this year, DTG announced a $32 million minority growth equity financing led by Toronto-based Clairvest in partnership with existing shareholders.
Adrian Pasricha, a partner at Clairvest, says that the addition of Pickering will help the company as it continues to broaden its existing customer base.
“DTG has been on a high-growth trajectory for some time already, and the business plan going forward is to keep up that pace,” Pasricha says. “Recruiting a high-energy CFO with experience managing hyper-growth, tracking operational stats meticulously, and working with private-equity investors was essential to meeting [DTG founder] Dan Guimont’s and Clairvest’s value-creation objectives.”
CDRA discusses future of C&D industry following COVID-19
During the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association’s (CDRA’s) fifth biweekly conference call covering the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the C&D industry, sentiment appeared grim among the group of recyclers who participated.
With participants in some regions reporting tonnages being down roughly 50 to 80 percent from a year ago, the association says a return to normalcy depends a lot on how open a state is, especially for construction projects.
For example, in areas such as New York City, construction has remained curtailed, which has slowed down the operation of the C&D recyclers in the city; however, work for the Department of Transportation (DOT) in Ohio never really slowed down, which has helped recyclers in that state.
“As construction projects start up again, the flow of material is coming into the recycling plants. But these are from ongoing construction projects,” the association says. “What happens as those finish up? Almost all regions of the country are reporting that announced, but not started, construction projects are now being delayed or cancelled, which is why the recyclers don’t know what comes after this summer.”
Currently, the CDRA says recyclers are not reporting substantial reduction in tipping fee prices in their regions, mostly because there is still some action in the construction sector. But, the association warns of the possibility of a desperation for materials among recycling plants if there is a reduction in activity.
On a final note, the association reminds C&D recyclers to meet social distancing guidelines. Whether that means skipping a spot in the picking line or staggering breaks and lunches, the CDRA advises all recyclers to take the necessary steps, as local boards of health will have the authority to shut down any operation not following these guidelines.
“When these guidelines are followed, the recycling company can make the argument that the employees could be safer from the virus at work than they would be at home,” the association says.
The World Steel Association (Worldsteel), Brussels, has released its Short Range Outlook (SRO) for steel demand in 2020 and 2021, predicting that steel demand will contract by 6.4 percent, dropping to 1,654 million metric tons, because of the upheaval created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The association says it expects steel demand to recover in 2021 to 1,717 million metric tons, an increase of 3.8 percent compared with 2020.
The Worldsteel forecast assumes that most countries’ lockdown measures continue to be eased during June and July, with social distancing controls remaining in place, and that the major steelmaking economies do not suffer from substantial secondary waves of the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 crisis, with its disastrous consequences for public health, also represents an enormous crisis for the world economy,” Al Remeithi, chairman of the Worldsteel Economics Committee, says. “Our customers have been hit by a general freeze in consumption, by shutdowns and by disrupted supply chains. We, therefore, expect steel demand to decline significantly in most countries, especially during the second quarter. With the easing of restrictions that started in May, we expect the situation to gradually improve, but the recovery path will be slow.”
Specific to the U.S., COVID-19 is causing a sharp manufacturing recession, which is expected to reach its nadir in the second quarter, according to Worldsteel’s SRO. The fall in oil prices has placed additional downward pressure on energy sector investment, which was already distressed prior to the crisis. Surging unemployment is leading to reduced income and confidence, impairing residential construction. Although nonresidential construction is faring relatively better, it is expected to face a decline in 2020 and a slight recovery in 2021.
US carpet recycling volumes up in 2019 as industry faces headwinds in 2020
Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), a Dalton, Georgia-based nonprofit dedicated to increasing the landfill diversion, reuse and recycling of waste carpet, has released its 2019 Annual Report. The report highlights progress made in waste carpet diversion during 2019, while addressing growing headwinds in 2020.
More than $2 million was paid in VPS subsidies in 2019.
Total gross U.S. collections were 335 million pounds, up from 281 million pounds in 2018.
98 percent of the post-consumer carpet collected was processed in the U.S.
California Carpet Stewardship Program highlights included:
82.1 million pounds of post-consumer carpet was collected before it could go to landfill.
58 million pounds of recycled output was produced (up 18 percent from the 49.3 million pounds recycled in 2018).
The overall 2019 California recycling rate was 19.1 percent, up 25 percent versus 2018.
The report also includes an update on how the industry has been impacted thus far in 2020.
“Unfortunately, the carpet industry was not immune to the recession [from COVID-19], which resulted in plant closures and more than 10,000 jobs lost or furloughed. ... This challenge is compounded by the potential for additional COVID-19 impacts as the economy moves to restart in the later part of Q2,” the report states.
Terex Ecotec, Newton, New Hampshire, has announced the expansion of its shredding line of equipment with the TSS 390 single-shaft, slow-speed shredder. Features of the shredder include:
a 493-horsepower Scania DC13 engine
a 3-meter-long shredding shaft made from heavy-duty steel with easily replaceable, bolt-on shredding teeth
customizable shredding programs that enable the operator to configure the machine to specific requirements and offer improved shaft cleaning in difficult applications
a hydraulically adjustable counter comb, which allows the operator to tailor the product size to suit their needs
Cat MH3040 material handler for scrap yard operations
Caterpillar, Peoria, Illinois, has plans to release a new wheeled material handler for North American scrap yard and mill operations in July. Features of the Cat MH3040 include:
a maximum 50.8-foot reach, with multiple configurations available for customer needs
a 151-kW Cat C7.1 engine that can run up to B20 biodiesel and is about 25 percent more fuel efficient than its predecessor model
12 percent faster swing speed than the M325D L MH model, which helps to reduce cycle times
fuel filters with a synchronized 1,000-operating-hour change interval and a new air intake filter with precleaner that lasts up to 1,000 hours
Mecalac, Annecy, France, has introduced its newly updated line of crawler skid excavators. Comprised of the 6MCR, 8MCR and 10MCR, features of the MCR series include:
a hydrostatic transmission and drive motors with a dedicated pump allowing for travel speeds up to 6.2 mph
improved range of motion with the patented three-part Mecalac boom system, allowing operators to do more from a single position
a three-part arm, which can be tucked in, with rotating ability
Mecalac’s Connect quick coupler, allowing operators to quickly transition between attachments
Suwanee, Georgia-based Doosan Infracore North America LLC has expanded its wheel loader lineup with the DL580-5. According to the company, the DL580-5 can move large amounts of abrasive material while providing operators with comfort and increased uptime. Features of the wheel loader include:
can carry a 10.3-cubic-yard bucket, which gives it the ability to fill a 24-ton, over-the-road truck in just two passes
an enhanced front workgroup that features a reinforced Z-bar, a larger profile arm and lift cylinder geometry that work together to improve lifting capacity and performance
a 380-horsepower engine and a larger volume steering pump and cylinders, designed to help maintain steering efficiency with larger loaded weights
three aggregate buckets ranging in size from 8 to 10.3 cubic yards
Liebherr USA Co., Newport News, Virginia, has formally moved into a newly expanded headquarters. The facilities house employees who work in administration, finance, human resources, sales, information technology, marketing, product support and distribution for nine product units under the Liebherr USA Co. umbrella.
According to Liebherr, about 500 people work at the Newport News headquarters.
“Besides moving into a new facility, which is a highlight for our employees who contribute immensely to our success in the U.S., what stands out for me the most, is the message that this $60 million investment sends to our customers,” says Torben Reher, managing director of Liebherr USA Co. “Apart from investing in research and design for cutting-edge technology, we have a long-term focus while looking at our business and the relationships with our customers. Thus, we want to grow together and our new site is the evidence for this approach.”
Reher says the new campus will help Liebherr better serve customers by increasing production operations for concrete pumps and repair capacity for mobile and crawler cranes as well as for construction equipment.
“We will now be able to do boom alignments for mobile cranes up to 750 tons,” he says. “Furthermore, the new shop will be a lot closer to our many customers in the Northeast region, which will lead to lower logistics costs.”
The new shop is also equipped to handle more Liebherr earthmoving equipment, he says.
The site also features a new training center and workshop.
“In our workshop, we will not only focus on predelivery inspections and standard repair work, but also recondition machines in bays allocated to complete this task,” says Peter Mayr, managing director of Liebherr USA Co.
Additionally, the expanded headquarters feature a new warehouse, which provides a 50 percent increase in storage capacity compared with the former headquarters.
Liebherr has a number of product units, including those for construction equipment, crawler cranes and mobile cranes.
Doosan welcomes EquipmentShare locations as new dealerships
Doosan Infracore North America LLC, Suwanee, Georgia, has partnered with EquipmentShare to expand its dealer network with two new locations, Doosan reports in a news release. The new dealerships are located in Salt Lake City and in Commerce City, Colorado.
Founded in 2014, EquipmentShare has expanded its product offerings and physical rental yard locations. It is a construction technology solutions provider and an equipment rental service provider. EquipmentShare also has dedicated dealership locations in several markets. They will serve as dedicated dealerships at their two new locations.
The partnership with EquipmentShare gives Doosan customers in Utah and Colorado better access to Doosan equipment, parts and service, Doosan says. EquipmentShare offers the full line of Doosan products to serve customers in a variety of markets.
EquipmentShare manages its rental fleet through its Track smart job site technology. Track is an original equipment manufacturer-agnostic, cloud-based telematics solution. The technology offers fleet managers a platform to rent equipment, track their fleets and more, according to the company.
“We’re excited to launch this partnership with Doosan at our Salt Lake City and Denver locations,” says Jabbok Schlacks, CEO of EquipmentShare. “Doosan is a brand with years of success and a loyal customer base behind it. We’re proud to be able to partner with Doosan to better serve our customers and provide them with the quality, dependable equipment they need.”
Expanding the company’s footprint in these metropolitan areas provides Doosan the opportunity to grow its brand, serve its existing customers and cultivate new relationships in a variety of markets, it says.
Jaisen Kohmuench
Eriez appoints new vice president of international business
Eriez has promoted Jaisen Kohmuench to the position of vice president international. Kohmuench has been with the Erie, Pennsylvania-headquartered manufacturing company since 2000, serving most recently as senior director of Asia-Pacific operations and strategy with responsibility for Eriez’s subsidiaries in China, Japan and Australia.
Eriez President and CEO Lukas Guenthardt says, “As a member of our corporate management team, Jaisen will be instrumental in developing policies and strategic plans for the global Eriez organization. Given his experience working in many different capacities and operations at Eriez in Erie and internationally, Jaisen has the qualities to take our 12 international subsidiaries to the next level.”
Kohmuench attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree and a doctorate in mining and minerals engineering. He also holds a professional engineers certification.
During his career, Kohmuench has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2018 Frank F. Aplan Award presented by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration and American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers. Additionally, Kohmuench has published an array of technical papers and made dozens of professional presentations at various domestic and international conferences, the company says.
Eriez specializes in separation technologies. The company’s magnetic lift and separation, metal detection, fluid recycling, flotation, materials feeding, screening, conveying and controlling equipment have application in the process, metalworking, packaging, plastics, rubber, recycling, food, mining, aggregate, textile and power industries. Eriez manufactures and markets these products through 12 international subsidiaries located on six continents.
