Superior Iron & Metal → OmniSource Corporation (OmniSource, LLC)

1943 – today

Founded: 1943, Fort Wayne. Irving Rifkin, who emigrated from Russia in 1920, and his brother-in-law Irving Walters bought their first scrap yard on Clinton Street in Fort Wayne in 1943 and called it Superior Iron & Metal (company history, reproduced in full in the ScrapMonster profile; Recycling Today, 23 July 2001, agrees the company was started in 1943, Rifkin first collecting and reselling scrap from his truck and borrowing $7,500 from an uncle to buy a Fort Wayne yard; the Indiana Business Journal profile carried by FreeLibrary likewise gives a 1943 Fort Wayne start, founder Irving Rifkin, and a Clinton Street / Superior Iron & Metal origin). Incorporation distinction flagged: the International Directory of Company Histories chain (ReferenceForBusiness / FundingUniverse) lists "Incorporated: 1946 as Superior Iron and Metal Company" — that is carried as a separate incorporation record, not as a contradiction of the 1943 business start, and no articles of incorporation were retrieved, so neither date is confirmed by a primary record.

Founders: Irving Rifkin and Irving Walters (brother-in-law and partner) — on the company history. Rifkin's son Leonard Rifkin joined full-time in 1956; Leonard's sons Danny, Rick and Marty joined in the 1970s–80s.

What it did: Scrap-metal collection, processing, brokerage and trading — ferrous and nonferrous scrap bought from industrial generators, dealers and retail collection, processed in yards, and resold to mills and foundries. Fort Wayne's wartime suppliers (International Harvester, General Electric, Magnavox among them, per the IBJ profile) generated the local scrap stream the firm grew on, in a town the Recycling Today account puts at 36 scrap dealers in the early years.

Course: Leonard Rifkin's generation weathered the early 1960s, ventured into trash removal in the late 1960s and sold those interests in 1973 to focus on scrap (company history). Expansion by acquisition followed from the mid-1970s. The foundation acquisition was Kripke-Tuschman Industries, Toledo, in 1979 (Recycling Today and the company history agree). Rename conflict, carried open: the company history says "In 1983 the company was officially renamed OmniSource," and the IBJ profile also gives 1983; the International Directory chain says "in 1985 the company changed its name to OmniSource." Both years are printed here; neither is silently chosen. By 1990 the firm had become a national force and pioneered industrial scrap management, with Chrysler as its initial client (company history; Recycling Today corroborates the Chrysler scrap-management programme). It founded Recovery Technologies in Fort Wayne in 1995 and Superior Aluminum Alloys in New Haven, Indiana, in 1998. Scale at the 2005 profile: 45 facilities, 1,750 employees, ~$1.9 billion revenue (IBJ); at the 2000 Recycling Today profile, 1,350 employees and $830 million projected revenue, among North America's three largest scrap recyclers.

Fate: Still operating, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Steel Dynamics, Inc. announced 1 October 2007 that it would acquire OmniSource for slightly more than $1 billion (9.7 million SDI shares plus $425 million cash, with ~$210 million of assumed net debt in the announcement accounts; the ~$1.1 billion figure in the company history includes cash, stock and assumed debt); SDI's own May 2008 SEC press release confirms the OmniSource acquisition was completed in October 2007, and OmniSource continues independently as SDI's wholly owned subsidiary, supplying a large portion of SDI's ferrous feed. Current company-profile scale: more than 70 U.S. collection/processing facilities including 11 shredders, ~7 million tons/year ferrous capacity (ScrapMonster profile, reproducing current company text).

Sources:

1. OmniSource company history, reproduced in the ScrapMonster profile (Rifkin/Walters 1943 Clinton Street Superior Iron & Metal purchase; Leonard joined 1956; trash interests sold 1973; 1983 rename; 1990 scrap management with Chrysler; 1995 Recovery Technologies; 1998 Superior Aluminum Alloys; October 2007 SDI purchase for ~$1.1 billion) — https://www.scrapmonster.com/amp/yardprofile/12001
2. Recycling Today, "A Leading Scrap Source," 23 July 2001 (started 1943 from a truck; $7,500 yard loan; Leonard joined full-time 1956; 1979 Kripke-Tuschman acquisition; early-80s rename in general terms; 1,350 employees / $830M in 2000) — https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/a-leading-scrap-source-2001-07-23/
3. Indiana Business Journal profile via FreeLibrary (1943 start; 1983 rename; 45 facilities, 1,750 employees, $1.9B revenue in the 2005 profile) — https://www.thefreelibrary.com/OmniSource+Corp.%3A+Fort+Wayne+firm+finds+nearly+%242+billion+in+scrap...-a0147667962
4. International Directory of Company Histories chain via ReferenceForBusiness (incorporated 1946 as Superior Iron and Metal Company; 1943 Fort Wayne purchase; 1985 rename — the conflicting rename/incorporation chain) — https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/0/OmniSource-Corporation.html
5. Steel Dynamics, SEC Form 8-K exhibit, press release 8 May 2008 (OmniSource described as SDI's wholly owned subsidiary; SDI platform "created by the acquisition of OmniSource in October 2007") — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1022671/000110465908032239/a08-11528_3ex99d1.htm
6. Indianapolis Business Journal, 1 Oct 2007 (SDI acquisition announced at $1 billion in cash and stock; Danny Rifkin to lead the recycled-metals unit) — https://www.ibj.com/articles/8985-steel-dynamics-buys-scrap-recycler