New ReMA Member Profile: Research Alloys

Research Alloys Company started in the 1960s, on a small farm in Sullivan, Ohio. Joseph A. Cusato and Joseph F. Cusato founded the company and used their expertise in machining to move into metal recycling and help their Columbus neighbors buy and sell recycled metal.

More than fifty years later, Research Alloys Company, Inc. has grown and expanded significantly. Situated in the rising Hilltop neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio, the company now has thousands of vendors and customers in and around all of Ohio and extending into Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama, California, Illinois, and Georgia.

Research Alloys’ sister company, Stargate Metals, offers a wide range of metals for sale, including steel, aluminum, and stainless steel sheets, bar, and tubing. Stargate also resells good usable tools and machinery.

We’ve found that we need the connections and resources that ReMA provides to complement where we are today.

John Cusato

ReMA News had the opportunity to chat with owner and vice president, John Cusato, grandson of founder Joseph A. Cusato, as well as Carly Woodrow, the operations manager, about the company’s history, its short- and long-term goals, and how they decided to become a ReMA member.

Tell me about Research Alloys. How did get started and where are you now?

John: We’re a metal recycling company that my grandfather launched in the late 1960s. He was a machinist in the Navy where he built parts for warships. After the war he realized the government was liquidating a lot of the materials from the war effort because they were downsizing.

He started researching the alloys, which is how the company got its name.  He used to buy tool steel, using methods like spark testing to determine the alloys and then would sell them to different foundries in and around Cleveland. He operated the business from the 60s through the 70s. My father helped take over the business in the 1970s and moved the operation off the farm in Sullivan, Ohio to Columbus, Ohio where he was going to school at Ohio State.

My father developed and grew the business through different machine shops and companies in Columbus and set up the facility in the Grandview area of Columbus, and it has grown from there.

One of the major changes we’ve made since the days of my grandfather is we’ve gone from being an outdoor yard into a fully indoor recycling facility. That change has been better from an environmental perspective as well as for the safety and wellbeing of our employees.

What does your day to day look like?

John: Like many people in the recycled materials industry, each day is fast paced. We’re in a growing community, so we’re constantly fielding questions from new people moving into town. We’ve also grown with some of our customers that we’ve had for over 30 years—supporting them through machinery changes and taking their recycled metal. A typical day starts early with a lot of meetings and communication to set up for the day, as well as figuring out any of the typical challenges and opportunities that pop up in our industry.

Carly: We’re operating from multiple angles in the company. We also have a drive-through that’s open to the public where we do buy ins. That drive-through is used by everyone from residents in the community who bring bags of aluminum cans all the way up through contractors and our bigger commercial accounts. So, we adapt day by day to what comes in there, addressing challenges that arise. We also have large commercial and industrial accounts, so we also deal with trucking and transportation logistics. To say the least, no two days are alike.

How does Research Alloys give back to the local community?

John: We support the Columbus Westside Running Club, a free running and walking club on Columbus, Ohio’s west-side that has weekly group runs and running events. There’s a trail that goes right by our facility. At our old location we were one of the fundraisers for the local school’s sports teams. We’re also the local scrap customer for the Ronald McDonald House. We do a company match up to $2,500 yearly for all the aluminum soda tabs that they recycle.

How did you hear about ReMA and what made you decide to join?

Carly: We’ve both known about ReMA for a long time from being in the industry. We’ve heard great things about the association from many other recycled materials facilities and some of our buyers. We got a lot of questions earlier in the year asking if we were planning to attend ReMA2025. It’s been on our radar for a while, and I’ve been trying to think of new things for us to be doing and new ways for the company to get involved in the industry.

John: We’ve seen a lot of growth over the last five years since the pandemic in 2020. We’ve found that we need the connections and resources that ReMA provides to complement where we are today.

What are some of your short- and long-term goals for the company?

John: We offer next day service to our commercial and industrial accounts. Through our growth we’ve been able to maintain that consistent next-day service. If you call us by noon on a Tuesday, we’re getting you picked up on Wednesday. We make that a big effort, especially with the industrial side. Essentially, it’s like being the Amazon of the recycled materials industry.

Carly: We have a metals sales side of the business called Stargate Metals; it’s like our sister company. We’re in the process of bringing it into the 21^st century. We regularly stock new retail merchandise like stainless steel and aluminum sheet, and we also sell items brought in for recycling that may still be useable items like air compressors or different types of machinery. We want to be a valuable reuse outlet, so we’ve been focusing on modernizing our sales system and digitizing our inventory to make it a more efficient system.

John: We’re also focused on providing safety training and development. In addition to our monthly safety meetings, we provide training for our current employee base to get a refresh on different areas, and our new hires go through a safety training process when they come on board. We want to make sure that our employees are happy, safe, and achieve their goals.

Carly: For me, this is an exciting time to be at Research Alloys. It feels like we’re in the middle of crossing a bridge, moving from being an old school scrap yard to a modern recycled materials facility. We’re making good changes and finding ways to make our processes more efficient. It’s invigorating to meet new contacts and discuss best practices. Every day feels dynamic, and every project feels like we’re moving in a good direction.

Images Courtesy of Research Alloys.