Steven Demetriou doesn’t want Aleris International Inc. to have the typical “boss culture” because he knows that any idea has the potential to be a great one.
“Just because certain high-level people have certain opinions doesn’t mean everybody’s got to fall into line,” says Demetriou, chairman and CEO of Aleris. “We lay out cultural norms across the company that talk about our collaborative culture. We should respectfully challenge each other.”
Aleris, a rolled aluminum products manufacturer, was formed in December 2004 when Commonwealth Aluminum Inc. — led by Demetriou — and IMCO Recycling Inc. merged. Demetriou relocated the company, bringing more than 100 jobs to the Greater Cleveland community.
He established a strong management team and a dedicated global work force committed to Aleris’ core values: data driven decision-making, solving today’s problems today and productivity improvement.
Demetriou led his company’s implementation of a Six Sigma program, intended to drive operations analysis, while adapting Aleris’ work environment and culture so the company could remain financially sustainable into the future.
He says companies have to experience a lot of failures to have success as the end result.
“You have to be patient and recognize that it may take 10 great ideas to ultimately have a winning innovation, and not penalize for ideas that didn’t turn out right,” he says. “Innovation doesn’t come easy.”
The key is having a rich pipeline of initiatives so that there is always something great on the horizon, and companies can accomplish that by providing best-in-class tools to their employees.
“You have to have the financial wherewithal to be able to fund good ideas,” Demetrious says. “A lot of it is just running a profitable business entity so you have the luxury of redeploying the capital to fund good ideas.”
The third quarter of 2006 will bring more changes for the company as Aleris is expected to acquire U.K.-based Corus Group plc. When this transaction is completed, Aleris will have approximately $5 billion in revenue and 8,400 employees and will operate 50 manufacturing locations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
HOW TO REACH: Aleris International Inc., (216) 910-3400 or www.aleris.com
