Columbus McKinnon - VOLUMES OF SUCCESS

A highly specialized operation needs highly specialized equipment, so when Frank Mangiapane was asked to design a tire recycling program, he knew exactly where to turn.

The president and general manager of Silver Lining Tire Recycling of Wyandotte, Mich., had used a tire shredder manufactured by Columbus McKinnon Corp., Sarasota, Fla., at a prior business, so he was already familiar with the equipment’s capabilities. But for the operation at Silver Lining, Mangiapane needed more than just an individual shredder—he needed a systematic approach to tire shredding.

Silver Lining shreds both car and semi-truck tires into a 2-inch minus tire derived fuel (TDF) product, which it sells to the local power plant in its hometown of Wyandotte, Mich., as an alternative fuel. The company processed nearly a million and a half tires last year, Mangiapane says, making volume one of the most important factors in setting up the system. "The Columbus McKinnon engineers helped me design a system that would produce the product in the volumes I wanted," Mangiapane says.

The system at work at Silver Lining includes a primary shredder and a secondary chipper around a 45-foot Action screen with a vibrating pan. The system reduces whole tires down to 2-inch minus tire chips, which are run under a magnet to remove any steel. In addition to the primary TDF product, Silver Lining also sends any steel recovered to a local scrap yard and bales beads from truck tires. "Nothing is landfilled, nothing is wasted," Mangiapane says.

The Columbus McKinnon system generates between 10 and 12 tons per hour of finished product, according to Mangiapane, who says he only has to look at his company’s balance sheets to see evidence of the system’s success. After three years in development and having just started its third fiscal year in October 2006, Silver Lining turned a profit in only its second year of operation. "We had not expected to make a profit for the first four years or so," Mangiapane says. "The product the CM system makes, it’s the best chip in the market, which is one reason why we’ve been so successful in our short tenure."

A standout feature that has provided sizable cost savings for the company is the "Multi-Stack" knife configuration, according to Brian Radke, Silver Lining’s production manager.

With 18 years of experience in the tire recycling business, Radke is familiar with how quickly the cost of constantly replacing a shredder’s knives adds up. The CM system utilizes CM "Multi-Stack" and CM Double "Multi-Stack" knife technology which utilizes multiple width knives in the same machine, allowing worn knifes to be sharpened and reused multiple times in the same cutting chamber, which can add up to big savings for tire recyclers.

Radke says three knife sizes are used in the system at Silver Lining—2.2, 2.0 and 1.8. With the re-machining option, the company really only has to buy one size, the 2.2, new, reusing them as 2.0s and 1.8s as they are re-sharpened. "It’s extremely cost-efficient," says Radke.

Ease of use and maintenance is another area where the Columbus McKinnon system has impressed Silver Lining. "Everything revolves around maintenance, and it’s an easy system to run and maintain," says Mangiapane.

For any problems that do crop up, Mangiapane says Columbus McKinnon is quick to respond. "Their engineering staff has basically been on-call. When ever I ran into something new for the first time, they were there to help solve the problem."

Mangiapane is so impressed with the system’s performance, he’s looking into adding a Columbus McKinnon Liberator for the company’s possible expansion into the landscaping rubber market.

Furthermore, Mangiapane isn’t shy about showing his system off. "I’ve had people in from all over the world come in to check it out," he says. "I’m a very satisfied Columbus McKinnon customer and I tell everybody, ‘Go look at the rest, and when you want to see the best, come to me, and I’ll show you my CM system.’"

www.cmshredders.com