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 Mike Gervais, vice president of Geib Refining in Warwick, Rhode Island, tells a story that shows exactly how a refiner might have a better handle on an operation’s refining capabilities than the people who actually run the show. (This one should have you running to check your air filters.) “There was a blower unit at a customer’s plant that had very weak suction,” explains Gervais. “You’d go by the polishing benches and see a lot of dust on them. If you put your hand over the vent, you wouldn’t feel a lot of suction. The owner was content with that. He just presumed he had an old vacuum system or an old motor.” An auditor from the refining company, realizing that perhaps poor airflow was more to blame, suggested they look at the baghouse, where filters trap precious metal dust. “The baghouse was on the rooftop. The filters were incredibly clogged with dust and the doors were open, so the excess dust was venting into the atmosphere.” In actuality, it wasn’t just dust that was taking flight—it was dollars in the form of countless grams of precious metal. “His system had been operating poorly for at least a year, so who knows what he lost from it,” says Gervais. The problem stemmed from the fact that the owner wasn’t focusing on why the system wasn’t working; he was focused on getting product out the door which, when you get right down to it, is what his business is about. It took his refiner—impartial and knowledgeable—to show him that while product was indeed shipping off the docks, profits were booking flights off the roof. Although it’s not the type of refining service where the end result is a brick of gold or a nice check, there’s an important service that refining customers should know is available to them: the service of knowledge. This service can take the form of tips, literature, or all-out surveys of a manufacturing operation to determine how to maximize refining returns. “A lot of people just don’t understand the refining process, so we educate the customer,” says Kip Curren, vice president of Pease & Curren in Warwick, Rhode Island. “Sometimes we go into their place, sometimes they come here. We [can] send them articles on how to get a homogeneous melt, how to separate their scrap, how to save their scrap…” In short, if you need to know it, you can probably find out about it by asking your refiner. Ruth Failer, vice president of sales and marketing for David H. Fell & Co. Inc. in Commerce, California, also recognizes the need to provide her customers with solid information on how to get the best out of refining. “Often refiners just say put it all in a baggie and send it to us," says Failer. "We don’t force anyone to separate their scrap into [karats], but it’s something we encourage. People have a tendency to feel like they’re sending [their metal] blindly and they never know what they’re supposed to be getting back. But they can have a lot more control over that by knowing what they’re sending in.” A refiner can help with that control, either by providing specific containers for scrap, or just a bit of common sense. “My suggestion is to get some coffee cans, put Post-its on them with the karats, and throw the scrap in the coffee cans,” says Failer. One area that companies may not realize refiners handle is hazardous waste and compliance. Runoff and fluids from processes such as plating can contain ample amounts of precious metals, as can sludge from precious metal wastewater treatment systems. “There are stories after stories about materials that we refine that companies were tossing away in the past because they didn’t realize there might be an opportunity for precious metal contamination,” says Gervais. “There have been many cases where a hazardous waste company picks up waste and it goes out strictly for disposal. We offer to sample waste streams at a plant to ensure that there is no precious metal in them—and there have been several substantial cases where we do find precious metal, unbeknownst to the company. They may have been shipping it out for years with metal in it, paying to get rid of it when they should have been getting a check from the refining.” Gervais notes that some refiners may also be able to look over your HAZMAT manifests to be sure they’re properly coded, potentially saving you from fines. They may also be able to provide approved receptacles for disposing of waste. It’s just another service manufacturers can ask about. |
