food manufacturing equipment - stainless, aluminum, iron, copper

Hello,

I just stumbled upon this forum. I am new here, but haven't posted in the 'Introduce Yourself' section because I don't really have much involvement in scrap metal other than this specific topic. So please pardon the 'newbie' question. I'm not in the business, and I have browsed around these forums without finding an answer to my questions.

I am in the food manufacturing business. I have quite a few pieces (maybe 20) of equipment that is no longer usable to me. Either because it is old, or obsolete, or broken/malfunctioning. There is little to no market for this stuff as it sits, so it is scrap. I would guess there might be a few tons of metal.

My issue is probably not uncommon. The machines have a lot of stainless steel (all food contact surfaces). There is some aluminum. The motors would have copper windings. The motor housings are cast iron. Most of the guts of the machine would be steel. Some machines are sitting on custom-built stainless steel stands; other stands are aluminum or steel. I also have some stainless tanks, a few pallet jacks, and some racking. The racks are either all stainless, all aluminum, or all steel.

Last time I explored the possibility of scrapping them, I couldn't decide on a course of action, so the equipment has been sitting for a long time. It's probably time to make something happen with it.

At the time when I last looked into it, I made some calls, and a few local places were willing to offer me a 'mixed metal' price for the machinery as it is, which was understandably less than the price of any of the other metals alone.

So I am hoping to get a little advice from others who have had similar experiences (as either a seller or buyer of scrap). I am trying to decide whether I should simply take the 'mixed metal' price, or maybe put someone on my payroll (probably $9-$10/hour) to disassemble the equipment and sort it. Clearly the mixed metal option has the downside of the lower price, but with the upside of sheer simplicity - one shot and done. The disassembly option becomes somewhat involved, but possibly much more lucrative, I guess. I can't decide whether the higher price I can get for the sorted metals is worth the time, effort, and cost of disassembly, sorting, interim storage of the metals while the project is underway, etc...

What about hiring a local scrapper from here and working a deal with them to tear down, sort, and haul; and you get a % of the reciept?

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Originally Posted by JPete

What about hiring a local scrapper from here and working a deal with them to tear down, sort, and haul; and you get a % of the reciept?

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Sure, I would certainly consider that. No one I had spoken with offered that service. Again, pardon the newb question, but where/how would I locate a scrapper who would do the tear-down, sort, and haul?

Oh, and I realize that although my description is lengthy, it still might not be enough info for an informed answer. So if pics would help, let me know.

I get a lot of food equipment (both commercial and kitchen). I wouldn't hire anybody to break it down. Not worth then difference you'll get from selling as Mixed Metal. I do break some stuff if it's aluminum that is easily separated. But I have a lot of time on my hands as I'm basically retired. Some of what you think is copper, really isn't and isn't worth the time to get at it even if it is. Cast Iron stuff is sold to to people who want it to decorate cabins. JPete gave you the best advice.

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Originally Posted by altieriandsons

Sure, I would certainly consider that. No one I had spoken with offered that service. Again, pardon the newb question, but where/how would I locate a scrapper who would do the tear-down, sort, and haul?

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Craig's List. Buy I'd just buy it outright. Not many will want the trouble of keeping your stuff separate, keep track of your money etc.

I would think like JPete said working a deal with a local scrapper would be your best bet.

You should be able to find a local buyer. I work part time with a guy that works on egg production equipment and he had a warehouse full of old stuff out in the sticks. The local yard sent a guy over and offered cash on the spot AND would bring a truck immediately to start hauling it (i think 8 trips?). Originally my friend asked me if i would just pay him $1,500 and i can have it, but I told him to get a yard guy involved so he can make more money. They paid him about $7,500 (ya, my friend took care of me too). If the guy you called tries to low-ball you, just call another one. If you have a lot of stuff they will jump through hoops for it...or should anyway.

if you have a way to haul it I'd just start hauling it off. First load only stainless, tossing the Aluminum into another pile, motors in another pile, etc., etc. You can't afford to pay somebody to sort that stuff for you, and it wouldn't be so hard to do it yourself. Just get yourself a magnet and start sorting

you are about two hours away from me, but if you have a few tons of material, i would drive down. and cut, sort, and haul for a percentage. PM me if you would like to talk logistics and whatnot.

I'm sure you could find someone more local, but i'd travel if it can be done right

i'll give you my phone number and we can talk for 5 min. even if i dont work the equipment, i have a few ideas for you

Based on equipment type / retial value io would sell it outright on c/l or just hire a scrapper see what they'll give you

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Originally Posted by Filthy

you are about two hours away from me, but if you have a few tons of material, i would drive down. and cut, sort, and haul for a percentage. PM me if you would like to talk logistics and whatnot.

I'm sure you could find someone more local, but i'd travel if it can be done right

i'll give you my phone number and we can talk for 5 min. even if i dont work the equipment, i have a few ideas for you

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pm sent

Your description is based on food manufacturing equipment. I don't have a much knowledge about that but I think it really interesting if I get any information related to this I'll definitely share with you.

Hey altieriandsons

I work for a company in the food manufacturing business. I don't know what you are manufacturing but here's a breakdown of some of the stuff I've worked on in the past.

Dough Dividers (portioners): Stainless hopper, stainless drum (some are also brass if you get one old enough) The rest would just go into your "mixed steel" unless they pay a better price for cast.
Motor might be worth wrestling with but most likely not. I know that there is copper in there but you need to factor in your time for doing it as opposed to doing your regular business.

Ovens: Most of this just goes for your so called "mixed metal".

Large Mixers: Stainless bowl, Some paddles/dough hooks are aluminum. The rest is like the dough divider.

Stainless racking: Remove the wheels and they should pay you more for stainless in that.

Large Proofer: Lots of stainless in these, especially outside panels. Inside, there is some stainless but most is "mixed metal".

Food wrapping/packaging equipment: Most of this stuff is stainless and/or aluminum. Depending on the controls there maybe some circuit boards in there but not many. Again there are some motors but see above caution.

There is more stuff that I might be able to help you with but if I were you, unless you had a lot of time on your hands, I would sell it to some scrapper or yard outright, pocket the money and call it good.

if you do decide to scrap it yourself, contact a couple of local yards and see if they pay different for magnetic vs non-magnetic stainless

Just my .02

Feel free to pm me if you have any more questions or send me some pictures and I might be able to give you better input.

Hey Fellow Pennsylvanian! I'd disassemble it to get more profits. Also welcome to the forum

OK, so looking at the results of my poll, I see that there are no votes for "Let it all collect dust for a few more years - you'll get more later. "

Yet, although I'm no expert and I don't track these prices, bit I have been informed that scrap metal prices are low right now. I still want to do this, but I believe it might be to my advantage to wait until the market is stronger. Thoughts?

Unless you have large quantities, a few cents a pound or ton doesn't really make that much difference. As the price of metal goes up and down, the price of gas does the same and you generally break even. You're not in the scrap metal business; the stuff will just get in the way.

Either you need the money/space, or not. Either way, who cares about the market fluctuation if this is something that you're not going to do regularly?
Even if there's an upswing in the market for whatever specific metals that you've got, you're going to mitigate that gain by paying somebody to break everything down. If you don't break it down, then you've got 20 pieces of equipment sitting in your way for however long it takes you to decide to dump it. And for what? An additional $40 a ton? $80? $100? Who knows how long it will take to make those gains.

If it were my stuff to get rid of, and I were 100% sure that there was no market for it, then I would separate anything that I could very easily separate, and then send the rest as mixed. Like, if something had a huge chunk of stainless that came off with just a few screws, then it may be worth the effort. Otherwise, you're probably wasting your own time with it all. Just ship it off and be done with it.