Quarry speaks with Astec Industries’ Adam Gordon to find out how innovative technologies have unlocked a brand-new design of crushing and screening equipment.
Astec Industries does not want to stand still. If it does not stay up to date with the latest innovations and improvements, it risks being surpassed in the competitive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market.
“If you don’t incorporate improvements into your machinery, someone else will,” Astec Industries business line manager Adam Gordon told Quarry. “That means we have to stay innovative.”
This drive to evolve is what inspired the company to design 20 new mobile tracked crushing and screening plants.
Based on tried-and-tested machinery that has proven popular in the US, the new range of plants has been designed to be easier to maintain.
The new range has also incorporated improvements in engines, hydraulics, and materials.
Gordon said that in an industry where heavier usually means longevity, the new range has reduced weight to make it easier to move.
“It’s not just our industry that has seen rapid development, it’s the whole world. There are all new specialty steels with unique performance characteristics that allow us to design these machines even better,” he said.
“Some of the heavy-weight sections can be reduced in thickness because the steel has gotten much stronger.
“With greater strength characteristics, you can reduce the weight of the steel section, which means more flexibility and less impact on the ground.
“Similarly, if you can make your conveyors more efficient and require less power, then your drives can be smaller. Your hydraulic flow can be reduced thanks to more efficient pumps.
“All of these small improvements add up to about a 10 to 15 per cent improvement in productivity and yield.”
Finding new ways to improve efficiency for customers is key for Astec. At the end of the day, the company’s clients are looking to reduce their cost per tonne, which means using the most cost-effective equipment possible.
Mobile equipment also offers significant benefits for Australia’s quarrying sector.
Gordon said they offer an effective way of avoiding lengthy approvals.
“It can be difficult to get approvals in this industry for fixed infrastructure,” he said. “Setting up a fixed plant is also a big capital investment, and securing a lender can be a headache.
“Mobile equipment is fast to set up on a site, meaning that equipment can get to work as soon as possible.”
This flexibility is especially important for smaller quarry operations. Often, the profit margins are much tighter, so finding the right size of equipment is key to getting the economics right.
Mobile gear can also be moved to different sites, creating the potential for smaller production volumes to become more economical.
Australian support
The first few of the new machines, the SF-20 Tracked Screeners, have already been rolled out. Three have already been in the field for thousands of hours to ensure they can handle all the challenges operating in a quarry can throw at them.
This robust field testing helps Astec find the unexpected and is important to improving the designs.
Astec has service facilities in Brisbane and Melbourne, with technicians located throughout the country to support its asphalt plants and crushing equipment products. Most of these service technicians are cross-trained, enabling them to handle any issue that may arise across Astec’s broad range of products.
Gordon said it’s important to provide high-quality, fast-response service in the quarry sector.
“When a piece of equipment breaks down, it’s not just affecting one thing – it impacts the entire process,” he said.
“The loaders, the excavators, the tracked equipment – all of it comes to a halt waiting for the problem to be solved. If you’re working with something like an asphalt mixer, there’s also a time limit before the material begins to thicken and solidify. That’s why reliability is so important for our customers. If there’s a breakdown, they’re losing out on productivity. The better we can support our customers, the more likely they will support us in return.”
Repeat business is an important part of Astec’s goal of growing six times larger by 2030.
The company recently acquired TerraSource, a specialist manufacturer of complementary equipment, providing new opportunities for the company.
This international growth has given Astec the support it needs to start rapidly expanding across Australia.
Gordon said the tracked equipment market was competitive, which is why having an efficient production process were vital.
“Each company is trying to continually evolve, offering greater features and benefits while improving their production volumes while reducing their manufacturing costs,” he said.
To reach this, Astec has fast-tracked the growth of its manufacturing facility in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
The country has long been a hub for crushing equipment manufacturing, and by expanding its presence there, Astec has freed up its US factories, which had previously supplied the global market.
Gordon said having its manufacturing facilities in Northern Ireland was the best for ease of manufacturing and logistics.
“If you look at Northern Ireland, around 7000 tracked crushers and screeners are manufactured and shipped from there to the world market,” he said. “That means there is a lot of expertise we can harness, as well as the auxiliary equipment that is needed for tracked equipment. At the moment, we have 19 pieces of tracked equipment in our Australian inventory, and this is growing all the time. We’re excited to start showing off what it can do.” •
For more information, visit astecindustries.com
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