Situated outside Glenwood, Minnesota, USA, nearly 60km from Hancock Concrete’s headquarters, the Glenwood Pit is the source of rock product for the company’s concrete production.
Hancock Concrete, which turns 100 years old this year, designs and fabricates precast concrete box culverts, round and arch pipe, manhole structures and bridges. In 2011 the company was acquired by nearby Superior Industries, located in Morris, Minnesota.
Superior, a manufacturing company founded in 1972, engineers and builds bulk material processing and handling equipment and machinery components.
In 2015 Superior’s management team began talking about furnishing the Glenwood Pit with new plant and equipment from its inventory. The pit had been operating for decades and, according to Superior’s president Jarrod Felton, “happened to have antiquated products and equipment”. Superior was rapidly expanding its line of products to serve what it calls the “Rock Face to Load Out” segment of the aggregates industry. Felton said Superior’s management thought it would be nice to have a showpiece plant nearby, so customers could visualise what they meant by “Rock Face to Load Out”.
FIRST INCLINED SCREEN |
| {{image2-a:r-w:200}}The Anthem inclined screen is engineered with a single- or double-shaft drive, depending on the specific application needs of the customer. Superior attests it is unique because its patent-pending bottle jack lifting points simplify and speed spring replacement and improve safety.
A unique segmented belt guard requires only one person to remove and return the guards during maintenance. Screens can be custom-designed to fit a producer’s existing structure. Superior designs and manufactures its new Anthem screen in double-, triple- and quad-deck configurations, with models starting from 1.5m x 6m through to 2.4m x 6m. “In my opinion, one of the most unique features is our one style shaft design for all models of our inclined screen,” Superior Industries’ sales vice-president John Garrison said. “Typically, inclined screen shafts are custom-machined to the weight of a specific unit, which creates long lead times for replacement parts. To create an eccentric offset on the Anthem screen, owners and operators simply bolt on weights.” |
Superior was in the process of launching new products for the crushing, washing and screening markets – expanding on its legacy conveyors and conveyor components products.
In addition to expanding its product line, Superior had also added construction management services to its offering. Led by a newly assembled team of industry veterans, the construction management crew would have an opportunity to implement their systems and practise their installation procedures.
The Glenwood Pit project would give Superior the experience of being its own customer – operating its own products and receiving its own construction management services.
“We get to experiment on ourselves, and that was a way for us to experience our own service,” Felton said.
IMPROVED SERVICE
Planning for the project began in October 2015, with newly hired project manager Rustin Mikel acting as a conduit between Superior and Hancock Concrete. He worked with the engineering team and co-ordinated the product transfer to the site, making sure everything was set up correctly.
About $USD2 million of Superior equipment was installed at the Glenwood Pit. New products included the Patriot cone plant, Guardian screen plant and Twin Screw AggreDry wash plant, in addition to numerous conveyors for material transfer. The Guardian screen plant (see next page) was an especially important addition for the Glenwood Pit. Previously, the pit was operating without a pre-screen, which caused too much product to run through the pit’s washer, resulting in overproduction of material. By screening out a portion of the material and transferring it to a waste pile, the plant operators were able to wash less sand, saving money and lessening equipment wear and tear.
During installation, the crew experienced a few problems with conveyors, such as oil leaks and guarding issues. Felton said that before the Glenwood Pit project, he would have assumed customers never had problems
with Superior conveyors.
He said: “We get to experience all those problems, so we have a much better view of what our customers’ experience is.”
GUARDIAN HORIZONTAL SCREEN |
| The triple-shaft, adjustable oval stroke design of the Guardian horizontal screen was engineered using valuable customer feedback.
{{image3-a:r-w:200}}According to Superior, several key features distinguish the Guardian as a unique processing solution: the patent-pending bottle jack lifting points (which simplify and speed spring replacement and improve safety); the lighter load bearings of the segmented belt guard and sectioned tailgate (which require only one person to remove and return the guards and gates during maintenance); bolt-locking, hinged access doors (which are an industry first and are exclusive to Superior Industries) for access to screen media maintenance and hinges that prevent operators from misplacing the spillage-preventing doors; and a 100 per cent fully enclosed belt guard that ensures maximum safety while an integrated, on-board tensioner accelerates maintenance to the motor belt. Superior designs and manufactures the Guardian screen in two- and three-deck configurations in models starting from 1.5m x 4.8m through to 2.4m x 6m. Each unit is equipped with spray bar knockout holes for wet processing applications. |
Felton said often customers talked to their dealers, and the manufacturer doesn’t get to hear about issues that come up in the field. By stepping into the shoes of a customer, Superior could see more clearly how it could improve both the design of its products and its service to operators.
As one of the few manufacturers with its own sandbox to play in, Superior enjoys the ability to give its engineers access to a fully functioning operation where they can see the machines they design in-application.
Superior engineers appreciate the opportunity to test product, conduct research or observe product issues at any time.
“I can relate to that myself,” Felton said. “When I was a design engineer, any field experience I could get was vastly beneficial.”
Before the project, Superior engineers’ in-field opportunities were few and far between. When a gravel pit in the area did some contract crushing work, the engineers would pile in a van and drive over to get a look.
“Now we don’t have to wait for those opportunities,” Felton said. “We just go over to Glenwood whenever we want.”
A REAL PURPOSE
Superior sales representatives also benefit from having access to the Glenwood Pit. Being able to bring customers to the pit gives the Superior brand credibility.
“There’s a difference between an actual operation and a staged showpiece where everything is shiny and clean,” Felton said. “We’re actually producing for a real business purpose.”
Exhibiting equipment under the demands of day to day operations brings added value to customers who want to be certain their investment in a Superior machine is worthwhile. All the equipment at the site is for sale. Customers get the convenience of having a slightly used product shipped to them right away, instead of waiting a couple of months for a new one. Felton said the company’s goal is to rotate the equipment out every two years, so the newest, latest and “greatest” products are always on display.
TANDEM GUARDIAN PORTABLE SCREEN PLANT |
| {{image4-a:r-w:200}}The Tandem Guardian is a new portable plant configuration that includes a primary and a secondary screen, creating more options for processing material and expanding an application’s potential output. Like its fixed plant counterpart the Guardian, the Tandem Guardian has many of the same unique features outlined on page 29. The unit’s screens are designed with extended top-deck discharge lips for accurate material transfer onto cross-conveyors. The plant includes two 2m x 6m triple-deck screens, each with 37kW, 1200 rpm motors. Custom sizes are available. |
As of the northern hemisphere spring, the Glenwood Pit has had its first full season of operation.
Felton said the pit would continue to serve as a proving ground for new products, a training site for Superior employees and a showpiece for customers. The company’s investment in the age-old gravel pit is providing added benefits to new parties while maintaining the pit’s core purpose of serving the production needs of Hancock Concrete. Felton is excited that his team’s vision for the project has resulted in increased expertise for members of the company.
“We know the challenges, we know what a day in the life of a guy who’s crushing rock looks like, because we’re doing it.”
Superior Industries engineers and manufactures groundbreaking, bulk material handling equipment and cutting edge components. From its headquarters in Morris, Minnesota, USA, the manufacturing firm supplies bulk crushing, screening, washing and conveying systems for industries including construction aggregates, mining, bulk terminals, agriculture, power and biomass. In addition to its home plant in Minnesota, the 45-year old company operates from engineering and manufacturing plants in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Nebraska in the USA, and Alberta and New Brunswick in Canada.
SPIRIT SAND PLANT |
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{{image5-a:r-w:200}}The Spirit sand plant’s configuration includes a cyclone, dewatering screen, sump tank and slurry pump to classify and produce saleable manufactured sand. According to Superior engineers, the incorporated hydrocyclone is designed with longer-lasting materials, eg 51mm and 406mm models are manufactured with 100 per cent cast urethane of 9.5mm to 25mm thickness. The material is lighter and easier to handle than steel, in addition to having better wear properties. The 381mm and 914mm models are built with structural steel, but incorporate a poured urethane liner. Each cyclone is designed with a geometrically efficient offset feed. This design eliminates inefficient turbulence, boosts classification precision and reduces components wear. The dewatering screen on the Spirit sand plant helps producers achieve moisture content in their product as low as eight per cent. The dewatering screen’s deep-sloped bed design encourages material flow and reduces corrosion. For sand production, Spirit sand plants are manufactured in four models with outputs ranging from 60 to 200 tonnes per hour. For ultra-fines recovery, Superior designs three models with water outputs of 5678 to 13,627 litres per minute. The Spirit sand plant is designed to be containerised for international shipping. |
Source: Superior Industries