Scrap Handler Guide -- Welcome

In most instances, there is more than one way to get from point A to point B. That would seem to be as true for piles of scrap metal as it would be for anything else.

Scrap processors have certainly devised many different ways to unload, prepare, move and re-load scrap for outbound shipment. A visit to just one scrap yard, let alone a tour of several yards, will reveal a variety of different equipment being used by processors to move scrap metal from point A to point B.

With very few time-and-motion studies having been done to specifically measure how effective every conceivable material handling equipment combination is, there is room for a wide range of opinions on what works best.

And even if what works best could be determined, it must also be balanced with what works affordably. While every business owner would love to have the best equipment money can buy, capital budgets are seldom unlimited.

What scrap recyclers can do, however, is make careful, informed decisions. The variety of material handling equipment available broadens each year. Buyers must consider several factors with each purchase:

•style of handler (lattice boom or hydraulic)

•platform (treads, wheels, rail or stationary)

•lifting capacity, reach and cycle time

•new or used

•to purchase or lease

•which attachment(s): grapple, magnet, shear or others.

For a potential buyer, the number of questions to ask and references to seek is limited by time. What we hope to do each year with the Scrap Handler Guide is to offer some of the necessary information in one place.

Unfortunately, this year’s articles cannot answer all the questions that would lead to a proper buying decision. At the very least, though, they might help raise the questions a buyer should ask when investing in scrap handling equipment.