By Angelina Tang
On Thursday, May 2nd, the 1st and 9th period Automotive Technology classes taught by Mr. DeLellis went on a field trip to Buffalo Engine Components (BEC) in downtown Buffalo. Through an extensive tour of their warehouse, facilities, and aluminum furnace, we learned about the automotive aftermarket and effective business modeling.
BEC is a company that takes in used automotive parts from scrap yards, sorts and cleans them, and resells usable parts to remanufacturing companies across the U.S.. They also sell parts and part kits to customers through their store and website. They work with engine blocks, components within engines, and transmission parts. In addition, they take in scrap aluminum metal to melt down in their aluminum furnaces, alongside unusable engine components. They then recool the metal into molds to create aluminum slabs, which are bought by steel companies, among others, to manufacture their metals.
BEC is a company that runs on reusing and recycling these old parts, giving them a new life instead of letting them go to waste in a scrap yard. It’s run by the Pellitieri family (Andy, Joe, and Jason), who built the company from a five-employee gig to the multi-million dollar company it is today, run on over a hundred employees.
The Auto classes got tours of the facilities by Jason and Andy; Andy is Jason’s cousin, who retired only half a year ago and came back to give the tour. We saw the warehouses where all of the engine components are kept, as well as the main workspace where workers are sorting goods and mass shipments to companies are packaged for delivery. We also visited the distribution centers, where certain individual parts are packaged and sold and individuals can purchase parts, in addition to the loading dock where oil is cleaned up and reused to be sold off to power companies. We were also bussed to a second facility where the company’s two gigantic aluminum furnaces are housed. Old engine components and scrap metal that cannot be reused is burnt down in the furnaces into molten aluminum, which is subsequently poured into molds and shipped off to steel companies to use in producing alloys.
In addition, the tour guides offered some important insights into business in general. Jason, my tour guide, told us about how he went straight to work at the family company after high school and climbed up the ranks before expanding it into what it is today. He emphasized the importance of hard work, that it doesn’t matter if you go to college or not–what matters is that you make sacrifices and do a good job in the workplace if you want money and success. He also stated that running a business runs on hiring good people as well, people who have that same work ethic as you and will exceed the standard.
The Auto field trip was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and has hopefully inspired some future businessmen to get down to work. Thank you to Mr. DeLellis, Mr. Komaromi, and Mr. Morog for chaperoning!
