Attachment Issue

Given the volatile nature of scrap prices, chances are good that any supplier of engine cores, transmissions or other automotive parts with an eye on the bottom line has implemented a recycling program in one form or another. For a smaller player in the market, that can mean simply collecting unused material and having it hauled off or, at best, baling it prior to removal. However, for the nation’s largest supplier of engine cores and transmissions, volume dictates a more dedicated approach.

AAEQ Manufacturers and Recyclers holds that distinction and, at its Las Vegas location—the firm’s other site is on Chicago’s south side—it has recently added a Genesis VersiPro, a skid-steer-mounted attachment with interchangeable jaw sets, to its processing equipment to help meet its material handling demands.

GATHERING EXPERIENCE. Started in Chicago nearly six decades ago as an engine core supplier, AAEQ has built both of its locations into profiles in efficiency. According to Scott Stolberg, company president, the firm learned from its experiences along the way and applied huge parts of that knowledge to its new endeavor.

"When we chose to get into auto dismantling at our Chicago yard, our experience dealing with auto wreckers, who were our suppliers, proved invaluable. As a result, when it came time to get that part of the business going, we already knew how to make money with it.

"Similarly," he continues, "we’ve been dealing with scrap people for a lot of years, so when we decided to expand our scrap operation in Las Vegas, we felt we had a good handle on things."

Stolberg says the expansion of the scrap operation was, in its most basic sense, quite simple: In the past trucks came by with scrap autos, and AAEQ would take the engines and transmissions and leave the rest on the truck. "Now," he says, "we will just take it all."

MAKING IT SO. Getting to that point, however, was not quite as simple. Stolberg says it took his firm about a year to settle all the permitting issues prior to getting going.

"That included time spent getting the yard into compliance with local and federal ordinances," he says. "While those changes were taking place, however, we had a chance to consider our options for the actual processing operation. We understood the basic precepts of the scrap business: handle the material as little as possible, get it done as economically as possible and keep volumes up. Although we didn’t anticipate taking in any huge material, we knew we’d still have to process scrap to a size that could be mill-ready and easily transported."

For the first year or so, AAEQ handled the downsizing operation with torches. As volumes started increasing, however, it became apparent that a better, faster, more economical method was needed. A trip to the 2005 ISRI (Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.) Convention—one of the largest trade exhibitions in the scrap industry—confirmed for Stolberg that there was a better way.

"We knew we didn’t want a full-size excavator and shear," he says. "That didn’t fit either our yard size or what we budgeted for the operation. We were, however, immediately attracted to the idea of using a shear on a skid-steer loader, so we sought out some manufacturers at the show. We looked at several brands, but I have a very good friend, an owner of an L.A. scrap business, who said he had four Genesis shears and was extremely pleased with what they did for him."

EMERGING TECHNOLOGY. Upon meeting with Greg Bacon, Genesis’ Western regional manager, Stolberg learned that the company was in the final stages of developing the VersiPro, a multi-jaw attachment—one of which was a shear jaw set—designed for skid steer use. Stolberg felt having the added versatility of multiple jaws could prove beneficial in AAEQ’s operation and made the commitment to purchase both shear and grapple jaws.

"The value of the shear jaws was obvious, but there are a number of things around the yard—component removal, material movement and compaction immediately came to mind—that I knew could be done with the grapple. At that show, we ordered the VersiPro and a skid steer on which to mount it, a rebuilt Harris HRB-8 baler and a portable hand-held shearing device. I guess at that point we were officially in the scrap business."

During the couple months in which the VersiPro was tested for the final time prior to delivery, AAEQ stockpiled material—all types of ferrous, copper, aluminum and, because of Las Vegas’s huge construction economy, a good deal of rebar—on site. Once delivered, Stolberg says the attachment set to work and, with the exception of a single issue early on, hasn’t looked back since.

PRODUCTION INCREASES. That difference in AAEQ’s operation includes the ability to process a broader range of material than ever before and a dramatic upturn in production. According to Stolberg, tonnages at the Vegas site had more than doubled from 375 tons to 800 tons per month since last January alone, with all indications they could get that number up to 1,000 tons per month by early ’07.

"Today, the VersiPro cuts about 80 percent of the material that comes into this site," he says. "So there’s no doubt it’s had an excellent impact on our processing capability. And we have seen a huge savings in both gas and labor; in fact, we’re at a point now where we don’t want to torch anything unless we absolutely have to. Axles with the shafts in them are a good example; they cannot be cut with the shear. So we tell our peddlers that if they deliver a car or light truck axle with the shafts in them, it will be treated as unprepared torchable material, but by pulling those shafts they can get a much better price. Most now choose to take that route."

While the shear jaws make the difference on the processing side of the business, Stolberg’s intuition about the grapple’s usefulness proved downright prophetic. The jaws can be changed out in less than 10 minutes and, once in grapple mode, the VersiPro fills a range of needs for AAEQ’s crews.

"We use the grapple jaws to do any number of things, including crushing components to improve load densities in bins being carted off site. One of the most useful functions, however, is in removal of electric motors from air conditioning units. In the past that was all done by hand and, as a rule, took about 15 minutes per unit. Now, in less than two minutes, we can simply grab the motor with the grapple jaws, pull it out of the air conditioner and place the motor in one pile and the now-recyclable housing in another. There are days when we will do hundreds of air conditioners, so you can see the time savings over the course of a day."

The future for AAEQ’s scrap operation looks rosy indeed, with volumes continuing to rise and the operation becoming more and more efficient along the way. Stolberg says patience is important when dealing with this part of the business.

"We are fortunate in that we really don’t have to rely upon an income from the scrap side of the business, so we can take it slow and reinvest in that part of the operation. We are constantly evolving and may even one day have to expand to where we need an excavator and a full-size shear."