On a cold, wintry morning in February, I driveat full speed down the A7 motorway in
Bavaria on my way to Kerscher Metalle in Fürth
near Nürnberg in southern Germany. Well, full
speed is something of an exaggeration. A cold bliz-
zard is howling through the forests and cars that
usually tear along the road at a 100 miles per hour
are now condemned to crawl along at a fifth of that
speed. It is very relaxing, I must say.
When I finally drive up to the offices of Kerscher
Metalle, I am warmly welcomed by owner Eberhard
Kerscher. We sit down in his office, the secretary
brings coffee and Mr Kerscher duly drives at full
speed down the memory lane of his family business.
‘In 1937, my father Georg Kerscher started a job as
a sales representative for a well-known secondary
aluminium refinery in North Bavaria,’ he recalls. ‘He
distributed all the ingots for the aluminium
foundries. At that time, Nürnberg was the centre of
the German motorcycle industry and was home to
eight manufacturers which have long since vanished
such as Hercules, Mars Zündapp, Victoria and
Triumph. All these motorcycle companies owned
small foundries for making aluminium die-cast parts
for their machines. This gave my father the opportu-
nity to distribute the ingots to various companies.’
Post-war survival
Then came World War II and the business went
bust. After the war, times in Germany were very
hard as the whole country’s infrastructure had been
destroyed. Georg Kerscher had to look for other
ways to make a living and so he began collecting
scrap metals, notably aluminium, and other indus-
trial residues. Survival was difficult in the immedi-
ate post-war years but eventually things got better
and in 1948 he was able to open his first scrap yard
in Nürnberg: Georg Kerscher GmbH & Co. KG.
The business prospered and in 1958 his son
Eberhard, the current owner and CEO, joined the
From humble beginnings, Kerscher Metalle has developed into a major ferrous
and non-ferrous metals concern with five major plant operations and direct links
with metal producers. However, the management team still regards itself as a
family business rather than a group of companies. Recycling International investi-
gates further.
Kerscher Metalle: Kerscher Metalle operates five different plants atfive separate locations in Germany.
34
By Manfred Beck
Of the non-ferrous metals, 55% goes to German customers, 25% to processors
in other European member and 20% is exported to the Asian markets.
a multi-faceted metals company
