Sonny's Stainless Story

In his 43-year career, Morton “Sonny” Plant has reached the top of the stainless scrap and association worlds while serving his community—and more—along the way.

By Si Wakesberg

You could say that Morton B. Plant was destined to have a career in the scrap business. His grandfather was Harry Klaff of H. Klaff & Co. Inc., a prominent Baltimore scrap company founded in 1901, and his father was Marvin Plant, Klaff’s son-in-law, who worked in the Klaff family scrap business, paving the way for his two sons—Arnold and Morton—to do the same.
   From those early years to today, the Klaffs and the Plants distinguished themselves in service to the industry and its trade associations. While all shined, it was Morton who attained the highest positions, becoming not only chairman of a major stainless and alloy scrap company—now known as Keywell L.L.C.—but also being elected president of the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel (ISIS), an ReMA predecessor.
   Along the way, Plant followed the philosophy that “to receive a great deal, you must give a great deal,” devoting himself to both the industry and his community with equal zeal. In return, he has received numerous honors such as the coveted Phoenix Award, which recognizes his “lifetime of contribution to the advancement of the recycling industry.” Here is his story.

Building a Scrap Career
Morton Plant’s introduction to the scrap world came early. As a kid, he frequently accompanied his father and grandfather to the H. Klaff office. “The relationship with my grandfather was classic,” Plant recalls. “I’d sit and watch as he and his cronies played cards, whether it was pinochle at our house or poker at the office on Saturday afternoon or in a hotel room at one of the scrap conventions.”
   By 17, Plant was expanding his scrap education by working summers in the H. Klaff yard. His family was adamant, though, that he needed to complete his college education before jumping into a career in the business. So, after finishing high school (at the confusingly named Baltimore City College), Plant attended the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Though he continued to lend a hand at the family scrap firm during holidays and summer vacations, he kept his focus on his studies, ultimately earning a bachelor of science degree in economics.
   Upon graduating in 1958, Plant was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Quartermaster Corp. and was assigned a six-month tour at Fort Lee, Va. By the end of his service in mid-1959, he had climbed to the rank of captain, hinting at the success he’d achieve in the corporate world.
   After his discharge, Plant officially joined H. Klaff & Co. full-time, starting out as a trader of nonferrous and stainless steel scrap. At that time—in the 1950s—H. Klaff was a pioneer in the recycling of stainless and alloys, and the niche was still in its neophyte stage.
   “Technologically, it was a weak industry, just beginning to be known,” Plant says, “and many of us were trying to figure out how to handle the material, how to identify the various grades of scrap, how and where to sell it.”
Still, given the fact that there were then two stainless steel mills in Baltimore, “our company’s decision to move into the stainless scrap business made sense,” he says. 
   From 1961 to 1964, Plant worked in a cast iron pipe foundry owned by H. Klaff, but ultimately he returned to the scrap side of the business—his true love—to resume trading stainless and high-temperature alloy scrap, which he continued to do for the remainder of the 1960s and into the 1970s.
   The 1970s brought big changes for H. Klaff & Co. In 1976, the company was sold to Steelmet Inc.—a Pittsburgh-based leader in stainless and alloy recycling—and continued operating as a division of that company under the Klaff corporate name. Following the acquisition, Plant became a vice president of Steelmet as well as a member of its board of directors. A year later, he was elected president of the H. Klaff division. He likewise continued to climb the Steelmet corporate ladder, becoming a senior vice president of the firm in 1979.
   Ever the entrepreneurs, though, the Plants—Marvin, Arnold, and Morton—hoped to someday find an opportunity to run their own show. That opportunity came in June 1982 when they joined the Samuel G. Keywell Co. Inc., a Detroit-based stainless and alloy recycler. That move made perfect sense given the long friendship between Marvin Plant and Barney Keywell, chairman of the Keywell organization.
   Later in 1982, Keywell Co. bought from Steelmet the H. Klaff processing yard on Rolling Mill Road in Baltimore, making the facility its Plant Division (in honor of the Plant family, of course). This enabled the Plants to continue working from their existing scrap home, this time under the guidance of Keywell President Bill Wottowa—“an outstanding executive who knew the business from A to Z,” Plant says.
   In 1984, Plant succeeded Wottowa at the helm of Keywell and, through his leadership, strengthened the firm’s position in the stainless and alloy scrap business. In 1987, for instance, he led the company in its acquisition of Vac Air Alloys Corp., a recycler of vacuum-grade secondary superalloys and titanium with operations in Frewsburg, N.Y. and West Mifflin, Pa., as well as interests in overseas operations. Through such moves, Plant helped expand Keywell’s scope beyond the domestic market to the export niche. Between 1985 and 1990, Keywell also established joint ventures with other scrap processing firms around the country in an effort to source more stainless scrap for its domestic consumers.
   Today, after much additional change, the Chicago-based Keywell has nine U.S. processing operations in eight states as well as one plant in Germany.

Serving the Industry
As if Plant’s business responsibilities didn’t keep him busy enough, he also devoted a tremendous amount of time to ISIS. For starters, he served at all officer levels of the Seaboard Chapter and as a national director-at-large. In 1975, he became president of the association’s Metal Scrap Research and Education Foundation. Most notably, Plant worked his way through the national ISIS officer ranks, ultimately being elected president of the association for the 1980-1982 term.
   During his tenure, one of the scrap industry’s major problems was the issue of export controls. “In those days,” Plant recalls, “the steel mills were trying to stop the flow of scrap overseas, both steel scrap and stainless scrap. We spent hours testifying before congressional committees, stating our case against export controls.” And, he adds with a smile, “many a day I sat across a table from one of our mill customers at those hearings, arguing forcibly against his views.”
   As ISIS president, Plant also helped the industry address the shortage of railcars at the time and the sometimes-contentious relations between scrap processors and mill consumers. He was at the forefront of the industry’s efforts to secure an exclusion for ferrous scrap from a ceiling cap on railroad freight rates. Environmental issues were also becoming a bigger worry for the scrap industry in the early 1980s, including the U.S. EPA’s requirements for hazardous waste testing under RCRA. As Plant recalls, “Those were the early years of environmental challenges, and in those days they were meaningful and we tried to do what we could to help.”
   Plant also happened to be ISIS president through the hard recession years of 1981 and 1982, and he did what he could to inspire ISIS members in those tough times, urging them to keep an eye on the future while surviving in the present. Throughout, he was an adamant supporter of the need for greater member involvement in the association. He spread that message as he traversed the country to address the association’s chapters, renewing old friendships and making new ones along the way. “I met people at conventions, at regional and chapter meetings, or just during my travels,” he recounts. “Some of them became my very good friends, but all of them lent something to my presidency of ISIS.”
   He can’t help but recall a handful of individuals who made a particularly great impression on him. At the top of the list are his father Marvin and his older brother Arnold, both of whom he praises for their personal accomplishments in business, the association world, and beyond as well as for their huge influence on his own career. Aside from these family members, Plant recognizes past ISIS presidents Fred Berman of Berman Bros. Iron & Metal Co. Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.) and Bernie Landau of M.S. Kaplan Co. (Chicago) for likewise influencing his career, especially by encouraging him to assume the ISIS presidency. Plant also acknowledges his personal debt to individuals such as John Thalheimer of Thalheimer Brothers Inc. (Philadelphia); I.D. Shapiro of United Iron & Metal Co. Inc. (Baltimore); Arnold Tenenbaum of Chatham Steel Corp. (Savannah, Ga.); Keywell’s Bill Wottowa; and ISIS Executive Director Herschel Cutler. “These men helped me in developing programs and guidelines for both the institute and for the industry,” Plant says.
   Among his many ISIS memories, Plant points with particular fondness to the oral-history video project called Our Heritage—People Building an Industry From Scrap, which was shown at the 1981 ISIS convention. The video captures a group of older scrapmen gathered in a room, swapping stories about the industry’s past. Plant’s father, Marvin, was among the distinguished participants, who also included Morris Lipsett, Zeke Afram, Sam Shapiro, Mack Cottler, Mush Oberman, Milton Mahler, Pat Capasso, Harry Marley, and Alton Newell.

Faith in the Future
Now, 43 years after Plant officially began his scrap career, he can look back and clearly see the changes the stainless scrap industry has undergone. For one, he notes, “the quality of the scrap is much better now because technology has improved over the years. There are more refined products available today.”
   In the international arena, he observes, Japan and Taiwan used to be big buyers of stainless scrap, but now U.S. shippers are looking to China for expanded markets.
   Unfortunately, not all changes have been good, Plant says, noting that today “there’s little loyalty to suppliers and a great deal of competitive buying at the lowest price from most consumers. Also, brokerage business has disappeared as direct selling to consumers became the thing to do.”
  Ahead, Plant sees the stainless scrap industry becoming even more competitive. “Only the strong will survive as margins narrow and it becomes harder to make a profit,” he says. “This used to be a family business, but that has changed in recent years and I think that trend will continue. I can only hope that some of the newcomers have learned some lessons during the past months.” Recent market slumps have certainly brought problems for processors, he notes, and they have to be more careful than ever about the financial stability of their scrap consumers.
   These days, Morton Plant doesn’t have to worry about such developments as much as in previous years. That’s because he has scaled back his role in the Keywell organization, moving from chairman to vice chairman of the firm. “We have an excellent chairman in Joel Tauber and a fine CEO in Mark Lozier,” he asserts, adding that “Keywell remains very strong domestically. I believe we’re No. 1 in superalloys, and we’re among the top producers in basic stainless.”
   Though Plant keeps one foot firmly planted in the scrap world, he has no qualms about having the other foot outside the business, where he can enjoy some well-deserved fruits of his 43-year career. He can rest easy knowing that the company he helped build is in good hands through its current leaders and staff. “I trained them all,” he says, “and I know they’ll do a good job.” 

Plant Particulars
Born: April 18, 1936, in Baltimore.
Nickname: Sonny—“I think my brother Arnold pinned that name on me—I don’t know why—but that name has stuck.”
Education: Attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in economics.
Family: Married Tammie Siegel in 1959. Two daughters—Ellen and Laurie—and six grandchildren.
Career: Worked for his grandfather’s scrap business, H. Klaff & Co. Inc., from 1959 to 1976, when H. Klaff became a division of Steelmet Inc. Served as a Steelmet executive and led its H. Klaff division from 1976 to 1982, when he joined Samuel G. Keywell Co. Inc. and helped establish its Plant Division. Became president of Keywell in 1984, assuming the role of chairman around 1991. Currently serves as vice chairman of the firm, now named Keywell L.L.C.
Association Highlights: President of the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel (ISIS) from 1980-1982.
Scrap Industry Honors: Received the Phoenix Award from ISRI’s Mid-Atlantic Chapter in 2000.
Community Service: Among his many past and present positions, Plant currently serves as chairman of The Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and is a board member of the Mercantile Bank Shares and Mercantile Safe Deposit & Trust Co., a director of LifeBridge Health System and Sinai Hospital, and a director of Caves Valley Golf Club.•

Si Wakesberg is New York bureau chief for Scrap.