NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006
Throughout his five-decade career, Al Wein has established himself as one of the country’s experts on buying, selling, and processing stainless steel and nickel alloys.
BY SI WAKESBERG
In 1950, world stainless steel production totaled 1 million mt. In 2005, world production reached 24.3 million mt. Stainless, it seems, is here to stay. Across those five decades, one constant has been Albert Wein, who today, at 82, is a respected authority on nickel alloys and stainless steel scrap.
Wein’s foray into stainless seems natural when you know he’s practically a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh. That city became a center of stainless steel production in the 1950s, when manufacturers began touting the strength and beauty of the many stainless alloys developed during World War II. From his start at Tube City Iron & Metal Co. (Glassport, Pa.) to his years at Steelmet Inc. (McKeesport, Pa.) to the founding of his own company, Wein has tracked the growth of the stainless industry and scrap’s role in it.
Starting from Scratch in Scrap
Wein points out that he’s the rare scrap purveyor for his time: He was not born into a scrap family, nor did he marry into one. Instead, he entered the field through study and hard work. The youngest of five children of Lithuanian immigrant parents, Wein worked his way through what was then the Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, earning a B.S. in metallurgical engineering. Why study metals? “World War II had just started, and [the country] needed people with engineering and science backgrounds,” he says.
Though Navy service interrupted his studies for two years, upon graduation he began working for a Pittsburgh heat-treating company, where he learned how to treat different steels. In 1950 he interviewed at Tube City with Charles Bluestone, who hired him to work as a metallurgist in the company’s nonferrous division. “From Charles I learned a great deal about metals,” Wein says. “He taught me how to use the grinding wheel and how to buy and sell nonferrous metals.” In a few years Wein became vice president of nonferrous operations at Tube City, handling brass, copper, lead, and zinc and learning about the new field of stainless steel.
Back then, he recalls, “people didn’t know what to do with their stainless scrap. They tried to get rid of it by putting it into their shipments of steel scrap.” The challenges of recycling it back into stainless involved identifying, segregating, and processing the secondary—and more valuable—metals the alloys contained. As technologies to perform those tasks emerged in the mid- to late-1950s, he became involved in marketing and trading stainless scrap.
Wein established Tube City’s stainless division while still running the company’s nonferrous operations, which led to some long hours. “We had three shifts,” he explains, “and the second shift came on around 4 or 4:30 p.m.” After making sure those workers had their orders and knew what to do, he says, “I would rush home for dinner and come back at 10:30 p.m. for the third shift. I’d go home near midnight, only to be at the plant again by 8 a.m.” Wein worked 10 to 12 hours a day, seven days a week. “My wife always joked that my children didn’t see me except on Sundays,” he says.
In 1961, the so-called “dean of the industry,” Sidney Danziger, told Wein that Alan Amper and Nathan Addlestone were looking for a stainless expert for their new brokerage and exporting company, Steelmet. The idea of developing business for a new firm appealed to him, and he became the company’s first employee. “I wasn’t at that time an expert,” he admits, “but I had the experience, I understood processing and trading, and I had some technical knowledge. In a short time with Steelmet, I got to know a lot about stainless.” At that time, several companies had established stainless scrap facilities serving mills in different parts of the country, including the Northeast, Chicago, and Baltimore, “but there was opportunity in Pittsburgh,” Wein says. “We had to develop our niche, our sources of scrap, our markets, the merchandising and the trading, and so forth.”
In the mid-1980s, Steelmet went into bankruptcy. When a German company purchased the business, Wein decided it was time to go out on his own. “They offered me the opportunity to stay, and it was a very emotional thing at the time,” Wein remembers. “I had been with Steelmet since its inception, almost 25 years.” He and his son Robert, who also worked for Steelmet, started Wein Metals Inc. (Pittsburgh) in 1985, specializing in stainless and high-temperature alloys. “We started out strictly as a broker, but we now also do some physical handling of material,” Wein says. Robert Wein is now president of the business, while Al stays on as a consultant.
Spreading the Word
Wein played a significant role in the growth of the stainless scrap industry through his extensive participation in ISRI’s predecessor organizations, NARI and ISIS. “It was Bob Kahn who got me involved in trade organizations,” Al says appreciatively. “In 1953 I attended my first NARI convention in Chicago, and I met and made friends with a great many industry people.”
He led the charge for stainless, nickel, and related metals in both associations, chairing NARI’s Stainless Steel and Alloys Committee as well as ISIS’ Stainless Committee. The high point of his involvement was most likely in the late 1960s, when he fought export controls on stainless steel scrap. At the time, he says, “there was a shortage of primary nickel because one of world’s largest producers, International Nickel in Canada, was on strike for about three months.” The shortage led to increased worldwide demand for stainless scrap, but “we were not permitted to export stainless because it had become a vital, scarce material.”
Despite the opposition of the steel mills, Wein says he and others convinced the U.S. Department of Commerce to relax the export controls to satisfy some of the demand from Europe and Japan without penalizing the domestic stainless producers. “It was a very important, interesting period of time,” he recalls.
An articulate lecturer, prolific writer, and hands-on teacher, Wein has given more than 30 talks throughout his career. He has spoken at ISIS and NARI meetings; conferences of the American Society for Metals; the first ferroalloys conference in Zurich, Switzerland; seminars at Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Chicago universities; and many other locales. Of his many articles he is particularly proud of the one he wrote for Scrap Age’s bicentennial edition outlining the state of stainless scrap recycling. Wein first developed a flair for writing as editor of his high school newspaper, he says, and he briefly considered a career in journalism before turning to metallurgy and scrap. “Maybe under different circumstances I would have ended up as editor of Scrap Age,” he jokes. The wealth of information in his articles and lectures constitutes a veritable encyclopedia of nickel, stainless, cobalt, and related metals.
As much as his work guided those who came after him, Wein recognizes the assistance he himself received, naming Charles Bluestone, Bob Kahn, Alan Amper, Nathan Addlestone, and Sidney Danziger among those who helped him achieve a successful career.
Family Ties
In November, Al will be celebrating 59 years of marriage to his wife Shirley. If you’ve seen the movie Wedding Crashers, you’ve got some idea of how they met. “I was just out of the Navy, and I went with a crowd that was into crashing weddings,” which was all the rage at the time, he says. Shirley was a fellow crasher, the cousin of a friend. (Most weddings at that time were not the formal, sit-down dinners they are today, he notes. “It was a party, usually [with] sandwiches, cold cuts, that’s about all.”)
Together Al and Shirley have produced four accomplished children. In addition to Robert, who runs the company, there is Howard, an environmental attorney in Pittsburgh; Richard, a physician in South Bend, Ind.; and Barbara, president of the nonprofit Building New Hope, which supports community development in Central America. Among them they have 12 grandchildren ranging in age from 12 to 26. Though some of the grandchildren have left Pittsburgh for school or careers, Al notes that 11 of them made it back for the Jewish holidays this year.
When he’s not consulting or traveling with his family, Wein keeps active at home. “I took up tennis when I was 50 years old, and I used to be an avid tennis player. Unfortunately, because of a knee problem, I had to give that up,” he says regretfully. “I play a little bit of golf, but I never enjoyed golf as much as I enjoyed tennis.” He has especially fond memories of tennis tournaments at industry events. “I played with Jerry Robinson, Milton Schwab, and Mel Kriegel, all rated scrap industry tennis buffs. And once I played tennis in Monte Carlo at a BIR meeting.”
His other hobbies include reading newspapers and magazines and doing crossword puzzles. “I have to do something to keep my mind sharp,” he says.
Strength in stainless
The stainless industry has come a long way since the 1950s, Wein says. Though some smaller U.S. mills have gone out of business, the remaining mills sell a larger volume. “When Steelmet was growing,” he recalls, “we shipped 2,000 tons a month, and that was considered big business. Today, shipments of 30,000 tons a month are not uncommon.”
The introduction of new steel mill furnaces, improvements in testing methods, the use of sophisticated equipment, and the development of computers all have added to the industry’s growth, he notes, and he expects that growth to continue. “People now understand [stainless steel’s] properties, and while it may cost more, the life of the metal is greater.”
He particularly sees a need for stainless scrap in the developing economies of Asia—something he predicted decades ago. “Today, of course,” he says, “China is a focus of the export business, as are India and other Asian countries.”
Overall, he notes, the “whole industry is much more diversified, much more international than it used to be. Today you have companies that are multinational, with facilities not just in the United States but in Europe, Japan, and China.” Also, the industry “is much more sophisticated than when I first entered it,” he says. “Family businesses, once the core of this industry, are diminishing.”
In his years in the scrap industry, Al says, the people with whom he did business were all honorable—they made a deal at a meeting, shook hands, and if the market changed, it made no difference. “If someone I never met called me on the phone and said, ‘Send me an order,’ it was a done deal,” he says. “In 50 years of business,” he adds, “I only remember two lawsuits, and even those were settled amicably.”
The scrap business is more complex and difficult today, he says, because of environmental concerns, higher costs, and the worldwide competition for scrap. “But,” he emphasizes, “the small processor can still make a living—all that’s needed is a willingness to work and the operation of a business that adheres to honesty and integrity.”
Life of Wein
Background: Born Aug. 1, 1924, in Pittsburgh.
Education: Earned a B.S. in metallurgical engineering at the Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Military Service: Served in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946 in Chicago and Gulfport, Miss.
Family: Married Shirley Herskovitz in 1947. Four children—Howard, Robert, Richard, and Barbara—and 12 grandchildren.
Career: Started his career at a heat-treating company in Pittsburgh. Joined Tube City Iron & Metal Co. (Glassport, Pa.) in 1950, becoming vice president for nonferrous and founder of the company’s stainless division. Joined Steelmet Inc. (McKeesport, Pa.) in 1961, eventually becoming president. Founded Wein Metals Inc. (Pittsburgh) in 1985.
Personal Influences: Charles Bluestone, Bob Kahn, Alan Amper, Nathan Addlestone, and Sidney Danziger.
Community/Volunteer Involvement: Former chair of NARI’s Stainless Steel and Alloys Committee and ISIS’ Stainless Committee. Presented more than 30 talks on stainless and alloys to a variety of audiences and authored numerous articles on those subjects. Former president of the Tree of Life synagogue (McKeesport, Pa.). Al and Shirley were named “Couple of the Year” by the State of Israel Bonds in 1990.
Hobbies: Golf, reading, and crossword puzzles. •
Si Wakesberg is New York bureau chief of Scrap.
Throughout his five-decade career, Al Wein has established himself as one of the country’s experts on buying, selling, and processing stainless steel and nickel alloys.