56 March 2013
On the surface it may look like a Cinderel-la story. A 29-year-old fine arts major
with no business experience opens an auto
shredding plant in Owego, New York, with
US$ 3 million in sales and 30 employees. Fifteen
years later, Adam Weitsman has 12 additional
feeder yards, 300 employees and annual reve-
nues of US$ 650 million, and is completing
construction of a US$ 15 million shipping cen-
tre on the Hudson River at Port Albany, New
York. When his port facility opens in April, he
will add 100 employees.
In 2013, Upstate Shredding/Ben Weitsman &
Son is expected to generate more than one mil-
lion tonnes of ferrous and more than 90 000
tonnes of non-ferrous scrap, with revenues
anticipated to reach US$ 750 million. The ulti-
mate goal is US$ 1 billion.
Impressive as it may sound, Weitsman will be
the first to tell you that his is not a Cinderella
story. ‘When I opened the shredder in 1998, I
borrowed a lot of money and I didn’t know
what I was doing,’ he says. ‘I got destroyed in
the beginning. I was definitely up against the
wall and got my head handed to me. Basically,
I had a long, seven-year education on how to
make zero money.’
Hard times
He adds remorsefully: ‘I’ve had a lot of bad
years. Shortly after opening the shredder, I got
in trouble with the federal government and
went to prison for a year. I learned my lesson.’
Weitsman feels he was lucky not to go bankrupt
in those early years. ‘They were hard times, but
my suppliers stuck by me,’ he says. In order to
raise cash, he divested himself of all his other
business assets. ‘Instead of trying to do several
things good,’ he explains, ‘I wanted to try and
do one thing really well and so I sold everything
else in order to focus all of my attention and
resources on the scrap metal recycling business.’
The major growth of Upstate Shredding has
been in the past seven years, according to Weits-
man. Historically, his grandfather founded Ben
Weitsman & Son in Owego in 1938 and the
company continued under his father, Fred,
C o m p a n y p r o f i l e By Jim Fowler
Adam Weitsman: ‘So as long as I stay profi table, I will continue to
acquire feeder yards.’
‘It’s not my job to
feel sorry for other
shredders.’
Adam Weitsman: ever up for the battle
A self-confessed ‘hermit’ who is ‘just looking to build my business and
take care of my employees’, Adam Weitsman of Upstate Shredding/Ben
Weitsman & Son acknowledges that he is unlikely to win a popularity
contest among US shredder operators. ‘I love the competition as much
as I love the profitability,’ he cheerfully concedes. Nevertheless, even
his staunchest critics can’t deny that the road he and his company have
travelled since the late 1990s is nothing short of extraordinary.
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