Service center: customer service and a central location share twin billing for Twin Cities recycler Leder Brothers Co.

Competitive pressures on small and medium-sized scrap recyclers are probably as relentless as they are in any other business sector.

Mark Leder and Isaac Einisman have confronted those pressures for more than two decades, but the co-owners of Leder Brothers Co., Minneapolis, remain true to several key philosophical principles that they credit for keeping their company a viable competitor in the Twin Cities scrap scene.

The duo cite a focus on diligent customer service, providing a quality scrap package, taking advantage of a central location and remembering to have a little bit of fun each day at work as keys to successfully guiding their company through the ups and downs of the scrap market for the past 20-plus years.

UP AND RUNNING. Mark Leder has been around scrap metal for his entire life, and the company he now co-owns traces back to his grandfather's scrap peddling business. "My grandfather came to this country in the 1910s and he started collecting, peddling and selling scrap," says Mark of his grandfather Abe Leder, who worked without the benefit of a dedicated processing location beyond his own barn and side yard.

It was Mark's father Morton Leder and Mark's uncle Leonard Leder, who purchased a plot of land in the early 1950s and started Leder Brothers Co.

The business grew, but the company was forced to find a new location when a proposed highway development claimed the original site. Leder Brothers Co. moved to its current home on Snelling Avenue in Minneapolis in 1970.

At about that same time, Morton and Leonard's cousin Isaac Einisman moved to the Twin Cities from Chile and started to work with Morton and Leonard in the scrap business. Isaac had a background in clothing and textiles, but he spent the 1970s both polishing up on his English and learning the scrap business at the Leder Brothers facility.

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Mark Leder also began learning the ins and outs of the scrap business at the Leder Brothers plant. "I started working on Saturdays at age 13, and I went to college here in the Twin Cities and also learned more about the business and its operations during those years."

After graduating from college, Mark worked one year outside of the family business before coming back and working along with Isaac to form the next generation of company leadership. "Isaac and I bought the business in 1984," notes Mark.

POSITIVE TRANSACTIONS. Operations at Leder Brothers Co. cover a variety of scrap grades handled in a combination of outdoor and indoor settings on a 3.5-acre parcel located a few miles from downtown Minneapolis.

The company's ferrous operations are primarily conducted outdoors near a rail spur toward the back of the property. The company's nonferrous materials are processed and stored indoors within the company's 35,000 square foot plant and office building.

"The company's roots trace back to both ferrous and nonferrous metals," says Mark. "But I would say my father and my uncle really kind of pushed toward nonferrous processing and expending energies on nonferrous scrap, where we can cultivate more skill and expertise and the ability to earn more by upgrading the material."

Mark says he and Isaac both "grew up in the nonferrous warehouse," and thus both see sorting nonferrous metals as an important business activity.

The duo have always stressed metals identification knowledge to their employees, says Mark, and while they rely on their hand-held analyzer as an important tool, they also still trust their own knowledge. "Even analyzers are not full-proof," says Mark. "You have to understand everything from how a material is discolored to why it might crack on impact," says Mark.

The company analyzes metals not only for scrap upgrading purposes, but will also perform testing and analysis for fabricators in the Twin Cities who may need to either identify the best alloy for their application or may need to understand why a certain type of alloy is failing in a given application.

"We use the analyzers and our knowledge to give advice to our customers," notes Isaac.

The occasional testing job is the sort of service Mark and Isaac point to as helping Leder Brothers Co. differentiate itself in the Twin Cities market. Another way the company distinguishes itself is by offering employees and customers a clean, safe and hopefully fun environment.

"We come to work each day, and it's not the most glamorous of industries, but we laugh at something every day," says Mark. "We have a good time and have become friends with our customers over the years. When our customers succeed, we take pride in that," he remarks.

Says Isaac, "We leave our egos in the car in the morning. We certainly never try to be too distant from or too superior to our customers."

The variety of people who can patronize a scrap yard never ceases to amaze the duo. "The collection of characters we've met in the last 30 years includes those who were larger than life and those who, well, I'm not sure how you'd describe," says Mark. "Many we've learned to like, some not as much, but most of them we've learned from."

WORK FLOW. Keeping the scrap flowing is a job shared by Mark and Isaac and the dozen or so employees of Leder Brothers Co.

While Mark and Isaac technically have separate offices, they work just a few feet from one another and trade off work duties as necessary. "We take care of what needs to be handled, from taking care of weighing a ferrous load to arranging a service pick-up or talking to a client," says Isaac. "Usually I sell the nonferrous material and Mark sells the ferrous, but whatever I do, he can do, and vice versa."

Mark takes a greater interest in operations and equipment. "I'm not all that comfortable staying in the office," he notes. "I like to walk around the plant and use the equipment to see how it is performing."

Monitoring the product as it makes its way from the scale to shipping is another task Mark enjoys. "I like to see the inbound scrap; I find it extremely rewarding to see it labeled correctly and to see bales and Gaylord boxes that look good," says Mark.

"And I like to see the checks come in," quips Isaac.

The company uses several pieces of equipment to prepare its ferrous and nonferrous grades. The outdoor ferrous operation includes four Komatsu material handlers, one of which is outfitted with a Genesis shear to down size larger pieces. Some ferrous scrap is also prepared using a Sierra baler or a Mosely shear.

At the nonferrous plant, grades such as siding, used beverage cans and some types of copper are baled in a single-ram HV-10 model made by fellow Minnesota company Excel Manufacturing of St. Cloud that is fed by an attached crane made by another instate company, Northshore Manufacturing of Two Harbors.

Leder Brothers Co. handles a wide variety of materials on its 3.5 acres, in part because its generating base is diverse. "It's a good customer base producing a steady flow," says Mark. "We have a lot of door trade that includes plumbers, electricians and small fabricating shop owners."

In addition to things Mark and Isaac can control, such as good service and fair pricing, the Leder Brothers location is another factor working in the company's favor. "I think today, when you look at how cities have grown and all the traffic congestion, people's time becomes very valuable," Mark comments. "Location and proximity and getting in and out from a business appointment mean a lot to people, and we offer that."

The company's plant is approximately five minutes from downtown Minneapolis and just 10 minutes from downtown St. Paul, Mark estimates.

While the scrap business has remained largely local for Leder Brothers Co. on the inbound side, its outbound shipping has broadened considerably in the past couple of decades.

"Twenty years ago, there was no Chinese export market," says Isaac. "Then they perhaps bought grades that others did not want. Now, they compete and buy the best grades also. It's been a huge change in our business to have these new markets."

And while one might think arranging international shipping involves more cost and effort, that is seldom the case any more. "You simply have to get a container going to China, which is easier to do then getting a container going to Chicago," says Isaac.

QUALITY COUNTS. Mark and Isaac have confidence that if they continue to provide quality service and to produce a quality product that is liked by consuming mills, they can continue to function as a medium-sized company.

"We have an approach to business that is more like someone selling neckties," says Isaac. "You need to be good in service; our employees need to have good manners, be clean and show a respect for the customer, and then they'll get the same respect in return from the customer. Even when we have a customer who does not behave nicely when he is here, we ask him not to come any more."

The company atmosphere has produced long-time employees and customers, says Mark. "When people come in, they say they're happy they came here, because it's a well-lit and well-signed plant--you can see where you re going," Mark comments. He adds that about two-thirds of Leder Brothers Co. employees have been with the company for 15 years or longer. "And customers appreciate that."

Equally critical for the future will be the quality of shipments. "Quality is what we really need to sell," says Mark. "We don't change sorting methods based on pricing. A lot of people focus on volume, but you can make the same amount of money if you concentrate your efforts on where you can do the best in terms of material upgrades and markets," he states.

Says Isaac, "We go the extra mile to get things right. With that philosophy, Mark and I can be in any business and we can be successful."

"We have consumers who we have sold to for 50 years," Mark notes. "If you are a good operator, you will always have a place in the market."

RELATED ARTICLE: Se Habla Espanol.

After emigrating from Chile in the early 1970s. Isaac Einisman learned the scrap business and the industry terminology, in Particular. while working his way up through the ranks of Leder Brothers Co., Minneapolis.

Although English remains the language most commonly spoken around the office and recycling plant, Isaac's knowledge of Spanish has proven useful, even in the Twin Cities market that is several hundred miles north of the Rio Grande 

"Our side of the city has become where a lot of Mexican immigrants have settled." says Mark Leder. "There are plenty of Spanish-speaking trades-people and laborers in our customer base. We probably get from four to 12 Spanish-speaking customers per day," Mark estimates

The company includes the phrase "Se Habla Espanol" in its Twin Cities Yellow Pages ads, a phrase that has proven just as helpful in Minnesota as it might in Texas or Florida.

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The author is editor of Recycling Today and can be reached at [e-mail].