Our Founder Morris Lefton’s entrepreneurial journey began in East St. Louis in the 1940s after a tough childhood marked by his father's departure and time in a children's home. Rebellious and uninterested in school, Morris dropped out and entered the scrap business, mentored by his Uncle at Lefton Iron & Metal Company.
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Morris flourished in the scrap business under the mentorship of his uncle, eventually launching his own company focused on aluminum dross processing. He built the business into a major success and later sold it to a publicly traded company, where he became president of their metals division.
After spending over five years in the corporate world, Morris' entrepreneurial spirit never waned. He struck a deal to buy back his company, but on the closing day, the new owners reneged. Frustrated but undeterred, Morris walked out and, on that very day, founded Metal Exchange. It was the beginning of a bold new chapter, driven by his determination to take control of his destiny once again.
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Metal Exchange was founded around the dining room table of Morris Lefton's home, with his partner Howard “Curly” Estabrook and three close friends and confidants as the original employees. Morris’ three children created banners and posters with supportive messages for their father and his team. From these humble beginnings, Metal Exchange became a global leader in the aluminum industry, and as Morris’ portfolio of businesses grew, MX Holdings was established to be the holding company to help manage the enterprise.
Metal Exchange founded by Morris Lefton in St. Louis, MO around his dining room table. The business focused on primary and scrap metal trading. Metal Exchange was a pioneer in tolling agreements servicing the extrusion business.
Penn State Aluminum was a customer of Morris’ Metal Exchange. The Penn State Aluminum company was falling on hard financial times, and Morris saw an opportunity to expand, saving the business through an acquisition and later renaming it Pennex.
Pennex expands into fabrication, starting its fabrication facility in York, PA to service a contract making mailcarts for USPS. This is Pennex first step outside of the extrusion business and be a key moment in the growth of the company.
Pennex makes a $5 million dollar investment in its Wellsville facility to double the size of the building and add a new technologically advanced extrusion press. The expansion leads to more than doubling press capacity.
Expanded extrusion capability through Leetonia facility acquisition. Off the back of the great financial crisis, Pennex stepped in and purchased our Leetonia facility from General Extrusions. Ensuring the operations and employment in the area, while adding extrusion capacity to Pennex.
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Due to increased demand for its fabrication business, Pennex makes the decision to double the size of its York fabrication facility.
Expanded billet production capabilities through Greenville facility acquisition. Acquired our Greenville facility by purchasing a dormant and disused plant. This brought back over 50 jobs to the Greenville area, and is one of the highlights of Mike Lefton’s career.
Pennex marks its 40th anniversary with further robotics-driven expansion of Leetonia facility to enable precision engineered products
We are excited to embark on this endeavor with Century – a partner whose business strategy and expertise complement our own and whose team shares our values and people-centric culture. By pairing our collective focus on customer service with a state-of-the-art facility, cutting edge processes, and advanced technical expertise, billet produced by the joint venture will not only deliver exceptional quality and performance, but will enable our customers to achieve their sustainability objectives more effectively”
CEO of MX Holdings, parent company to Metal Exchange and Pennex.