Weaver Materiel Service, Inc.Company Profile: In 1934, he moved his wife and four children to Detroit where he became Service Metallurgist for The Great Lakes Foundry Sand Company. Fred liked the traveling associated with his position and recognized that he was readily accepted by the industry for his knowledge and ability to solve casting problems. It was here, in Detroit, that his youngest son, Don, received his introduction to foundry sand by accompanying Dad on Saturdays to run sand tests in the lab. The foundry industry was booming during the height of World War II. This was an excellent time to fulfill his desire to start his own foundry supply business. So, at age 46, Fred moved his family back home to Buffalo and started Weaver Materiel. He had a flare for words and capitalized on the military spelling of "Materiel" associated with the tremendous, ongoing war effort. The first company Weaver Materiel represented was the Wedron Silica Company in Wedron, IL. In 1952, Fred and his wife Betty, who handled all of the office work, moved from Buffalo to their summer home on Chautauqua Lake and the office was relocated to Jamestown, New York. During the first eight years of business, Fred realized that there was a missing link between metallurgy and ceramics. Many metallurgists were using ceramic materials, i.e., refractories, and coatings, about which they knew very little. Likewise, ceramic engineers were designing materials for the hot metal industry with little knowledge of metallurgy. It was on this premise that he prevailed upon Don to obtain a degree in Ceramic Engineering. After graduation from Alfred University in 1957 and a tour in the Army as an artillery officer, Don joined the company in January of 1958. In 1960, the company was incorporated and began to grow by the addition of more foundry materials such as no-bake binders, ceramic tile, core and mold coatings, and equipment. Betty retired in 1968 and a new position was created, now known as Accounting Manager, with responsibilities that include Accounts Receivables and Payables. Fred retired in 1969 after 25 years of growth and Don became President and CEO. Don, Jr. followed in his fathers footsteps by earning a degree in Ceramic Engineering from Alfred in 1983. He came to work for the company immediately as a Technical Sales Representative. After many years of learning the territory, Dean, as he is known, was promoted to Vice President and Sales/Marketing Manager. With Don Sr. entering "semi-retirement" in 1999, Dean has become the third generation President and CEO and Don Sr. is now Chairman of the Board. Careful business continuation planning has provided a long-term outlook for our principals. Dean had not been with the company long before it was obvious that more help was needed in the office. In 1985 the position of Customer Service Manager was created to deal directly with our customers and principals. The last several years have been an exciting and important period in the growth of Weaver Materiel. A state-of-the-art IBM AS/400 computer system has been installed dealing with all phases of the business, but most importantly in the area of order entry. We have also secured warehouse space in Buffalo and Syracuse, NY, Erie, Blairsville and Reading, PA and Holyoke, MA to better serve our customers and relieve our sources from LTL shipments. Two sand transloading operations have also been implemented, enabling us capture additional market share in New England. Doug Klosen joined Weaver Materiel in 1994 as our Technical Sales Representative in Eastern New York and New England. Doug, also a Ceramic Engineer, came to us with over 25 years of experience in the electric furnace refractory and ceramic industry. Doug also covers a portion of our recently acquired Eastern Pennsylvania territory concentrating in the northeast counties of Pennsylvania and areas of New Jersey and Delaware. Mike Anthony joined our Foundry Sales Staff in July 1997. He is a metallurgist from the University of Pittsburgh and lives in New Castle, PA. He spent several years traveling the East Coast from Maine to Virginia for Ajax Magnethermics. Mike is responsible for Western and Southeastern Pennsylvania as well as portions of Maryland and West Virginia. Dave Stimson is our most recent addition to our sales staff beginning in October of 1999. Dave has over 20 years of foundry experience including ferrous and non-ferrous operations; no-bake and green sand molding as well as casting sales. Dave is responsible for the majority of New York State, and the northern half of Pennsylvania. With the large and rapid expansion of the sales staff it soon became apparent that more inside support staff was needed. In 1999 a new position of Sales, Marketing and Administrative Assistant was created to serve the increasing needs of the sales force. The companies we represent who comprise the major portion of our business include Fairmount Minerals (whose Wedron Silica Division we have represented for 55 years), Foseco, Inc., United Erie, American Minerals and Industrial Ceramic Products. An interesting sidelight to our business has been the turf industry. We began selling Best Sand (a division of Fairmount Minerals) bunker sand to golf courses several years ago. Since then, Fairmount acquired 50% ownership of the D. M. Boyd Company who produce top dressings and construction mixes. In order not to dilute our foundry sales efforts, we hired Mark Kaufman in April of 1998. Mark lives in New Wilmington, PA and has total responsibility for golf and turf sales in New York and Pennsylvania. All of us at Weaver Materiel are proud of our long and enviable reputation of representing the highest quality companies and products in the industry. We are also proud of our Customer Service and our ability of enhance our customers market position and profitability by solving their problems with a competent, dedicated Sales and Office staff. Address: Phone: (716) 664-5315 CISA Home | About CISA | Member/Product Directory | Member News
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