Special Guest:
Peter Brewitt
Magnus Skörvald
On this episode of Drilling Deeper, Peter Brewitt and Magnus Skörvald with Weir sit down with P&Q managing editor Jack Kopanski to discuss the company’s latest offerings and provide an update on the North American sand and aggregate market.
Brewitt, global product manager of sand and washing at Weir, and Skörvald, the company’s global product owner for crushers, offer their insights on how the sand and aggregate market in North America is experiencing strong growth. The pair points to urbanization and an increased focus on recycling construction and demolition waste as a buoy for this growth. They also note the shift they have seen from natural sand to manufactured sand due to the declining availability of natural resources.
Also discussed in this episode is Weir’s holistic, end-to-end solutions; the company’s comprehensive product portfolio; and its focus on service and customer support. Weir prides itself on offering equipment that spans the entire production flow, including ground engagement tools, crushing, screening, washing, fines removal, sludge treatment and tailings management. To support these offerings, Weir works with customers at the earliest stages to understand their specific needs and optimize the entire process.
Additionally, hear about Weir’s focus on innovation, technology, and sustainability initiatives. While some aggregate producers remain hesitant to change, Brewitt and Skörvald say there is an increasing openness to adopting new, more efficient and sustainable technologies.
Finally, learn how Weir is leveraging well-known brands such as WARMAN pumps, ENDURON screens, CAVEX cyclones and LINATEX rubber to deliver high-quality, integrated systems. With these technologies, Weir is advancing its product lines and emphasizing efficiency, safety and environmental performance.
Learn more about the company at www.global.weir.
Transcription
Jack Kopanski:Hello everyone, this is Jack Kopanski, managing editor of Pit & Quarry, and co-host of Drilling Deeper. On today’s episode of Drilling Deeper, we are joined by two members of Weir to talk about the latest going ons in the company. We are joined by Peter Brewitt, the global product manager for sand and washing plants, and Magnus Skörvald, the global product manager for crushers. In this episode, the two talk about the current trends they’re seeing in the sand and aggregate washing market in North America, they talk about how Weir is positioned in the market and its presence in the sand and aggregate market. We also get into the latest equipment and technology developments the company has to offer, including ENDURON screens, SandMaster wash plants, NEXT Intelligent Solutions and much, much more.
Finally, we talk a little bit about what Weir is doing in the sustainability realm and some of the initiatives they have in that regards, as well as how some of those sustainability initiatives are driving development of their equipment and technology. So without further ado, let’s hand it over to Peter and Magnus.
Interview Starts
JK:Welcome into this episode of Drilling Deeper. Today we are joined by two representatives from Weir. We have Peter Brewitt, global product manager of sand and washing plants, and Magnus Skörvald, global product m anager for crushers. Gentlemen, welcome into the show.
Magnus Skörvald:Thank you very much.
Peter Brewitt:Thank you, Jack.
JK:Give a quick rundown of Peter and Magnus. Peter was born and raised in Ireland. He has a mining engineering background and has been in the mining and construction business for over 37 years. He’s worked with Boart Longyear, Sandvik and CDE before joining Weir in 2017. Magnus has professional experience in crushing and screening and comminution. He has been in the comminution industry for the last 18 years. He’s worked in application and technical support roles, sales, business line manager roles and sales development positions in regions like the Middle East and Europe, as well as global roles. Currently, he’s the global product manager for crushers within Weir.
So gentlemen, thank you again for joining us today, looking forward to to hearing what’s going on at Weir and then some insights you guys have to share. Obviously, your company is very involved in the sand and aggregate market, so we’re just start getting kind of a quick outlook for the North American sand and aggregate market. So from about a quarter of the way into the year here, what are some of the current trends in the sand and aggregate market in North America that Weir and the two of you have been keeping your eye on?
PB:We’ve been seeing quite strong growth, actually, in North America, particularly in the sand side of things. I think that’s being driven largely by urbanization and the need for recycling, particularly recycling of aggregates and recycling of construction demolition waste. There’s been a fall off, and it’s not just in North America, but globally, in the availability of natural sand. So, a lot of people are moving towards manufactured sand, which suits for Magnus as well. From that material has to be crushed down before it gets to my end of things, where we wash it and bring it into spec for suitable use in concrete and asphalt and the likes.
MS:Yeah, I think it’s been revitalized the last couple of years. I think it’s a growing market, and we can see that there’s a further need for expansion, which suits us well. And like Peter said, manufactured sand is on the rise, and so you need to take stone and brush down to sand.
JK:Yeah. So can you kind of talk about how you work with customers to solve some of the problems they have? I know you mentioned moving toward manufacturing sand, but when it actually comes to the application of it, how does Weir, you know, once someone installs some Weir equipment, how do you guys work with them to help solve the problems they have?
MS:I think we have the opportunity to look more of a holistic view. We’re not looking at one equipment. We’re more looking into the complete process. I think that’s one of our strengths. So we have the end to end. So it’s more of optimizing whatever product they’re actually looking for the most, and that can change over the years, or whatever applications they are then selling into, if it’s asphalt or concrete, a different mix of materials needed. So I think that will be our strength, looking holistic, because we have the full chain.
PB:And it’s not just after they install the equipment, Jack. It’s long before that. We sit with them and we aim not just to sell a piece of equipment, but a solution. We will look at whatever problems they are experiencing, and where we can, with our knowledge and our application knowledge, can help them to solve those problems and overcome the issues that they’re having.
JK:Absolutely, For sure. So can you guys kind of talk a little bit about, or give an overview of Weir’s presence in the role in sand and aggregates market?
MS:Right. To be close to our customers, we are working through a distribution network. I think one of Weir’s strengths are our closeness to our customers. But as a company, we’re more focusing on direct business with the mining industry. So within particularly sound and ag, we are working through a distribution channel to have that intimacy with our end customers, because most of our customers would need support, and when they need support, they want it quick and close, right? So they’re not waiting for some global person to fly in, right? So you need to be have boots on the ground. And I think that that’s our route to market.
PB:It is, and we have a history of innovation in this industry for over 150 years now. So this is not something new to us. Our products have all developed over the years … evolved, should I say, rather than developed to suit the changing requirements in the industry. Service, and particularly after market service, is a very strong part of our make up. So we have strong demands on our dealerships and distributors to provide service for us as well as we go forward. We have a reputation for being one of the strongest in the market on service. So that’s where we want to keep going.
JK:Yeah, and you guys are in kind of, maybe not so much unique is the right word, but you guys are in a nice place where, you know, you have a portfolio that kind of spans the entire flow sheet. Can you kind of talk about the importance of having that wide range of offerings?
PB:We do, and it’s … Absolutely right from the production phase, where our sister company ESCO that’s with us here at the show, they’re supplying the ground engagement tools, the blades on the front of the buckets, the teeth on the buckets, right through-
MS:The buckets themselves.
PB:… the buckets themselves, indeed. Right through to the processing of the materials, through the crushing, the screening, the washing, removal of fines down to even the sludge treatment, so the water recycling through thickeners and the treatment of sludge through filter presses and or decanter centrifuges as appropriate, right through to the tailings management. So it’s a complete portfolio, as you say.
MS:And I would like to add to that that I think that is part of the Weir strategy, to be able to influence all those parts, all those touch points throughout the process, to try to ensure that we manage water, we manage power, electricity, whatever. So I think that that is part of us being able to have those touch points across the value chain. I think that’s part of the strength of Weir.
JK:For sure. Could you kind of talk about, you know, for those that might be listening, that you know sort of are hearing about, Weir maybe for the first time, or are somewhat familiar, but are maybe learning more about the company. What, is it that Weir does and that you guys do at the company that helps differentiate yourself from others? And you know, the same market you guys are in.
PB:One of the big differentiators is the service network, again. I mean, Weir started off as predominantly a pump company, pumping sand slurry and mineral slurries, and we’ve really evolved from there. That have expanded into the comminution area. So we’re concentrating on the reduction of the material right from the face production phase, be that in sand and aggregate or mining, because we cover both industries very, very deeply, right down to, as I said, the tailings. So the whole way through, we’re touching every point of the production process.
MS:And I think hard to say that we’re much different than others, apart than from our service, our closeness to our customers. I mean, at the end of the day, the type of products we’re having would be couple of other tier one suppliers as well would have similar equipment. But then it comes down to the end to end, the process, the understanding, or trying to understand our customers needs and how we can then tweak the process to help and support them to get their most sellable product or most valuable product, whatever that would be.
PB:The most important thing for us, really, is to sit with the customer at the earliest possible opportunity and identify, first of all, what his needs are and where his problem points are, so that we can work with them in partnership to develop the best solution possible for them. Once we get that in, that solution nailed down, and we get the products installed, we’ve got, at the moment, around 150 service locations around the world where these products are not just serviced, but also stocked. So we’ve got parts availability, service availability, and that’s where our reputation is strongest as well, is service.
MS:And as you probably know, within question screening, the good thing is that nothing is really wrong, but there can always be a better solution. And that that there’s so many factors that could be factored in there. And I think that is the discussion, I think, we’re happy to take with our partners, customers, to try and see. I mean, again, local needs, local raw material, that would tweak it a little bit. And I think we have the experience to help and support with that.
PB:Experience, I think, is the key, Magnus. Because, I mean, we’ve got such experience in the group now that a lot of the time, the customers think they know what they want, and they have a fixed idea in their minds, but they may not have thought of other alternatives. And we’re in a position with the experience that we’ve got, that we can suggest alternatives to them that they might not have thought about, and which in many, many cases, can provide a superior solution to them at the end of the day.
JK:Yeah, absolutely. And I’m sure you guys are, or I should say, you really are kind of positioning yourselves in a nice spot to offer those different options to customers by using brands like WARMAN pumps, ENDURON screens, CAVEX cyclones, LINATEX rubber hoses and sheets and so on. So can you just kind of talk about being able to, you know, obviously you do cover sort of start to end of the flow sheet, but also being able to offer such a wide range of quality products where, again, maybe a customer might not be thinking of a certain brand, but you’re able to come to them and say, “Hey, check this out. This has had a lot of success. We’re able to offer this. And, you know, might want to give it a go.”
PB:Correct. I mean, the ENDURON name, the WARMAN name have been known for many, many years. WARMAN is regarded as the world’s leading pumps. The ENDURON name has been probably up to now, more known in the mining industry than in the construction side of things, sand and aggregates side of things. Magnus and another of our colleagues are in the process of changing that with the crushers, the new range of crushers that we’re releasing under the ENDURON name, the new range of screens that were have already released under the ENDURON name. And on my side, the sand plants, we take all of those and put them together. We’ve got the ENDURON screen, we’ve got the LINATEX rubber, we’ve got the CAVEX cyclones, we’ve got the WARMAN pumps all together in one product, and the LINATEX hoses as well. So it’s taking the world leading brands and putting them all together into one, putting together the whole package, really. So, with the absolutely top class, world leading products.
MS:Yeah, so to add on on what Peter said, I think on the ENDURON side, our HPDR’s have been globally renowned within the mining industry. And then to catch up on that, I think we have tried to listen to our customer base, so try to incorporate and looking into the crystal ball, of course, what is the future? Where do we want to be? When the product’s ready, we’ll release a new product, where do we think the market is going? We have already done that on the screen side, so we both have the elite and orbital screens, and now we’re doing that on the jaws and cones as well. Really trying to focus on what have we identified, not only from a productivity point of view, but also the safety aspects and environmental that we can we can lift it to another level.
JK:Yeah, absolutely. And like you mentioned, there’s certainly a lot going on with the ENDURON brand. Obviously the SandMaster, the NEXT Intelligent Solutions you guys are offering. You talked a little bit about the HPGR’s. Can you kind of talk about what advancements have been made on the crusher side with ENDURON?
MS:Right, so our dual crusher range, we’re now trying to make it a complete portfolio. We have looked more, and like I said before, on the environmental side of things, we looked at oil flows, and what do we really need? So we don’t put a lot of oil in there we just need to replace for no good use, looking at power utilization, and then really push button control, right? So, to remove maintenance needs and to get their operators into, let’s say, difficult positions where we could now do it in a push button control on settings, for instance. So I think we’re that’s what we want to achieve on the jaw crushers.
Then on the cone crushes, we have two different versions. We have the more older style, Symon’s type, and we also have the pedestal style. And both of them would have a common automation platform, upgraded sensor kits and a complete new HLPU unit. So again, looking at where do we think the market is going? Listen to our customers on what they think we should improve, and we wanted to take those steps to to evaluate and lift our current product portfolio into the ENDURON brand. To ensure, then, productivity we have all then also added our ESCO brothers and sisters as the wear parts. And then we’re utilizing all their experience in wear materials. So we’re saying it’s an ENDURON with an ESCO inside.
JK:Perfect, I like it. That’s got a nice ring to it. So, looking at another development that I know you guys are very proud of, the SandMaster wash plants, can you kind of discuss the features and benefits that the SandMaster can provide?
PB:Biggest thing, really, that we look at on these, Jack, is the the fines recovery, the fine sand recovery. We’re trying to replace here older technologies like bucket wheels and sand screws, which, listen, they do a job, but they’re old, they’re inefficient, and typically you’re losing 10 to 15 percent of your saleable material over the back wear of the material of the equipment. And that’s going out to pond, generally speaking. Those ponds then need to be dug out, which is an extra expense. And, you know, it keeps going. So our big thing there is to recover that additional sand. So we’re doing that through the CAVEX cyclone technology, which is, again, originally designed for the mining industry. So really high spec, and we’ve adapted it slightly for the SandMasters.
So with the CAVEX cyclones, they are known to be and proven to be the most efficient on the market. We’ve got one of the thickest liners on the market, which is not bonded so it can just drop in. It’s easy maintenance, easy changing of parts. They’re fed by the WARMAN pumps. We generally use our WGR range of pumps, which are the top premium range that we have of slurry pumps. And that’s all of the parts that touch the sand slurry are rubber lined to avoid any abrasion damage on the plant. And of course, then we have the ENDURON screen, the dewatering screen, which is, again, is the market leading screen, the design of which sits with our original LINATEX brand, and which has been copied all around the world. So most of our, let’s say, most of the other suppliers in the in the world, have very similar designs.
JK:Right.
PB:And we now are also fitting our own brand screen media. So it’s all about recovering the additional sand. We can, for example, with a sand screw, recovering up to about 15 percent extra sand, you’re talking about then a very quick return on investment. So, I mean, the return on investment on a typical sand screw, say that’s treating about a couple of 100 tons an hour can be less than a year.
JK:Wow, that’s huge.
PB:Which is huge in anybody’s language.
MS:And it’s good for the environment, right? So we’re not filling a pond. We’re actually using the material that that is created already. So we’re just ensuring we have a good extraction.
PB:Sure. And the cyclone, the CAVEX cyclones actually already use less water than most of the competition cyclones. And we’re actually in the process of of we have developed a new range of the CAVEX cyclones, the CAVEX2 we’re calling it, and those will be incorporated onto our SandMasters in the near future as well. They use even less water, so again, and we can use a lower power motor as well for that, so happily servicing the sustainability side of the business. So less water, less power. So customers are happy with that, too.
JK:But say, sustainability and efficiency definitely seem kind of top of mind, and that definitely seems to be a direction to be going,
PB:For sure.
JK:Excellent.
MS:And I think we all gain on that, because at the end of the day, it’s a resource we need to be catered for. And it’s part of our core values.
JK:Yeah, now Peter, you hit on one thing that I think is has been very interesting that we’ve been following at Pit & Quarry, and I’m sure you guys have been seeing in the industry as well. You talk about, you know, wanting to use the SandMaster to sort of replace older equipment, get in again, that efficiency, that sustainability aspect. What have you been seeing, or what have you been maybe hearing from customers, potential customers, as far as a sort of shift away from that old mindset the aggregate industry has had for a long time, of this is how we’ve done it for 100 years, this is how we’re going to do it for 100 more? Maybe some stubbornness to adapt to new equipment and technology. Have you been kind of seeing a sizeable shift in that where people are more willing to try new equipment?
PB:Yes, there is still a lot of residual stubbornness, as you put it, in the market, that, “This is the way we’ve been doing it. We don’t see any real reason to change.” The more progressive companies, and we’re seeing this right across the board in terms of size of company, it’s not just the big multinationals. It’s also the small guys as well. Some of them are far more technologically advanced in their thinking than you might give them credit for. And they’re saying, “Yeah, we really, we haven’t looked at this too much, but you know, that’s a really good idea. We can recover more sand, we can possibly get a second product here that we didn’t have before.” Some of these SandMasters can produce two products simultaneously, a coarse and a fine, and we can blend those as required. But it has been the case in several of the customer sites where we’ve sold these, where we’ve actually not just given a product which allows them a quick return on investment, but which also gives them a second stream of revenue, which they weren’t maybe expecting.
MS:And I think that that shift has been ongoing for a couple of years. It’s not looking at tons passing, it’s more looking at the product split, okay? So, what is their customer asking for? Can we do more of that? Most asked for product, which would give us the biggest return, they want to change the process, and they want to fine tune their plants. Back in the days it was, “My plants doing 300.” 300 what? No one knew, right? Just doing 300. Now they’re more specific, and I think that is driving the market into more looking at the end to end process, because where can we tweak to get more of that sellable product that we earned most money? And then, if we’re looking at then increasing the total recovery, again, the whole process, drilling, blasting, whatever, if you can sell more of we extract, then, of course, everyone’s a winner.
JK:Absolutely.
PB:But back to your original question, Jack. Yes, North America probably is a little bit behind the rest of the world in terms of the adoption of the cyclone based technology, but over the last 10 years in particular, we’ve seen quite a big shift. And this is why … As Weir, we have not really focused too much on the on the sand market in North America. Well, that’s why we now are having a major driver. So that’s why we’re here introducing the SandMaster. We’ve got a number of customers that are lined up to take these now and are ready to drive on.
MS:And I think that Weir as a brand has been a little bit unknown, possibly, within sand and ag. And I think again, we’re here to re-emphasize that. And we are here to support comminution.
JK:Yeah, 100 percent. Another thing that, you know, obviously, Weir is working on is the NEXT Intelligent Solutions, and that’s something, sort of the offerings that it provides is another thing we’ve been hearing a lot of interest from, from producers, a lot of intrigue from manufacturers, as far as how they’re incorporating it into technology, that idea of condition monitoring, proactive maintenance, predictive monitoring, stuff like that. Can you talk a little bit about what went into the development of NEXT Intelligent Solutions, and how do you integrate it with your products?
PB:Well, on the SandMaster, we see a requirement on the pumps and the cyclones for condition monitoring. So on the pumps, we’re monitoring the temperature of the bearings, the vibrations. On the cyclones, it’s more the the roping to make sure this the apex is the right size all the time, and the pressures are at the right level all the time to give us the best separation in the cyclone. It’s something that has really developed from the mining side of the business into the sand and ag side. We’re not seeing quite as much demand yet from the sand and ag guys, but it’s clearly coming. There’s a lot more interest. So the whole NEXT system started originally under the name Synertrex, and there’s been several iterations to bring us to where we are now with the NEXT.
MS:So the HPGR product, which has been most mining focused, is more advanced, and our newest, latest screen products, the Elite and Orbital ENDURON, are also enabled for NEXT, and then with our new automating platform within the cones as well, we’re NEXT enabled. But I think we need to wait a little bit for that next level on putting some AI spin on the all of it to get the, like you said, predictable. So when we see these trends after this happens, we should wave a yellow flag and say, “Now it’s time to do your bigger investment on maintenance so you don’t get that stoppage.” And within construction or sand and ag, then that has not been as high on the agenda, because they’re normally running less hours, so that would have more time for maintenance or possible downtown. And so it’s more the mining industry that’s been driving it. So we’re on that wagon.
JK:Yeah. I think in preparing for this, and kind of, you know, going over some of the stuff Weir’s been doing, I think one of the things that stuck out most to me that you guys mentioned is that it’s not the idea of just wanting to give raw data or just sort of say, “Here’s what it is,” but it’s giving that, like you kind of mentioned, that actionable insight. Saying, “Now is the time, this is what to look for when this happens. Hit the go button.” And I think that’s such a right approach to take to something like that, because you can give me as much data as you want, if I don’t know what to do with it, it’s worth nothing.
MS:Yeah, it’s a lot of data out there. And I think with the NEXT, especially on the processing side, we’re trying to do that insight. So we’re trying to give them a recipe that they can … so far when we’re not doing it online, right? So there is an operator needs to do it, but we’re giving the insights, and we’re giving them the recommendations on, “We can see the trends going this way we think you should change into this.” So we’re working on that together as a company to not only provide the data, but also what to do with the data.
PB:And how to help them more with their preventative maintenance, which is something that the sand and ag sector hasn’t really been highest on the agenda up to now.
JK:Absolutely. Gentlemen, you’ve been so generous with your time. I really appreciate it. Just one more, just one more question here for you. We’ve talked about it a little bit already, but really diving into some of the sustainability initiatives that Weir is working on, can you just kind of tell me about how the company is addressing sustainability in its product offerings? Again, I know we kind of mentioned some of the reclamation of fines and sands and stuff like that, but can you can tell me a little bit more about, you know, the focus of sustainability at Weir?
MS:Yeah, I think it’s, if you look at our strategy, I mean, that’s definitely we want to go. We want to do this flow sheet of the future, where we would like, then to reduce power consumption-
PB:Water consumption.
MS:Water usage.
PB:Water usage, yes.
MS:And if we look into the equipment base. I mean, if we just look at the equipment warehouses in portfolio, it is to reduce, let’s say, inefficiencies in the comminution stages, right? So we want to, if we look on certain mills, for instance, we can reduce the power consumption by a factor of 10, almost. By crushing more and then using-
PB:And using HPGRs.
JK:That’s huge.
MS:Yeah. So within our portfolio, I think we can put together a flow sheet that can touch all those points. And that is a big change. I think we are, as a company, well invested, and I think we’re talking to some of the major players to make it happen. At the end of the day, we need to convince our customers that that is the right approach. And I think that the ENDURON brand names are giving confidence, together with other the WARMAN’s, the LINATEX, whatever, right? So our product portfolio is a tier one product portfolio, and I think we’re getting through that, through to the market on that.
PB:I think as well, there’s we’re trying to convince the customers, particularly on the sound and ag side, to do the right thing.I mean, we have taken certain actions, like even on the on the SandMasters. We’ve reduced the power requirement, we’ve upped the efficiency of the motors, we’re only using IE4 efficiency motors now, which is something that was driven by legislation in Europe. Motors above 75 kilowatts must be of IE4 standard. We’ve taken the approach that, “No, we’ll do it right across the board.” All of our pump motors will be of IE4 efficiency going forwards. We’re moving, as I said, to the more efficient cyclones that can take a higher concentration of feed, so less water. And these are all key issues for the environment at the moment.
MS:And let’s, let’s not forget, we talked about maintenance before. I mean now, when we’re designing everything, about 20 kilos would have a defined lifting point. I mean, we’re really trying to live the core values, right? Safety first, environment is very high on the agenda. And I think that is coming across all companies sooner or later, right? Because the end of the day, where we need to attract people to the industry as well. Let’s not forget that we’re an industry that’snot so sexy all the time, right? So we need to attract people into, and then everyone’s not Hulk Hogan, so we need to ensure we can maintain it in a safe way.
JK:Absolutely. Well, gentlemen, thank you so much again for your time. I think this has been a lot of great insight for those I want to know more about Weir, what you guys are doing, how can they find you? How can they get in contact with you guys? How can they find out more about the company?
MS:The website, I would guess.
PB:Our global website.
MS:We’re there. We’re there.
JK:Excellent, excellent. Peter, Magnus, thank you again for your time. Enjoy the rest of AGG1 and best of luck the rest of the year for Weir.
MS:Thank you very much.
PB:It’s been a pleasure. Thank you.
JK:Thanks guys.
End of Interview
JK:Thanks again to Peter Brewitt and Magnus Skörvald from Weir for joining us on this episode, a lot of great insight from those too. Be on the lookout for our next episode in two weeks, as we will be sharing more of the conversations we had on the AGG1 show floor. You won’t want to miss it.
