Equipment Report

Portable Crusher Helps Reduce Stadium Garage to Rubble

Brossart Materials & Recycling (BMR), Burlington, Ky., is using an Eagle UltraMax crushing plant to reduce the parking garage of Cincinnati’s Cinergy Field to two grades of stone to be used as a crushed concrete base product.

The UltraMax 1400-45 unit and an accompanying triple-deck screening plant crushed 100,000 tons of heavily reinforced parking deck and concrete piers from the garage. Cinergy Field is the former home of the Bengals and current home of the Reds.

BMR moved the UltraMax plant four times during the project, sometimes crushing the Cinergy material at its facility in Wilder, Ky., and other times moving the plant to an Interstate 75 construction site.

Cinergy Field (formerly known as Riverfront Stadium) is scheduled to host the Reds for one more baseball season before it will be demolished, possibly becoming fodder for BMR’s UltraMax.

The construction equipment business joined other industrial segments in experiencing a downturn in 2001, according to the Construction Industry Manufacturers Association (CIMA), Milwaukee, Wisc.

Shipments of new equipment continued to decline in the second quarter of 2001, with shipments down more than 9 percent from the second quarter of 2000.

"Factors contributing to the depressed demand for machinery include a ‘wait and see’ attitude by contractors on the economy, rental market over-saturation and a weakening export market that is not offsetting domestic business declines," says CIMA president Dennis Slater.

May and June 2001 were both down considerably from a year ago, with May down 30 percent and June declining 18.5 percent.

While the 2001 numbers may be weak compared to last year, it should be noted that 2000 was an exceptionally strong sales year. According to a machine shipment index kept by CIMA, equipment sales boomed in Spring of 2000, with the index reaching a high of 206 in March of 2000. (The index is based on the number 100 representing 1995 sales.)

The CIMA survey covers a range of equipment used by contractors, including crushers, screening equipment, feeders and breaker attachments.

A new Events Center constructed by The Mirage hotel in Las Vegas will allow attendees of the 2002 convention of the National Association of Demolition Contractors (NADC) to view equipment displays indoors.

The new 90,000 square feet Events Center features ceilings that are 27 feet high and doors that are 25 feet wide, allowing makers of concrete crushers and other equipment to display their wares indoors during the show, which runs March 10-13.

"In the past, some of our heavy equipment exhibitors could not be accommodated in the exhibit area and had to move their products to an outside area," notes Michael Taylor, NADC executive director.

The Mirage’s new convention complex also features new meeting rooms and a 40,000 square feet Grand Ballroom.

Kolberg-Pioneer Inc., Yankton, S.D., has named Greg Stach as its engineering man-ager. Stach has been with the company since 1996, most recently serving as a senior project engineer.

Stach is a Registered Professional Engineer in the state of South Dakota and a Certified Fluid Power Specialist. He holds a civil engineering degree from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Kolberg-Pioneer makes crushing, screening, conveying and classifying equipment for the aggregates industry. Kolberg-Pioneer is part of Astec Industries Inc., a holding company based in Chattanooga, Tenn.