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Superior acquires Canadian portable plant manufacturer
Superior Industries acquired MFE Manufacturing, a manufacturer that designs portable plants for the construction, aggregates and material handling industries. The acquisition will expand Superior Industries' lineup of portable plant designs. MFE, based in New Brunswick, Canada, fabricates portable processing plants, including jaw and cone crushing systems, screen plants and belt feeders. The company also designs and builds stationary structures for bulk material handling applications. Superior Industries says the companies share the same strategy of incorporating customer ideas in their designs. Keep Reading
P&Q Hall of Fame Profile: Neil Schmidgall
Superior founder’s willingness to team with customers revolutionized portable equipment. Neil Schmidgall didn’t invent the portable conveyor, but his customers and employees say he made significant advancements to perfect them in the 1990s. Schmidgall, founder of Superior Industries in Morris, Minn., led the company as it developed a number of portable equipment advancements, including the FD Axle, which is still influential to the industry today. Teamwork was a big part of both Schmidgall’s and Superior’s portable conveyor advancements in the ‘90s. Bob Hodgins, a former customer and friend of Schmidgall’s, says Schmidgall often met individually with aggregate producers to custom-design conveyors with them. “Portable conveyors were out there, but it wasn’t often that they fit our needs,” Hodgins says. “They tended to be unflexible or semi-portable. But when I went to [Schmidgall], he’d custom make them with me.” Hodgins says it was that flexibility, originality and respect from Schmidgall that captured his attention. Schmidgall caught the attention of others in the aggregates industry, as well, considering he helped Superior grow… Keep Reading
Case debuts excavator line, online program at press event
Case Construction Equipment introduced its D Series excavator line to the trade press during an event at the company's customer service center campground in Tomahawk, Wis. Case unveiled the following excavators: the CX210D, the CX250D, the CX300D and the CX350D. Philippe Bisson, Case brand marketing manager for wheel loaders and excavators, says the CX350D was designed for jobs in the aggregates industry. “The CX350D has a high lifting capacity, so that makes it a really great machine to have in a quarrying industry,” he says. The CX350D does not have a diesel particulate filter and there is no regeneration. Because of these features, Bisson says there are no filters to replace and no downtime associated with regeneration. All excavators released include LED lighting, with two lights in the front, two in the back and one on each side. Bisson says the excavators also come with Tier 4 Final engines and a Case Pro Care 3,000-hour warranty. Brad Stemper, Case solutions marketing manager, says the D-Series excavator lineup includes Case Site Watch,… Keep Reading
Volvo CE releases new crawler excavator
Volvo Construction Equipment's 22-ton EC220E crawler excavator provides operators with improved lifting controllability while traveling. When going uphill or downhill, operators can keep the excavator’s bucket teeth parallel to the ground even in H mode for the entire cycle. The EC220E also reduces fuel consumption levels and emissions through its updated shutdown feature that turns the equipment off after it’s been inactive for a preset amount of time. The excavator’s fuel efficiency has also been improved from its previous D-series model by five percent, according to Volvo. Additionally, a line of Volvo attachments is also available for the EC220E, including buckets and hydraulic hammers. Keep Reading
Terex Washing Systems appoints global sales director
Terex Washing Systems (TWS) hired Iain Walker as its global sales director. Walker will lead the company’s sales team at its headquarters in Northern Ireland. In the new position, he will work closely with the sales, marketing, engineering and aftersales teams. Walker previously worked as a regional manager in the material processing and washing industry. Walker’s past work experience gave him knowledge on both materials washing and export sales. Keep Reading
McCloskey International adds dealer to its distributor line
McCloskey International added Finkbiner Equipment to its network of distributors. Finkbiner, an equipment dealer based near Chicago, sells and leases wheel loaders, paving machines, milling machines, crushing equipment, screening equipment, trailers, excavators and material handling equipment. Finkbiner serves customers in the road building, aggregates, excavation, demolition and material handling industries. Marty Ahrendt, Finkbiner president, says the company chose to become a McCloskey dealer to offer more track-mounted options to its customers. Keep Reading
NSSGA sponsors tour of Bluegrass Materials’ Texas Quarry
About two busloads of people visited the Bluegrass Materials Texas Quarry in Cockeysville, Md., on Monday, March 16 for a tour sponsored by the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA). The Texas Quarry sits on the Limestone Valley, abundant in limestone, marble and dolomite. Guests on the tour learned about the Texas Quarry’s history and some of its equipment after a free luncheon. Ted Baker II, CEO of Bluegrass Materials, and Bernie Grove, former president at the Texas Quarry and 2014 Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame inductee, shared history and facts prior to the tour. Baker says the Texas Quarry is Bluegrass' flagship operation. It measures about 500 ft. deep and can run 1,200 tph at the plant, he says. Between 1980 and 1990, Grove says the quarry produced up to 15 million tons of aggregate per year. “At that point in time, this quarry was ranked in the top 10 producing quarries in the United States, primarily because Maryland is the seat of the federal government,” he… Keep Reading
Pit & Quarry inducts four into hall of fame
Aggregates industry leaders and their families gathered for the third annual Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame Ceremony & Dinner Sunday, March 15 in Baltimore. The ceremony followed the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association's Chairman’s Reception at the Hilton Baltimore. Several companies sponsored the event, including Terex Minerals Processing Systems, Kleemann/Wirtgen Group, Telsmith, W.S. Tyler and Weir Minerals. Pit & Quarry enshrined these four men as the 2015 class: Glen Barton, Caterpillar Eli Whitney Blake, Blake Rock Crusher Co. Paul Detwiler III, New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co. Neil Schmidgall, Superior Industries Both Detwiler III and Schmidgall attended the event and reflected on their respective inductions in their speeches. Pit & Quarry accepted on behalf of Blake, a 19th century inventor, and Cat's Mike Hinrichsen accepted on behalf of Barton, who was unable to attend the event. Bernie Grove, a member of the hall's 2014 class, also attended this year's event and was honored during the ceremony. Weather kept him from attending last year's event prior to ConExpo-Con/Agg in Las… Keep Reading
CEMA reports increase in North America shipments
The Conveyor Equipment Manufacturers Association (CEMA) reports that shipments in North America were up 9.1 percent in 2014. CEMA estimates that shipments totaled more than $11 billion for 2014, a record level increase of $926 million from 2013 shipments of about $10 billion. CEMA estimates that new orders totaled $10.908 billion in 2014. New orders in 2014 were $1.055 billion more than 2013, representing an increase of 10.7 percent. CEMA tracks new orders and shipped sales volume in nine classes of unit handling equipment and four classes of bulk handling equipment. Unit handling orders were up 13.8 percent and shipments were up 15.3 percent. In the bulk conveying area, orders were up 1.0 percent and shipments were down 5.0 percent. CEMA forecasts a 7 percent increase in North America shipments for 2015. Keep Reading
