Making a good impression

Published June 11, 2018

Tim Thibodeaux takes pride in his scrap handling equipment, and it shows.

He and his dad, Louis, started taking on large demolition and scrap recovery projects on the Gulf Coast in 1983. Ten years ago, when Louis retired from Thibodeaux & Son Scrapyard, which is based in New Iberia, Louisiana, Thibodeaux stepped up to manage the business, but he’s still a mechanic at heart.

“We run a tight shop,” Thibodeaux says.

Since his days servicing the fleet, Thibodeaux has enforced a strong maintenance program that includes daily checks, scheduled maintenance and regular oil sampling.

Thibodeaux’s focus on maintenance is reflected in his choice of scrap handlers, too. A number of green Sennebogen machines perform a full range of duties at the Thibodeaux & Son yard and beyond. Sennebogen has been his scrap handler brand of choice for years, and his company’s original 835 M still looks and runs like new, Thibodeaux says.

Learning by doing

RMG’s Sennebogen scrap handler moves bales of metal.

Luke Wyatt likes to learn by doing. Now a co-owner of Roane Metals Group LLC (RMG), Rockwood, Tennessee, Wyatt learned the recycling trade on the job, working alongside his father-in-law, Albert Baisley, at Southern Alloys and Metals, also in Rockwood. When RMG began, the company used the hands-on approach to learn scrap handlers.

“We tried all the usual suspects: different types of loaders and different dealers,” Wyatt reports. “One machine might be a little quicker. Another might have a stronger boom. But at the end of the day, it just made sense to put all our eggs in one basket, we chose the best machine with the best dealers. We figured that’s how to make sure we have the dealer’s attention when we need support.”

For RMG, the right combination was Sennebogen purpose-built material handlers backed by the Power Equipment dealership in Knoxville, Tennessee.

RMG now runs a number of Sennebogen machines, with most of them at the company’s main site in Rockwood and another at its branch location in Crossville, Tennessee.

“We got our first Sennebogen, an 825 M, from Power Equipment in 2007. It’s still doing all our loading work in Crossville, with over 26,000 hours on it. It’s had a couple normal wear parts through it, but it still runs on all its original pumps. It’s done pretty dog-gone well for us.”

On balance, Wyatt says he feels most machines in the category will perform their day-to-day work. However, RMG chose to stick with Sennebogen for the long-term reliability of the machines and parts support available from Power Equipment.

Gary Hirsch, Power Equipment vice president and general manager, says it’s no surprise. “Purpose-built material handlers are the way to go. And Sennebogen has invested heavily in its U.S.-based parts inventory and factory support services.”

RMG recently took delivery of its newest Sennebogen machine, an 835 M E Series. All of the company’s scrap handlers run on rubber tires, but the new machine is dedicated to feeding the site’s 750-ton shear/logger/baler from Sierra International, Bakersfield, California.

“We put the new 835 M E in the hands of our longest-serving operator, Darrell. He keeps the material moving eight to 10 hours a day, every day. The elevating cab puts Darrell over 18 feet in the air, so he has a good look into the shear.”

The learning process will continue at RMG. Wyatt plans to send his technicians to the Sennebogen Training Center in Stanley, North Carolina. “We appreciate the support we get from Power Equipment,” he says. “But if we don’t have to call the dealer every time we need to service the equipment, that works for me too.”

Ease of maintenance

The 830 M-HD-S owned by Thibodeaux & Son Scrapyard, New Iberia, Louisiana, is making an impression throughout the state.

“I like the maintainability of Sennebogen equipment,” Thibodeaux says. “Access to the engine and the working parts is excellent. And our dealer, Lyle Machinery, provides excellent technical support for any troubleshooting.”

Lyle Machinery, headquartered in Richland, Mississippi, is a diversified equipment dealer serving the southeastern United States. The company specializes in heavy construction, energy, compact construction, asphalt, ports, scrap, material handling and forestry. Lyle Machinery has additional locations in Mississippi as well as in Alabama and Florida.

As with the scrap handlers’ ease of maintenance, the safety features that are built into the machines are important to Thibodeaux’s operations. “Much of the work around the port here is related to offshore oil rigs, which generates a large amount of scrap iron,” Thibodeaux says. “Our job is similar to a demolition contractor, taking down jackets and decks up to 120 feet tall. I’d say that’s our specialty. It can be dangerous work, so we take a lot of pride in working safely to meet the needs of our customers.”

Sennebogen Honors MidAtlantic Machinery

Constantino Lannes, president of Sennebogen LLC, Stanley, North Carolina, named Midatlantic Machinery Sennebogen Dealer of the Year for 2018 during the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) 2018 Conference & Exposition. The conference was April 14-19 in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

With five branch locations supporting Sennebogen in eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware, Hatfield, Pennsylvania-based Midatlantic is not the largest distributor in the company’s nationwide network. However, Midatlantic Senior Vice President Pat Sherwood says the firm’s winning sales record in 2017 can be attributed to the old saying, “Plan to work and work the plan.”

Sherwood says, “When we became the Sennebogen distributor in this territory in 2009, there were only a few Sennebogen machines in the field. We didn’t have a large territory but have been steadily building our base. This year, when our regional sales manager sat down with us to discuss a business plan for the region, we were anxious to get started. They recommended an optimum inventory we should stock, given our territory and potential. I think that’s a big reason why we were so successful.”

Each Midatlantic Machinery branch is staffed by a sales specialist who has been trained in material handling applications at the Sennebogen Training Center near Charlotte, North Carolina. “We had our staff take the training before and have decided this year that we’re going to send them to Sennebogen again for a refresher,” Sherwood says. “All our mechanics go down there regularly as well. The factory training and facility are first class.”

To complete the plan, each branch is well-stocked with service parts, ensuring timely delivery for customers’ most common needs.

Sherwood says Midatlantic Machinery’s sales branches also offer flexible financing and lease packages from Sennebogen Capital, which can help to seal the deal with potential customers.

He says sales and service for Sennebogen customers is a team effort. Along with working together to develop the business plan, Sennebogen specialists join Midatlantic Machinery’s sales staff to meet with the customer, review the application and make recommendations.

He adds, “As Sennebogen’s top dealer today, Midatlantic will continue to ‘work the plan’ to top 2017’s performance. That’s our goal.”

A rolling advertisement

Thibodeaux has another motive for ensuring that his fleet is safe and well-maintained: It can build business. At the 2017 Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) Convention & Exhibition in New Orleans, Sennebogen displayed the new 830 M-HD-S that Thibodeaux had just purchased, showing off the Thibodeaux & Son Scrapyard logo. Now, that same machine is making an impression all over the port region of New Iberia.

The company’s scrap handlers are busy unloading trucks, feeding the yard’s shear and loading barges with 1,400 tons in one day. “It used to take up to four days to load a barge of that size; but, with our Sennebogen, we load it and get it on its way in a day, and then it goes on to doing something else,” Thibodeaux says. “It certainly has improved the productivity, equipment utilization and efficiency of our yard.”

Thibodeaux sends the new 830 M-HD-S out to load and sort material for his off-site projects too. “The appearance of the 830 green machine makes a good impression on customers, off-site,” he says. “They see we have reliable equipment; that we can move in, do the job and get out fast. No muss, no fuss, no downtime.”

But the 830 does more than put a pretty face on the firm. Even with its large tires, the 90,389-pound machine powers itself to and from job sites in the area. Its tires allow the machine to work on soft and uneven site conditions. Thibodeaux’s 830 also is configured with a long-reach boom to take on large lifts and to pick through large, tall structures.

To keep up his fleet’s great appearance, Thibodeaux will send his company’s technicians to Stanley, North Carolina, Sennebogen’s North American headquarters later this year for advanced instruction at the Sennebogen Training Center.

“We like to be self-sufficient,” Thibodeaux says. “It keeps us ahead of everyone else. We take care of the machines, and they take care of us.”

This article was submitted by London, Ontario-based Marketing Strategies & Solutions on behalf of Sennebogen LLC, Stanley, North Carolina. More information on Sennebogen LLC is available online at www.sennebogen-na.com.

From oil boom to scrap boom

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