Equipment report

Navistar opens used truck reconditioning facility

Lisle, Illinois-based Navistar recently held the grand opening for its Used Truck Reconditioning Center in Melrose Park, Illinois, saying the event signaled a new chapter for the Diamond Renewed certified brand of used International trucks.

“One of the greatest advantages of a centralized reconditioning center is the ability to work hand in hand with the on-site product engineering and prototype team in order to fully understand product durability and use this knowledge to provide the highest level of service to our customers,” says Jeff Heichel, vice president, used truck operations, Navistar.

A centralized reconditioning center supports used truck activities by examining the Diamond Renewed reconditioning process to ensure a consistent product is available to all International dealers and to Navistar’s own 15 used truck sales centers, the company says. Additional benefits of the reconditioning center, according to Navistar, include the ability to handle large transactions in a timely fashion, ensure quality improvements and meet internal cost targets.

The center is fully scalable to meet demands and includes a wash bay, detailing and paint booth, welding room and a parts storage area, the company says.

Navistar says it plans to relocate its nearby International Used Truck Sales Center to its Melrose Park facility.

BHS adds Paal channel baler to product offering

Kadant Inc., which designs and manufactures products used in industries ranging from paper to plastics and textiles to tires, has named Eugene, Oregon-based Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) the exclusive distributor of its high-performance balers to material recovery facilities (MRFs) in the United States and Canada. Additionally, through BHS, Kadant, based in Westford, Massachusetts, has landed its first U.S. order for a channel baler, which will be installed at a regional MRF in Monterey, California.

Kadant says the appointment of BHS represents another important step in the company’s strategy to drive revenue synergies following its April 2016 acquisition of Paal Group, a European manufacturer of horizontal balers used to process recyclables and nonrecyclables. Kadant purchased the baler company for $58 million.

“We are pleased to be entering this segment of the North American recycling market with BHS, a leader in the design and manufacture of large-scale sorting systems,” says Jonathan Painter, president and CEO of Kadant. “Our high-quality, German-engineered balers are uniquely aligned with BHS’ commitment to performance and quality. We are honored that Kadant’s first U.S. baler will be part of the advanced materials recovery facility BHS is constructing in Monterey, California. This facility will be operated by the Monterey Regional Waste Management District, an award-winning 65-year-old operation recognized as one of the best solid waste systems in North America.”

BHS is building the 70-ton-per-hour multiline MRF, which will open later this year.

“To bring Europe’s leading horizontal baler brand to America just makes good sense,” Ted Pierpont, director of sales for BHS, says.

BHS CEO Steve Miller says, “We believe Kadant’s channel baler offers our customers a combination of cutting-edge technology and performance that is uniquely well-suited to the needs of sophisticated, large-scale recycling facilities.”

He adds, “We’ve long known Paal to produce an unrivaled channel baler, and when you combine the product with Kadant Paal’s commitment to the North American market, this partnership makes a lot of sense for BHS and our customers.”

Software Genius introduces software for salvage yards

Software Genius Inc., based in Iselin, New Jersey, with development offices in India, has introduced SCAA (Salvage Claim and Auction), a cloud-based platform designed to help salvage yards, insurance companies and used car and parts dealers automate their businesses. With the software, users can manage their workflow, vehicle and parts reselling and business intelligence.

According to Software Genius, SCAA enables automated workflow management between insurance adjusters and salvage yards using notifications and entitlement management. It also features an Auction Engine for scheduling online vehicle auctions and a Parts Auction Engine that helps to identify the saleable parts for each vehicle in inventory based on the vehicle identification number (VIN), make and model. SCAA also offers business analytics and intelligence that are designed to learn the user’s business goals and help project buy and sell decisions and pricing projections.

Software Genius says SCAA can be customized to existing websites.

SCAA is available at www.salvageclaimnauction.com, and registration is free for the first three months. Software Genius says it guarantees that at the end of the three-month period users can purchase the software for half the price of other platforms on the market.

OBC expands into waste industry, exits Harris dealership

Ohio Baler Co. (OBC), Cleveland, has expanded its core competencies with the launch of a new waste division. OBC Waste focuses on placing waste compactors and developing solutions for companies to most efficiently manage their nonrecyclable materials.

Patrick Spear has been hired to lead this new division. Spear comes with more than 14 years of experience in managing customer relationships, fulfilling sponsorship agreements and executing marketing plans with schools and sports-related governing bodies.

To realign the company around this expansion, Bob Koch has been promoted to sales director for OBC Baling Equipment and OBC Used Equipment, and Jim Olszewski will fulfill the position of director of operations for OBC Rigging Services. Koch has been with OBC for 14 years and Olszewski for five.

In other company news, OBC’s Baling Equipment division has says it has opted not to renew its regional dealer contract with Harris. Instead, OBC says it will focus on products from American Baler, Bellevue, Ohio, moving forward. OBC will represent American’s entire line of horizontal, auto-tie and two-ram balers.

OBC says it has decided not to renew its regional dealer contract with Cordele, Georgia-based Harris after having partnered with the company for more than 13 years, providing sales and support for customers in Ohio, Kentucky, western Pennsylvania, western New York and eastern Michigan. OBC represents American in a roughly identical territory.

“It was probably the most difficult business decision we’ve had to make here at OBC,” says Mike McChrystal, OBC president. “We have a great relationship with everyone at Harris and have appreciated the opportunity to represent that brand. But remaining fully committed to both brands has become challenging and has created confusion among our customers and in the marketplace.”

The OBC team says it realized it was time to focus solely on American Baler, adding in a press release announcing the move that “the products, goals and overall direction of that brand better align with that of OBC.”

OBC says it will continue to service and support its customers operating Harris equipment and to carry the Max-Pak line of balers to provide closed-door and vertical baling solutions.

Van Dyk supplies equipment for FCC’s Dallas MRF

Van Dyk Recycling Solutions (VDRS), Stamford, Connecticut, has announced that it has supplied the single-stream sorting system for the FCC Environmental Services Dallas material recovery facility (MRF). The Dallas facility is one of FCC Environmental’s first U.S. MRFs.

The MRF processes single-stream material from Dallas and University Park, Texas, passing its acceptance test for the city of Dallas prior to the contract start date of Jan. 1, 2017, VDRS says.

The Dallas MRF includes starscreens (from Lubo Systems) that separate old corrugated containers (OCC), glass, fiber and containers, including VDRS’ newest offering, the Anti-Wrapping ONP (old newspapers) screen, the widest screen in the industry at 13.3 feet with 440 stars, the equipment provider says.

Four Tomra (formerly TITECH) Autosort 4 optical sorters recover remaining fiber and separate plastics. An overbelt magnet and eddy current recover ferrous and aluminum cans, respectively, while a glass cleanup system (from Walair) creates four fractions of glass. A Bollegraaf HBC-120S baler also is featured.

VDRS is the North American distributor for Bollegraaf, Lubo and Tomra.

PopScrap introduces point-of-sale product

Kelseyville, California-based PopScrap.com Inc., the parent company of WeighPay Solutions, has released a point-of-sale product (POS) for the recycling and waste industry named BestMadePOS.com (BMPOS).

BMPOS is designed to capture a new income stream for the scrap and waste industry, the company says, adding that it offers a fully integrated system with credit card payment processing, customer relationship management (CRM) tools and an SMS text message marketing tool. PopScrap says the text messaging tool has been shown to increase daily tickets counts as much as 30 percent.

In a news release announcing the product, the company says, “Our customers want to capture back some of the money that they are paying out for scrap materials. They understand they already have a captive audience with new cash in their pockets. Many are selling drinks, snacks, ice creams and other quick-serve items.”

The company says the product can handle sales, purchases and invoices using the same ticket screen and offers integrated accounts payable and accounts receivable with Quick Books.

A&E Auto Electric adds swissRTec shredder

New Hampshire-based swissRTec America Inc. has announced A&E Auto Electric, Spartanburg, South Carolina, has added a Kubota Vertical Shredder as part of its plant expansion.

A&E Auto Electric has made alternators and starters for 36 years. Owner and CEO Don Willis says the company recently ventured into the reclamation field because of the valuable copper in its manufacturing byproducts.

“Initially we sold our waste material to China,” Willis says. “We then realized we could profit from this waste material as well.”

The Kubota Vertical Shredder can process large and small domestic appliances, metal scrap and other bulky items, including alternators. Since installing the vertical shredder, Willis says he has seen a significant difference in the efficiency of his recycling operation.

“We are making good headway in terms of getting the copper out of the alternator components,” Willis says. “We have gotten millions of pounds out and we are just getting started. Our scrap metal dealer could not believe how much we had retrieved, or the quality of the copper. Alternator components have four or five different metals within them, and there is also plastic and trash residue to be removed. From this process, we get No. 1 copper and busheling steel.”

Willis says, “With copper-bearing material, in order to get the most value out of it, you need to shred the material as fine and as cleanly as possible.

“SwissRTec had a shredder that did this using adjustable choke rings at the base of the shredder. No one else had that feature,” he adds.

SwissRTec America is a wholly owned subsidiary of swissRTec International of Switzerland. The company sells technology and mechanical systems to the recycling industry on an international scale and designs, builds and commissions turnkey e-scrap, scrap metal and auto shredder residue recycling facilities.

Himes Service celebrates 20 years in business

Robinson, Texas-based Himes Service Co. (HSC) is celebrating 20 years in business in 2017 and is preparing to open a new office in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to HSC owner and CEO Roy Daily.

Roy says the company’s highlights in its 20-year history include:

• Being founded in Waco, Texas, by Buddy Himes in 1997 “with the creed of servicing the customer’s needs first.” Roy says, “Jennifer Daily, Buddy’s youngest daughter, helped Buddy build the company, together working endless hours to build HSC into a successful service company.”
• In 2005, Roy joined HSC.
• In 2008 HSC hired Bobby McKown to help with the service team, followed by Juan Salinas and Carlos Fabela. Shortly after, Grant Daily and Victor Salinas were brought on to further strengthen the sales team, Roy says.
• In 2010 Buddy retired, leaving the company with Jennifer and Roy.
• In 2012 HSC purchased a new building in nearby Robinson, Texas, to expand its offerings to its customers and hired additional staff to help with the growth of the company.
• In 2017 HSC is opening its new office in Dallas-Fort Worth “to help better service customers of today and tomorrow,” Roy says.

He says the company also is grateful for its current and future customers.

“We also would like to thank our outstanding employees,” Roy says. “HSC values each one as they help make Himes Service Co. reliable, dependable and very successful.

“We are looking forward to serving each one of our current and future customers for many years to come as we both continue to grow,” continues Roy, who says HSC also is thankful for “our vendors for great quality products so we can provide our customers with the greatest products on the market.”

In September 2016, HSC became the Texas and Oklahoma dealer for Jacksonville, Florida-based International Baler.