Natural Allies

Allied-Gator Inc. plans to take a bigger bite out of the mobile shear market. Indeed, the manufacturer, along with its allied companies, is hatching ambitious plans.

By Jeff Borsecnik

Jeff Borsecnik is an associate editor of Scrap Processing and Recycling

When Allied Erecting and Dismantling needed a convenient tool to cut copper cable on industrial dismantling jobs, it made one.

"We made the first mobile shear that worked," says John Ramun, current company president and cofounder of the firm (along with his father, Mike). And then the company went a step further, building a model rugged enough to cut ferrous scrap.

That was in the late 1970s. Today, the Youngstown, Ohio, firm—through a sister company called Allied-Gator Inc.—is making shears and selling them throughout North America .

Allied's first shear was designed so it pointed down rather than straight off the end of the excavator boom. The effect, recalls Jack R. Stewart, vice president of sales, was that it "looked like a big chicken, like a big prehistoric bird." It even had an "eyeball" added to the end of the hub for effect. But even with its comical look, Stewart—who first saw the tool used by Allied on a demolition job in Warren, Ohio, at Republic Steel, for whom he worked as director of projects—was impressed. "I'd never seen anything like it before."

Why Not Sell the Thing?

Though developed for Allied's own use, "when the shear worked as well as it did, the company applied for and was granted patents, and the Ramuns decided to sell it," says Stewart, who was hired by the Ramuns in 1981 to help establish Allied-Gator and to perfect and market the shear.

Two years later, the new company made a major design change to its product, switching over from "fabricated to solid cast construction. And in the years since, that cast shear design has evolved into the company's current 2000-series, a line of three rugged attachments for excavators weighing 50,000 to 80,000 pounds, 80,000 to 140,000 pounds, and—there's a jump here—around 175,000 pounds. These shears have three main attributes, says Allied:

Strength and reliability. No Allied-Gator shear sold since 1989 has suffered a crack or break, according to the company, and none of its shears has ever suffered a broken anvil (the fixed, main body of the shear), Allied reports.

One explanation for this durability, the firm offers, is that its mobile shears are, unlike all others, made from a high-grade alloy that reportedly has three times the impact resistance of T1 steel. Furthermore, the Allied-Gator tool is the only totally alloy cast steel shear on the market, says Allied, and the cast design obviates use of most welds, so there are fewer stress points or changes in hardness where cracking can occur, explains Stewart.

Fabricated shears are cheaper to make than cast ones, but Michael Ramun, son and brother of the company’s founders and current Allied-Gator vice president, says, “You may beat ‘Gator on price if that’s all you want, but five or six years down the road, when the Allied-Gators are running but the others have been replaced a few times…”

On top of durability, Allied boasts that its shears can withstand considerably more hydraulic shearing power than others in the same weight class. Why? “It all comes down to how much the main body can take,” says Mark Vuksanovich of Allied’s engineering group, who notes that on some fabricated shears, you can hear the body straining or “oil-canning” under stress as it bends slightly at its weak points.

Efficient jaw design. Not only are Allied-Gator shears strong, Stewart says, but they use that strength efficiently, thanks to a blade design that forces scrap to be cut nearer the hub than other shears. "The heavy material is forced back into the throat, and the farther back it is in that 'scissors,' the better the shear cuts," he explains.

Low maintenance requirements. The Ramuns designed their shear for dismantling work, and it's just not easy to do maintenance in a dismantling environment. So they developed a tool that would require little care and feeding. The result? Decade-old Allied shears "are still going," says Stewart, adding, "while most shears have to be rebuilt after a few years, those never have been."

The cast design itself is one major maintenance-saver in that a cast shear needs less buildup welding, notes Adam P. Chumita, who handles advertising for the company. The need for buildup welding is also trimmed by a special wear-tip fitted on the anvil, he adds.

As a complement to its line of shears, Allied-Gator produces a rotator attachment that can be combined with the shears to enable 360-degree rotation, which is designed to allow an operator to spend less time positioning scrap and more time cutting it.

The company has also come up with another attachment—a pair of claws and connecting steel grid custom-built to fit a loader bucket. The "claw bucket" includes its own rugged, totally enclosed hydraulics. When the bucket and claw is closed and tilted, the grid acts like a strainer, allowing dirt and small items to fall free while large materials are retained.

Riding Shear Popularity

"I'll say '94 was a great year, and '95 has started off even better," says Stewart. Contributing to demand are several factors. Of course, there's strong scrap markets and long-term ferrous scrap prospects. There also seems to be an upswing in dismantling of old industrial and military facilities so the land can be reused (see related story, "States Lead the Brownfield Charge," page 97). And Allied-Gator feels its reputation is spreading, thus boosting sales. But there's also the fact that more companies are using mobile shears, and in more ways.

"When Allied first started producing the 'Gator, scrap yards had done things the same way for so long, most were reluctant to change," says Stewart, noting also that few were using hydraulic excavators at the time. Now more processors are willing and equipped to try the mobile shear, which can trim torch-cutting labor costs and related safety problems. And a shear doesn't slow down if it's hot or snowing, notes Chumita.

The mobile shear, in turn, has "given people a chance to branch out somewhat," Chumita says, pointing to the ability to perform work afield as one key example. Some also have found mobile shears a good complement to an overbooked or aging stationary shear. Further, processors have found they can lend (or borrow) a mobile shear for occasional jobs or backlogs. One recycler has his Allied shear—which he rents to others with his own operator attached—booked for a full year out, says Stewart.

And Allied-Gator customers have found a range of uses for the shears beyond traditional scrap processing and demolition. There are folks cutting off-road tires so they will fit into a shredder, bridge decking, underwater pilings, concrete, and, in one case, "great big rocks," says Stewart.

Scrap Offspring

Allied-Gator owes its existence to Allied Erecting and Dismantling Co. Inc., which was born when John Ramun hooked up with his father to do dismantling work for Youngstown 's then-booming coke plants and steel mills.

Of those early days, John recalls: "We had a tractor trailer, a pair of steps [to load scrap], and two torches—that's it. We moved maybe one, two loads a week of hand-loaded, hand-cut scrap. It was to our advantage to find a better way to do that."

The first aid, which Mike contrived, was a special tool to cut up large storage tanks, the first of many family inventions. "Every time we needed a special tool that we couldn't locate, we would end up building it," notes John, who says the company would have bought a mobile shear rather than make one had they been available. "So we continued to build things, and some turned into products."

Today, Allied Erecting and Dismantling is handling several concurrent dismantling projects, including what it calls the nation's largest single dismantling contract ever, at U.S. Steel's Fairless, Pa., plant. The company now regularly rates as one of the 10 largest dismantling companies in the country, doing work as far north as Duluth and as far south as Birmingham, specializing in dismantling and demolition of heavy industrial sites in the steel, automotive, chemical, and other industries.

In addition to Allied-Gator, Allied Erecting also gave birth to Allied Industrial Scrap Inc., another natural complement to its dismantling business. This scrap processing firm handles scrap sales from its sister company’s dismantling/demolition jobs from company headquarters in Youngstown , much of which are ferrous scrap that goes directly from demo sites to mills. In addition, Allied Industrial Scrap purchases and brokers some scrap from other industrial sources.

Supportive Siblings

Allied Erecting, Allied-Gator, and Allied Industrial Scrap are joined under the umbrella of parent company Allied Consolidated Industries Inc., which was established in 1991 to better manage Allied's increasingly varied operations and develop long-range plans for major growth and further diversification.

While these three are the longest-lived of the Allied Consolidated companies, they are not alone. There's also Allied Industrial Equipment Inc., which sells used and surplus equipment for the steel, aluminum, and chemical industries—such as hot and cold strip mills, bar mills, chemical processing and pollution control equipment, mill drive motors, overhead cranes, and AC and DC motors. Much of this heavy equipment comes from Allied Erecting and Dismantling jobs.

Two other companies round out the Allied family—Allied Industrial Contracting, which was established to rebuild industrial facilities, and Allied Industrial Development Corp., a real estate development entity created to first handle Allied-Consolidated's own expansion, and then to market its services outside

Although there are many connections between the Allied companies, whose missions are often complementary, each is expected to function independently. For example, says John, "If you look at Allied Industrial Scrap, although it buys scrap from Allied Erecting, it still does its own business and it isn't controlled by Allied Erecting. All Allied companies must account for their own actions. Allied-Gator is a manufacturing and sales organization that sells products. Its tools have to stand on their own for use by industry, and Allied Erecting and Dismantling is just another customer.”

But the companies do lean on each other and benefit from their complimentary roles and abilities. John notes, for example, “When we went into developing and then building shears, we basically used Allied Erecting as the proving grounds.” That sort of relationship continues, engendering considerable cross-fertilization, says Vuksanovich. For example, John Ramun’s son, J.P., who works as an Allied Erecting superintendent, is in regular contact with the Allied-Gator engineer, “and he tells us about problems and gives us suggestions on improving the shears: ‘Change all the bolts to be the same size,’ or ‘Buildup welding goes faster this way."' This sort of cooperation among the companies givesAllied-Gator an invaluable edge, says Stewart: a more exhaustive evaluation of its products than any outside customer could provide.

Diversification has complemented steady innovation in helping Allied gather diverse abilities under its umbrella, which is clear at company headquarters. Outside, workers are substantially modifying several cranes to meet Allied Erecting's tastes. Nearby sits a large baler, which the company designed and built to bale industrial mill siding. At a nearby dismantling site sits a special trailer the company built itself to perform asbestos decontamination onsite (the firm handles its own asbestos and other hazardous material removal).

The ability to do this kind of stuff is "one of the big advantages of our company," says Michael. "Much of the equipment around here, we build or substantially modify. We can buy equipment—even a new piece of equipment—and nine out of 10 times we will modify it to make it extra heavy-duty before it sees duty."

An Island of Prosperity

In Youngstown , you can almost hear the sighs of the sagging steel mills moaning over their demise amid boarded-up gas stations and weedy parking lots. In contrast is what's happening at Allied, which is hatching plots within sight of some of those rusted roofs.

The company's new headquarters, whose promise for the community won tax breaks from the city of Youngstown, will house not only offices for all six companies, but also dramatically larger and more sophisticated manufacturing facilities. To Allied-Gator, this portends much. With more space and equipment, the company will be able to increase its production capacity. "Until this point, we didn't go for big market share," says John. "But we think our product deserves and qualifies for it now, so we are going for it." And there's much more planned—"a line of about 25 products that will fit the construction, scrap handling, dismantling, and mining industries," he promises.

Back across the road, Allied is instituting big scrap processing plans as well: a new 80-acre greenfield ferrous facility adjacent to its existing plant that "will process scrap that we purchase, broker, or toll from other brokers," says John.

And while 60 to 80 Allied employees juggle things in the Youngstown area, the company also has about 100 staff members working at dismantling sites across the Northeast. "We have a lot of balls in the air here," John comments.

Genetic Engineering or Act of God?

"Invention seems to be a gift of our family," postulates John.

Indeed, Allied-Gator's success certainly seems to have much to do with Ramun inventiveness over the past two decades. And a lot of inventions remain in the bank—more than 25 U.S. and 50 foreign patents on various types of equipment—ready to help fuel the company's expansion. Michael, who pays compliment to his father's and John's inventiveness but has added his own dismantling innovations, says, "We have a knack for fixing things that are broken. Not only do we see flaws, but by the nature of the dismantling business we break a lot of things, and we know what's going to work and what isn't based on experience."

But ideas alone aren't the whole picture, says John.

"A good idea for a product isn't anything more than a good idea," he says. "It takes a heck of a lot more. It takes guts to just start making them, it takes hard work, and it takes total commitment and belief in what you are doing." He adds, "And we encourage all the people that work here: 'If you have an idea, let's hear it, let's try it'—not just for new products, but also in dismantling, processing scrap, whatever."

But Allied's growth over the past two decades even leaves John a bit taken aback when he pauses to ponder the company's growth. "As a family and a business, when I look back at what I dreamed to attain, we probably did all that in the first three or four years of doing business. The levels we've attained today are incredible and nothing less than an act of God."