Sanimax Continued from page 21 himself by overseeing the construction and hiring of an onsite maintenance garage for the company’s fleet, Murray Sr. increased his involvement with NRA, becoming its chairman in 1982, the first non-US renderer to hold the position. Meanwhile, Murray Jr. continued to develop the family business, including acquiring new collection routes. Up until this point, Alex Couture, Inc. had been confined to its natural territory in eastern Quebec, never venturing to Montreal. That would change under the command of Murray Jr. In 1980, Alex Couture, Inc. purchased Recyclage Kebec, Inc., a rendering plant owned by two brothers about 30 miles east of Montreal that specialized in collecting used cooking oil from restaurants. The rendering plant itself was not considered important, but the owners had binding contracts with a large number of collectors whose routes extended as far away as Toronto in the neighboring province of Ontario. Above all, the purchase of Recyclage Kebec allowed Alex Couture, Inc. to cross a symbolic boundary and launch its assault on the area around Montreal. The recycling of used cooking oil also became a more prominent activity at the Charny plant. This acquisition was the first of many as Alex Couture, Inc. no longer hesitated to enter the territory of another renderer in order to increase its market share. However, the same was now true of its competitors, causing small independent suppliers to continually switch sides. Murray Jr. decided to put an end to this volatile situation by buying them out systemically. Of the 32 collecting permits issued in Quebec in 1982, a majority ended up in the hands of Alex Couture, Inc. In 1983, Murray Sr.’s second son, André, joined the family business after obtaining his bachelor’s degree in economics at St. Lawrence University in New York at the age of 23. Four of Murray’s children would complete their studies at this US university. André’s fluent English, along with his systematic and rigorous approach to management, allowed him to rise to the top of Alex Couture, Inc. in just three years and open doors in the area of international trade. This role, along with his father’s European contacts made through NRA, provided opportunity for André to travel to Europe to study its rendering industry and gain in-depth understanding of the technologies it had developed. Murray Sr.’s youngest son, Martin, began at the company as soon as he graduated college in 1991. His first assignment was the formation of New England Recycling to create new collection routes in the bordering US states of Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire, which were serviced by rival renderer Baker Commodities, Inc. The old-fashioned territorial war went back and forth with both adversaries recording gains and losses until the Canada-US border was closed to beef products in 2003 as a result of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Murray Sr.’s youngest daughter, Julie, joined the company in 1999 after actively participating in the decisions of the board of directors. His eldest daughter, Hélène, worked at the company for a few years in the late 1980s, but returned to her passion of working on Wall Street. A Time of Turbulence In 1986, a wave of reorganization swept over the rendering industry and many companies changed ownership or closed down. Alex Couture, Inc. strived to make new gains and prevent a takeover, especially from British food giant Hillsdown, which already owned Canadian renderer Rothsay and was looking to increase its presence in Quebec. Although Alex Couture, Inc. was unsuccessful at buying two North American renderers, Darling in 1986 and National By-Products in 1988, a key piece of information in the summer of 1986 eventually led to the strategically played-out acquisition of Lomex, a rendering plant on the east side of Montreal and Alex Couture, Inc.’s biggest competitor. The takeover strengthened the position of the renderer, making it one of the three largest players in the Canadian rendering industry. A holding company named Sanimal, an idea of Murray Jr., was created to oversee the operations of all companies within the group. However, shortly after Sanimal was created Murray Jr. began to lose interest in rendering and ventured into real estate. André had been in sole command of the family business since 1986, building a team that reflected his own vision. Eventually, Murray Jr.’s shares in the company were bought out and he received the real estate portion along with a cash amount. Murray Sr. believed this represented the best solution to preserve the family business for the next generation. Between 1981 and 1991, Sanimal took over several raw material collection businesses to secure its supplies when either its contracts expired or the owners retired. However, the rendering industry reached the bottom of a cycle in 1991 when commodity markets dropped and the strong growth of preceding years vanished. In addition, union negotiations at the Lomex plant led to a lockout of workers. Managers operated the plant in two shifts, additional volume was sent to Charny, and a mothballed plant was used to full capacity. The strike lasted 59 weeks but the experience forced Sanimal management to reflect on the role rendering companies play in the community. If animal by-products could not be collected and processed suitably, the entire food chain would be affected and the general population would suffer the consequences. Based on this realization, Sanimal lobbied the provincial government to be recognized as an essential service, obtaining final confirmation in May 1994, one week before the expiration of a union agreement at the Lomex plant. Under the act respecting essential services, the Sanimal plants could never cease operations, meaning that union workers could not stop working. Sanimax’s plant in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, today. 22 April 2014 Render www.rendermagazine.com
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