Equipment Report

Motion Industries increases robotic presence

Birmingham, Alabama-based Motion Industries Inc., a distributor of maintenance, repair and replacement parts, has announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Axis New England and Axis New York. Those two firms comprise an automation and robotics company based in Danvers, Massachusetts. The transaction was scheduled to close March 1.

Founded in 1994, Axis serves the northeastern United States from its locations in Danvers and in Rochester, New York.

The company will continue its focus on motion control, robotics and machine vision as part of Motion’s Automation Solutions Group, according to Motion Industries. Areas of specialty include precision components, electromechanical assemblies and fully engineered automation systems.

Randy Breaux, president of Motion Industries, says, “We are very pleased with the addition of this well-established company, which will operate as part of Motion’s Automation Solutions Group. Acquiring Axis is in keeping with our strategic intent and complements our growth in the area of industrial plant floor automation.”

With annual sales of more than $5 billion, Motion Industries distributes bearings, mechanical power transmissions, electrical and industrial automation, hydraulic and industrial hoses, hydraulic and pneumatic components, industrial products, safety products and material handling components.

Motion Industries is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Genuine Parts Co.

New Jersey’s G&F Recycling uses optical sorter to recover mixed plastics

Newark, New Jersey-based G&F Recycling was having an issue sorting Nos. 3-7 plastics at its material recovery facility (MRF). G&F Recycling’s Operations Manager Tiffanie Nyzio says she realized the company could not afford to invest in manual sorters to capture this low-value material.

G&F Recycling recently installed a high-capacity Green Eye unit to sort the MRF’s high volumes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The MRF’s existing five-year-old Green Eye was relocated after the new sorter to recover high-density polyethylene (HDPE). To solve G&F’s problem, Green Machine LLC, Hampstead, New Hampshire,  programmed the company’s older Green Eye unit to positively sort Nos. 3-7 plastics while leaving HDPE to be hand-sorted.

“Green Machine’s patented Green Eye hyperspectral optical sorter is essentially a high-speed spectrophotometer utilizing patented hyperspectral artificial intelligence,” says Neal Eason, Green Machine’s optical engineer specialist. “The machine can be trained to differentiate and separate a wide range of different plastic polymers as well as other materials, individually or all at the same time.”

MSS receives patent for PrecisionFlow eject hood design

MSS Inc., the optical sorting division of San Diego-based recycling equipment manufacturer CP Group, has received a patent for its PrecisionFlow eject hood for optical sorters.

When processing lightweight materials, controlling the trajectory of those types of materials inside the eject hood is challenging. The newly patented PrecisionFlow eject hood uses a curved design that “eliminates back pressure and smoothly guides the materials by using air flows along the outline of the wall,” MSS says. This is especially important in optical sorters that operate and process material at higher than conventional speeds, the manufacturer adds.

“Because of the optimized shape of the hood, we have much better control of the trajectories inside the PrecisionFlow eject hood,” says MSS Sales Director Felix Hottenstein. “This provides our customers with better separation efficiency, increasing the removal of flexible plastic packaging from contaminated paper streams. It also enhances positive sorting of fiber.”

Third-party testing shows the eject hood played an essential role in recovering 97 percent of flexible plastic packaging from contaminated paper streams. MSS has installed it on more than 60 FiberMax and PlasticMax optical sorters.

Sweed system worthy of an Encore

McKinney, Texas-based aluminum and copper wire producer Encore Wire Corp. is now using four wire and cable chopping machines supplied by Gold Hill, Oregon-based Sweed Machinery Inc.

Encore Wire has what it describes as “enormous production capacity” to make wire that is distributed widely throughout the United States. But the company’s Process Engineer Scott Thompson says its scrap processing capabilities lagged in sophistication. “We used to have a very labor-intensive scrapping process,” he says. “It was a huge labor cost and could potentially pose a hazard to employees.”

At first, the company updated its scrap processing system with a machine from a different equipment manufacturer. “It was a poorly designed and outdated machine,” Thompson says. “The only part of it that worked effectively was a small chopper by Sweed, and it worked really well.”

After considering that, Thompson called Sweed, which he says worked closely with him to understand Encore’s needs, capacity and goals. Four years later, Encore now has three additional Sweed machines customized to its needs, and its scrap processing system is more streamlined, Thompson says.

Encore uses Sweed’s Model 5703 XHD scrap chopper and PCR 1034 prechopper to process linear scrap material, efficiently liberating the copper and aluminum, he adds.

Shaker tables further process the polyvinyl chloride (PVC), high-density crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) and nylon plastic coatings by isolating them from the nonferrous copper and aluminum materials to be reclaimed.

“We produce and ship millions of pounds of finished product every year,” Thompson says. “A result of manufacturing that much volume is we generate PVC, XLPE and aluminum scrap every year,” he adds.

Sweed’s machines enable Encore to reclaim reusable raw materials at a lower cost while increasing quality and volume, according to the company.

Wastequip to purchase Amrep

Wastequip, Charlotte, North Carolina, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Amrep, a leading refuse body and hoist manufacturer.

Amrep is a family-owned business based in Ontario, California, with additional facilities in Salisbury, North Carolina; Phoenix; Pacific, Washington; and Sacramento, California. The company was founded in 1976 and has become a well- recognized brand in the West Coast market, Wastequip says in the news release announcing the planned purchase.

Under the deal’s terms, Amrep will continue to operate as its own entity with the existing leadership team reporting directly to Wastequip CEO Marty Bryant. The deal is not expected to result in a reduction in workforce for either company, Wastequip says.

The addition of Amrep’s front-load and automated side-load refuse trucks fulfills Wastequip’s mission of serving as a one-stop shop for waste equipment for haulers and municipalities, with products for curbside collection to final destination, the company says.

Amrep’s heavy-duty refuse trucks are made with 100 percent Hardox steel in the hopper, packer, body and tailgate. They also feature a patented zero-radius arm that allows haulers to use more efficient side-load trucks even in tight urban areas.

The acquisition provides Amrep with the capital to complete its technology offering with its refuse body trucks, including onboard diagnostics and routing. Additionally, existing parts customers will benefit from an expanded line card and will now have the ability to order Amrep cylinders through Wastequip’s Go To Parts brand.

With this acquisition, Wastequip says it can offer its customers complete nationwide product coverage for cable hoists by pairing Amrep, a leading brand in the West, with Galbreath, an established market leader in the eastern United States.

Alex Ghibaudo, CEO of Amrep, says, “We believe the combined power of our two companies will extend our ability to grow our refuse truck market share significantly and develop an even more robust product suite.”

Wastequip is a leading North American manufacturer of waste handling equipment. The privately held company says it is the only manufacturer to offer a full line of steel and plastic products designed to collect, handle and transport a wide variety of waste and recyclables.