Ecovery LLC materials remanufacturer in Loxley is the 2018 Manufacturer of the Year award winner in the small manufacturing category of between one and 99 employees. The company was named the winner at the April 18 MOTY awards luncheon ceremony sponsored by the Business Council of Alabama (BCA) and the Alabama Technology Network (ATN).
“The annual Manufacturer of the Year Awards seek to honor Alabama manufacturers – from the largest industrial employers to the smallest businesses – for displaying efficiency, safety, and excellence in their products and the process for making them,” said BCA President and CEO William J. Canary.
Since the first MOTY in 2000, the BCA and ATN award ceremony has attracted Alabama dignitaries and manufacturing leaders to honor companies that are committed to improving Alabama’s economy. “Quite simply, manufacturing is an economic engine powering the state’s economy,” Canary said.
MOTY awards recognize Alabama’s manufacturing enterprises which exhibit excellence in leadership, performance, profitability, and workforce relations. Winners are selected by an independent panel of judges based on demonstrations of superior performance in customer focus, employee commitment, operating excellence, continuous improvement, profitable growth, and investment in training and retraining.
Ecovery LLC originally was formed in 2008 by Larry Sloan and Walter Norris to recycle and process electronic waste such as computers, televisions, and cell phones. Five years later, the company shifted to processing primarily copper and aluminum radiators from commercial and residential HVAC units.
The company separates, shreds, and repackages pure raw material and also melts aluminum flakes from the shredding operation and mixes it with other scrap to produce recycled secondary ingots.
Ecovery’s processing lines extract and repackage raw material into copper chops, aluminum briquettes, and aluminum shreds, and it melts and casts various grades of primary and secondary aluminum into recycled secondary ingots, cones, or ingots, producing in excess of 180 million pounds annually.
Ecovery has two plants that employed 66 men and women in 2017. It’s a North American leader of non-ferrous metal processing, primarily focused on copper and aluminum bearing scrap.
Governor Kay Ivey was the 2018 MOTY Awards keynote speaker.
“From automobiles to aerospace to everyday products and equipment, whether for our own use or for export around the globe, Alabama’s manufacturers create high-quality jobs and produce substantial economic benefits,” Governor Ivey said.
BCA Chairman Perry Hand, chairman of Volkert Inc. in Mobile, recognized MOTY finalists for 2018.
ATN Executive Director Keith Phillips said the companies acknowledged today represent the best in Alabama manufacturing and the use of technology. “Now in its 19th year, the Alabama Technology Network and the Business Council of Alabama are honored to salute Alabama’s best manufacturers for their valuable participation in not only the state’s economy but also the economies of their employees and the suppliers who do business with them,” Phillips said.
The Business Council of Alabama is Alabama’s foremost voice for business. The BCA is a non-partisan, statewide business association representing the interests and concerns of nearly 1 million working Alabamians through its member companies and its partnership with the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama. The BCA is Alabama’s exclusive affiliate to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers.
The Alabama Technology Network links two-year colleges, the University of Alabama System, Auburn University and the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama to solve the needs of industry. Each ATN regional center tailors its services to meet local needs, providing innovative and cost-effective solutions to enable Alabama’s existing industry to be globally competitive. The network is Alabama’s affiliate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which provides hands-on assistance and training to smaller manufacturers.