Equipment Report

Al-jon Inc., Ottumwa, Iowa, has introduced a new End of Life Vehicle Recycling system (ELV) at the Automotive Recyclers Association annual convention in Anaheim, Calif. The prototype system was initially designed by Al-jon for California-based Pick Your Part Auto Wrecking.

According to Al-jon president Kendig Kneen, the entire system is designed to operate outdoors. Initially, a vehicle is placed onto a dismantling table by a Builtrite Model 2100 material handler. The vehicle is then held down with a set of hydraulic arms while the an operator controlling the Builtrite knuckle boom pops the car hood and removes high-value components such as radiators, condensers, engines and transmissions. Once all other re-saleable items are removed, the remaining hulk is loaded into an Al-jon car crusher for flattening.

Al-jon sites space and labor savings as selling points for the ELV system, as well as the environmental aspects of moving operations indoors, where fluid run-off can be more carefully controlled. Anti-theft security also improves if storage is moved indoors along with operations.

DUAL ACQUISITIONS FOR TEREX

Terex Corp., Westport, Conn., appears to have made a successful bid to buy Powerscreen International PLC, Dublin, Ireland. Terex says it will buy Powerscreen, a crushing, screening and material handling company, for about $287.5 million.

The directors of Powerscreen International say they consider the terms of the agreement to be “fair and reasonable,” according to text on the Pow-erscreen web page.

“I am very pleased to have reached agreement with Powerscreen International on the terms of an offer,” says Terex chairman and CEO Ron DeFeo. Powerscreen has more than 2,400 employees in the Irish Republic, Northern Ireland, Britain and the U.S.

Terex Corp. has also completed its acquisition of Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Cedarapids Inc., a manufacturer and marketer of mobile crushing and screening equipment, asphalt pavers and asphalt material mixing plants.

 Cedarapids is expected to generate about $200 million in annual sales.

“We believe there is substantial opportunity to grow Cedarapids while improving its basic operations,” says DeFeo. “[The] acquisition of Cedarapids, coupled with the recent acquisition of Powerscreen, has created a brand new road building business in excess of $400 million and puts Terex’s pro forma revenue well over $2 billion.”

RAIL-MOUNTED LIEBHERR CRANE SERVES MILL

A rail-mounted Liebherr scrap handler configured by Railcrane Corp., Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is filling charge buckets at the CSC steel mill in Warren, Ohio. The Liebherr model 954 material handler is owned and operated by International Mill Service Inc. (IMS), Coraopolis, Pa.

The scrap handler’s primary duty is to fill five charge buckets that serve the mill’s electric arc furnace. Kevin Shire, IMS assistant site superintendent at the CSC site, says that with an experienced operator, the machine can load the 105,000-pound charge bucket in nine minutes.

The 954’s cabin is equipped with a scrap blending monitor and software designed by IMS that displays the desired scrap and metallics mix and records the status of the mix as each load is dropped into the scrap mixture. Tony Venneri, IMS site superintendent at the CSC mill notes that the Liebherr machine was chosen for its “reliability and cost per hour to operate, it’s efficiency, it’s short cycle time and its speed moving in the yard.”

BUILTRITE MATERIAL HANDLERS INSTALLED

A pair of Builtrite Model 2100 Material Handlers from Northshore Manufacturing Inc., Two Harbors, Minn., are improving load densities of trucks leaving a southern California recycling and solid waste transfer facility. The handlers, mounted adjacent to the Los Angeles-area facility’s loading pit, are used to tamp down solid waste and remove material that interferes with the tarping of trailers headed for landfills. The handlers are controlled from a remote location and viewed through closed-circuit TV.

Each handler is equipped with a 23 foot, 6 inch boom and a 27-inch, ½ cubic yard waste handling grapple. The model 2100 is available with boom reaches ranging from 22 feet, four inches to 30 feet and lift capacities ranging from 6,300 to 20,000 pounds.

LEFORT P614 COMES TO DETROIT

Ferrous Processing and Trading Co., Detroit, has taken delivery of a new Lefort P614 mobile automobile baler. Tony Benacquisto, executive vice president of operations at Ferrous Processing and Trading Co., researched available machines both in the U.S. and in Europe before placing the order with Lefort USA.

The P614 baler is the largest in the Lefort product line. It boasts a compression box that is 19 feet, six inches long and 7 feet, 10 inches wide when open. The box is closed with 240 tons of force per side, giving a closed box size of 24 inches by 32 inches. The baling ram, which has a force of 120 tons, compacts the automobile against the exit door of the baler to produce a neat dense bale.

The baler is fitted with an operator’s cabin, which has a full view of the compression box that is controlled using joysticks and buttons.  A full automatic system is installed, and the baler can be supplied with remote control, if operation from a yard crane is required.

The power pack on the machine is driven by a 320 hp Cummins 12 series diesel engine, giving an automatic cycle time (baling an automobile complete with engine) of 1 minute and 15 seconds, from box open to box open.