PHIL TURNER
With melodious live jazz on its stand every morning and a 20-year plan to make something called 'Beautiful Titanium,' Metal Management is proving that recycling metals is more than just a load of old scrap.
Since the company began its ST-2001 manufacturing process one score years ago, Metal Management has established itself as the world leader in recycling titanium for the aerospace industry.
The company can chart its history back a hundred years to the era of the first great piano manufacturers - Pleyel, Steinway, Bosendorfer - and believes that the two industries have always had shared goals. Says Thierry Olive: "The great piano makers strived to create a richer sound, just as we have strived to make a richer sounding titanium, what we call Beautiful Titanium." At its plant in Hartford, Connecticut, the company has been working to do just that. Scrap metal is acquired mainly from the aerospace industry, but also from less likely sources such as golf clubs and artificial hip joints.
The metal is checked and washed and any oil or other substances are removed. The company ensures that the metal reaches the highest aerospace quality levels before selling it on to be melted down for use by aircraft and engine manufacturers such as Snecma and Volvo.
Source: Flight Daily News
