International Baler - Proven Performer

Alma Iron & Metal has put a new International Baler to work right away as its all-purpose workhorse machine.

For Alma Iron & Metal of Alma, Mich., 2007 has been offering a lot of new perspective. "We moved to a new facility after 66 years at a previous site," notes Roger Simon, who is vice president of the company. His brother David serves as president.

The new location for the 78-year-old company has been outfitted with some new equipment as well, most notably an LD-60-XHD-10 model baler built by International Baler Corp (IB).

Since early April, the company has been baling a variety of scrap grades in the IB LD-60-XHD-10, including aluminum sheet, painted siding, aluminum extrusions, insulated wire and old corrugated containers.

"It can handle every type of material that we have put in there," Roger says of the single-ram machine. That versatility is important for a medium-sized operator like Alma I&M. "We don’t get enough of any one item to run the baler all day on one material," notes Roger.

Before buying the LD-60-XHD-10, Roger and David did some investigating along with a long-time advisor on equipment matters, Tom Stevens of equipment dealer Wolverine Recycling Services, Rochester, Mich.

"Tom had our confidence and knew our business, and this model is one he recommended that would work for us," Roger says. "We looked at used equipment and at some two-ram models and checked out other manufacturers at conventions, but this is the baler we needed," he says of the LD-60-XHD-10, which has been designed by IB specifically for baling of nonferrous metals.

The investment in the LD-60-XHD-10 has paid off in the reliability and versatility that the Simons were seeking. "It has performed admirably; downtime has been minimal," says Roger. "International had it ready to go when we moved in, and it has performed well for us."