Shredder Supplement -- Shredding Through a Slump

The ferrous scrap market has not been for the faint-hearted for the past two years. Despite the depressed pricing and restrained domestic demand, there are still as many as 200 auto shredders up and running in the U.S., while shredded scrap from Canada and other nations also competes in the global market.

One casualty of the ferrous scrap market was long-time shredder maker Newell Industries Inc., San Antonio, which was unable to emerge from bankruptcy last year and has ceased operations.

Other U.S. companies, however, remain as strong competitors in the auto shredding market. Newell’s cross-town rival Texas Shredders Inc. continues the San Antonio shredder tradition by remaining a leading global supplier of shredders and shredder parts and service.

Established names in metals shredding such as American Pulverizer Co., St. Louis; Innovative Recycling Systems, Solon, Ohio; Magnatech Engineering Inc., Tonganoxie, Kan.; Svedala Recycling, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Sunbelt Wendt, Tonawanda, N.Y.; and Britain’s Lynxs continue to serve the market, while long-time baler and shear maker Harris, Peachtree City, Ga., has also joined the fray with its line of shredders.

And the Newell name has been revived by Moline-Ill.-based Riverside Products, whose Newell Riverside division makes, services and sells shredders and parts for shredders from offices in both Moline and San Antonio.

SHREDDER INSTALLATIONS, REBUILDS

The aging auto shredder population and the desire of some processors to install larger shredders have led to many of the recent new shredder projects.

The Harris Shredder Division has announced the sale of two shredder plants. Harris, a long-time maker of balers, shears and other recycling equipment, created its Shredder Division less than three years ago.

An HS 80/115 Shredder has been sold to Penn Recycling in Williamsport, Pa., while a larger HS 98/115 Shredder System will be installed at Silver Dollar Recycling in North Las Vegas, Nev.

The HS 80115 shredder at Penn Recycling is expected to be operational this August, while the 98115 system for Silver Dollar Recycling is projected to go online in November.

The Penn Recycling installation includes a Harris-built four-arm Spider Rotor and Harris-made double feed rolls and drop-in front wall castings. The mill, which replaces an existing Newell 80/104 model, will be powered by a 2,000 horsepower motor.

The HS 98/115 system in Nevada is powered by a 4,000 horsepower Schorch motor and includes a Harris-built rotor and a multi-piece downstream system.

Silver Dollar Recycling president Bob Friedman, “When we evaluated the Harris shredder design and construction, we were impressed by the same level of quality and commitment we have experienced in our other Harris equipment.”

Harris vice president of sales and marketing Scott Williams says, “The fact that both of these customers presently operate other manufacturers’ shredders and chose Harris speaks volumes about our design.”

Jim Schwartz of Texas Shredder notes that many recyclers who need to replace aging shredder plants are opting for the larger super-sized shredders. One such unit, a 7,000 horsepower 122/108, has been installed at a Trademark Recycling site in Florida.

According to Schwartz, such 200-net-tons-per-hour plants can process more material while achieving lower per-ton in operating costs compared to an 80-inch or 98-inch mill.

A company selling shredders of several different sizes is Svedala Recycling, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sales of castings and other shredder wear parts have also boosted the division’s sales totals, says Bill Tigner, vice president and general manager of the Svedala Industries Recycling Division/North America.

Among the 2001 orders booked so far are those for a 98/104 shredder plant at CRG Inc. in Lyman, S.C., as well as those for three ferrous balers and a shear.

The company has also booked nearly 10 orders this year for installations in Europe and Asia for equipment from its Svedala and Svedala Lindemann lines of shears, balers and shredders.

Newell Riverside earlier this year announced its first shredder plant sale. The company has installed a shredder at the former Loef Co. Inc. yard in Athens, Ga., that was recently acquired by Omni-Source Corp., Fort Wayne, Ind.

The 80/104 shredder being installed will be equipped with a series of infeed and take-away conveyors. The new unit replaces a 74/104 Hammermill machine that Loef Co. had used. The new shredder has been scheduled to start running this July.

Wendt Strikes Deals with Protec, ESCO

The Import Division of Wendt Corp., Tonawanda, N.Y., has been named exclusive North American distributor for Protec heavy media separation equipment.

In a separate move for Wendt Corp., Sunbelt Wendt LLC has reached an agreement with ESCO Corp. to supply wear castings to the automobile shredding industry throughout North America and parts of Europe as ESCO’s authorized sales agent.

Portland, Ore.-based ESCO Corp. has more than 85 years of experience as a cast steel products manufacturer.

Sunbelt Wendt will offer manganese and alloy steel ESCO castings for virtually any manufacturer of shredders in quantities ranging from a single casting to an entire truckload or sea container load.

In its role as a Protec distributor, Wendt can now supply Protec equipment for the separation of nonferrous scrap in stand-alone single and double density heavy media plants. Protec, also known as Process Technologies, is headquartered in Genova, Italy, and has been designing, manufacturing and installing heavy media plants for many years.  Heavy media separation is often the next step following eddy current separation. The process extracts the aluminum in a furnace-ready form from the mixed nonferrous metals through a float and sink process.

The agreement between Wendt and Protec was finalized after discussions with the principals of Protec – Giovanni Machiavelli, Enrico Molinari and Antonella Uggioni—and Wendt Corp. CEO Thomas A. Wendt.

Wendt says both agreements will reinforce Wendt Corp.’s position as an across-the-board supplier to metal shredder operators. “Everything we do is focused toward the shredder operators,” he remarks.