Riverside Products - Above and Beyond

A NEW DIRECTION. Riverside Products is no stranger to change. The company has gone through several incarnations since its founding in 1959 following the purchase of Riverside Foundry by Sivyer Steel. While the names and structure have changed slightly over the years, Riverside Products’ commitment to providing high-quality rotor designs and wear parts to its customers in the shredding industry has remained steadfast.

Now that the new Riverside Products Inc. has emerged in a cooperative arrangement with shredder systems manufacturer Riverside Engineering, that commitment is stronger than ever, says General Manager Kevin Toft. "We are spending huge amounts of time and resources developing new products for our customers," he says. "We’re also spending time and effort developing new services."

Riverside Products realizes that the shredding industry is constantly evolving, so it refuses to settle for the status quo. Rather than offer its customers different versions of what’s been done before, Riverside Products prides itself on pursuing innovation. Toft says this forward-thinking attitude is demonstrated and fostered by the amount of time Riverside Products engineers spend in the field. "We do spend a lot of time in the field looking at rotor assemblies, looking for design changes and trying to look for the next best thing," he says.

Armed with this dedication to go above and beyond what’s expected of a wear parts provider, Riverside Products is poised to expand its services to the shredding industry and on a few new fronts as well.

CUSTOM-MADE. Riverside Products considers all shredder operators part of their potential customer base, no matter what they’re shredding and no matter what manufacturer designed their system.

"Some shredders are old enough where there’s no longer an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to support them," says John Stelk, manager of engineering at Riverside Products. "We can come in and help those customers."

Size is also no object for Riverside Products. While the company’s customer base tends to skew toward larger shredding operations, Riverside Products is capable of making rotors of any size. "We’ve made rotors as small as the size of a desk and as large as a whole room," says Stelk. "And we can make parts for any shredder."

TEAM EFFORT. Many people contribute to the ongoing success of Riverside Products. President Art Gibeaut heads up the company, along with General Manager Kevin Toft. In addition to the management team, a number of key personnel make up the Riverside Products staff, including Manager of Engineering John Stelk, Account Manager Bud Bradley and a dedicated sales team and engineering staff.

While the company’s base of operations is its Moline, Ill., headquarters, a network of plants and satellite sales offices around the world help Riverside Products manufacture and deliver its rotors and parts to customers, including offices in the United Kingdom.

THE SUM OF ITS PARTS. In addition to rotors and rotor design, Riverside Products also serves the shredding industry as a manufacturer of wear parts and wear parts castings.

"We have one of the most complete lines of wear parts available," says Riverside Products General Manager Kevin Toft. In addition to the shredding systems designed by the company’s cooperative partner Riverside Engineering, Riverside Products wear parts cover all shredders, including old hammermill machines, Toft says.

The company has more than 4,200 active part numbers and is constantly looking to add to that catalogue. "Riverside is continuing to focus on new ideas for the recycling markets," Toft says. "With our wide-reaching capabilities for new part design and material compositions, we are always looking for a better wear part."

A POWERFUL REPUTATION. In its 40-some years in the industry, approximately 30 of those years making rotors, Riverside Products has built a strong, recognizable reputation. "We’ve sold more than 650 rotors," says John Stelk, manager of engineering. "I don’t know that anybody’s made that many for the variety of machines we have."

In addition to the sheer number of rotors sold, General Manager Kevin Toft says the company also excels in the number of patents it holds. "We have 15 patents to the Riverside Products name, and 12 of those are rotor-related," Toft says.

The number of patents demonstrates Riverside Products’ innovative spirit, according to Toft. "We pride ourselves on putting out something [new], being innovative instead of just doing the same-old, same-old," he says. "We spend time focusing on what’s going to be the best for the future versus just figuring out ways to make a less expensive version of what’s already out there to save cost."

REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS. Rotor design and shredder wear parts are the dual cornerstones of Riverside Products product line, and the Revolution Rotor is a prime example of the company’s emphasis on unique solutions to metal shredding.

The Revolution Rotor is a hybrid of sorts—combining the toughness and weight of a disc rotor and the shredding performance of a spider rotor, says Kevin Toft, general manager of Riverside Products.

John Stelk, Riverside Products manager of engineering and a 30-year company veteran, says the extra weight of the Revolution Rotor translates into additional momentum and inertia, which ultimately reduces the electrical current needed to run the rotor, leading to electrical savings for shredders. Stelk likens it to the difference between hitting a nail with a light hammer or with a sturdy 2-pound hammer. "If you use a big 2-pound hammer, you don’t have to hit as hard," he says.

While the Revolution Rotor weighs some 15 percent to 20 percent more than its disc counterpart, it also feeds as aggressively as a spider model. "Typically, a disc rotor is very heavy, and spiders will feed a wider range of materials more quickly because they are self-feeding," Toft explains. "The Revolution Rotor was designed to take the advantages of both and put them together."

In addition, the minimal number of castings on the rotor save cost in assembly and machining, adds Toft. "It’s a complicated design that is easy to maintain," he says.

NEW AVENUES. Already an established name in rotor and wear parts manufacturing, Riverside Products is looking into its past for new business opportunities.

"We’re expanding out," says General Manager Kevin Toft. "We’re still doing the things that we’re very good at, but we’re expanding out a little bit as well."

First on the expansion agenda for Riverside Products is getting back into shear blade work—which just happens to be where the company got its start. Diversifying its offerings is a way to differentiate Riverside Products from its competitors, says Manager of Engineering John Stelk. "I can’t think of any other casting supplier that deals with shear blades and shear equipment," he says.

The company is also looking to expand into the aluminum smelting business and the aggregate industry, according to Toft. "The aggregate industry is very similar to the metals recycling industry in the design of the machine and the design of the wear parts, so it’s kind of a natural progression for us at this point." A

HANDS-ON APPROACH. In designing both its rotors and wear parts, Riverside Products isn’t content to sit on the sidelines when it comes to creating solutions for shredders.

General Manager Kevin Toft says the field service work the company offers helps Riverside Products stand out among the competition. "We try to solve problems out in the field doing things hands-on," Toft says.

Making service a priority fits in with the general philosophy Riverside Products applies to its business dealings, according to Account Manager Bud Bradley. "Our goal is to provide a quality product at a competitive price in a timely fashion," he says.

Riverside Products is confidant of its place in the industry and eager to showcase how service can make or break a deal. The company offers additional services such as inventory management and consignment of inventory to help reduce costs for its customers. "Both services offer our customers a way to keep the inventory that they require without the financial drawbacks of keeping it all on the ground," Toft says.

With these value-added services, the company strives to shoulder some of the burden for its customers so they can concentrate on their business.

"We recognize that in this industry, we’re never going to be the low-cost provider for all our customers," Toft says. "But we think we can be the best service provider. When you lay out all the services we can offer combined with our products, we bring a high level of value to our customer base."