Summer is here and the risk of a fire in your scrap feed stock and fluff piles go up substantially.  Summer brings an uptick in yard flow and several holiday weekends.  Many of us have received that call in the middle of the night that you have a fire emergency at the yard.  We all need to remain vigilant and not let our guard down. Here are some simple rules to minimize the chances of that call.

Preventive measures to take:

1. Keep your scrap piles at least twenty feet away from both fixed and mobile processing equipment. Infeed conveyors, loaders, cranes, need clear space from scrap storage piles. Space means access and time in the event of a fire.
2. Don’t accumulate large feed stock piles. Production schedules that keep intake to a minimum are best.  If you are down for extended maintenance, add fire breaks and gaps to segregate large piles.  Once you shred it, the problem is gone.
3. Regular housekeeping is needed at the shredder. Excessive material buildup becomes a problem when contaminants hit the piles.  Consider this scenario.  Scrap builds up between your shredder and the motor room over several weeks.  An auto slips by inspectors with a full fuel tank and it ruptures as it slides down the feed chute.  Flammable liquid runs out of the mill and into that pile of build-up right where your important machinery is located.  Your bearings, hydraulic lines, drive shafts, control wiring, or your mill motor won’t be the same if that pile ignites.  Clear what does not belong on a weekly rotation.
4. Make sure your fire control systems are in place, hoses and nozzles are in good condition, all fire extinguishers checked monthly, and missing items replaced promptly.
5. Review with your inspectors hazardous materials which can start a fire such as batteries, gas tanks, propane bottles, and other ignition sources. While 99% of infeed scrap is remediated and prepared for shredder, some things get through the inspection process.  Sometimes dressing up the piles of infeed materials received earlier that day can trigger a problem load lurking in the day’s intake.
6. Make sure all shreds have been run off the conveyor belts and wet down the conveyors belts and area around the shredder. Be sure to look closely at all of the fluff piles for signs of hot spots.  Make it a priority to have the fluff piles at minimum levels especially before an extended holiday shutdown.
7. Lastly, have a supervisor walk around the processing area prior to shutdown. An early morning inspection can help set expectations for the end of day shut down walk when your team is wrapping up for a holiday weekend.

Have a safe production summer!!

Ben Guerrero has penned a story for Recycling Product News ‘The Risks of Not Staying on Top of Shredder Maintenance.’  Survival in times of low markets dictate many cut backs in shredding facilities worldwide.  When you are low on people, finding man hours to tackle even the most basic maintenance is a challenge.  Ben outlines some of the do’s and don’ts in this article.

While it may be ‘preaching to the choir’ for operators, this simple advice should be acknowledged by senior management.  Shredders and non ferrous separating systems won’t keep running without minimum maintenance.  Idled plants won’t start up or hold much resale value if they are ‘put away cold and wet.’   Deferring too much maintenance could lead to larger issues.

Some scenarios to consider, all actual incidents:

• Failure to clean the motor air cooling system filtration leads to dirt build up in the windings.  Warmer operating days lead to high motor temps, then overheating and a motor fire.
• The cleaning crew continues to defer cleaning the spillage that slowly builds up between the shredder and motor building.  Your inspectors miss an auto with  fuel in the tank.  Fuel runs out as the auto slides down the infeed chute, it trickles down next to that scrap pile, and there is ignition.  A fire right next to your mill machinery now needs attention.
• Extending runs times between grate changes saves part costs.  Eventually grate holes are 30% larger than new, the distance between hammer tips and anvils is large, and cream puffs of balled up sheet drop from your stacker instead of dense shred.  Your fluff loads have more metal than you remember.  You check the last 3 months of production records and realize your non ferrous recovery has dropped noticeably.  Ferrous production is up but shipping density is down, zorba volume is down, and so is revenue.  Was it feed stock, weather, or maintenance? Compare the savings in wear parts to the revenue decline.

What’s the best balance? The answer is different for each plant.  Safety and environmental compliance are non-negotiable operating absolutes.  Operating maintenance is not too far behind.  Ideally it’s all the same mindset at your facility, and peak performance and efficiency continue to be the goal of all team members.  Yes, there must be rational tradeoffs between budget, readiness, and acceptable downtime.  Plan in advance to be ready for seasonal or market upticks in volume.  Be sure your facility stands ready to execute for a return to higher production when opportunity arrives.

Find Ben’s article Recycling Product News – Ben Guerrero.

Our recycling customers make a significant contribution to our economy as well as sustainability. The industry recycled 135 million metric tons of materials in 2014. The material was diverted from landfills to produce new products, reducing the need to mine or harvest new resources, with less energy expended during the process.  

The Institute for Scrap Recycling Industries summarized the economic benefit of this activity in a 2015 study. The industry supports 470,000 plus jobs and generates $105 billion in economic activity. This includes downstream suppliers such as auto wrecking yards, independent scrappers, and firms that provide equipment and services to the industry.
Recycling contributes about 0.68% of the national economic activity and generates about $11 billion in federal, state, and local taxes annually. Recycling helps the US trade balance with exports to over 160 countries valued at nearly $21 billion in 2014.
ISRI summarized the report in this short video.

Scrap Recyclers are encouraged to join the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) industry wide Safety Stand Down Day on June 24, 2015.

All ISRI members are asked to recognize Safety Stand-Down Day by shutting down operations for at least one hour on every shift to engage in safety awareness training. Demonstrate to your workforce that safety is your number one core value and that you consider your workers to be the most important asset of your operation. Each Monday in June leading up to Safety Stand-Down Day,

See the ISRI web site for useful resources to use as part of your training. These guides will focus on five topics: mobile equipment, lockout/tagout, confined spaces, machine guarding, and fall protection.

Early 2015 is a tough time to be in the shredding business. Scrap prices continue their deep dive while the input side of the business tries to adjust to the change in value.  It may be the sign of a fundamental reset in the value of scrap.  Obsolete scrap volumes may lag for some time until the economics of disposal and transport become clear.  If you are running a shredder on a limited schedule, can you safely defer routine maintenance?

What do we mean by routine?  They are the habitual tasks that are part of best practices.  They are the small things you know are important, but are tempted to defer because of limited run time or available maintenance hours.  And they are normal maintenance expenditures you might be tempted to put off until better markets return.  Skipping what you know works isn’t ‘adapting’ to new realities but a mentality that will cause more costly problems down the road.

Everyone just needs to take stock of their current production requirements and adjust upon facts, not guesses. The plain truth of the matter is the shredder has to be opened and looked at after every production shift.  Inspecting the box is a matter of routine, not tons.  Who has not had a problem in the first part of a production shift? There may be a piece of scrap jammed in such a way it will pop off end caps or bind the rotor during start up.  Inspecting after each production shift helps you plan for regular maintenance and reduces the chances of surprises.

Everything needs to be checked, despite reduced manning and run hours.

• bolts have to be tightened
• liners have to be replaced when wore down
• feed rolls have to be cleaned of scrap and maintained
• hammers need to be flipped, moved, or replaced
• check the distance between hammers and grates & anvils
• Non-ferrous recovery systems need regular checks to be sure they are fully functioning

Grates have to be checked for proper distance from the hammers to be sure you are getting the best density and non ferrous recoveries from your processing.  The anvil to hammer distance keeps cutting and sizing working to ensure efficient throughput in the mill. Many things are checked on each shift that influence how well the shredder performs and keeps production costs in line with expectations.

Planning ahead on vital spares and replacement parts cannot be deferred too far into the future.  If you shred, often you will need it sooner than you think.  Rotors, motors, bearings can fail at the least opportune moment.  Ordering ahead of time and using your labor hours in a pre-determined way helps keep overtime and costs level.

In the business of shredding scrap, not everything works out as expected.  Despite economizing on maintenance and repair, you know where you can defer and where you can’t.  Go with the things you know work best. It will save you headaches and money in the long run.

Shredding scrap is a tough business  …wherever you are.  Quality wear parts are a common need whether you are in a big city, small country, up over, or down under.  That’s why international shipping is available from K2 Castings.  We handle door delivery in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and much of the EU.  We also deliver to the major container port of your choice.

We work to be part of your wear parts options.  Most importantly, we work to be part of your shredding success.  Contact us for a quote today.

As everyone is aware, the labor issues affecting the west coast ports have come to a resolution.  However, labor is only one of several factors affecting delays through the western ports of the US.  It will be months before the backlog of vessels and containers are cleared and transit time thought the ports return to normal, if ever.

One key issue which has not been resolved is the shortage of chassis to move the containers. This equipment problem and driver shortages will cause delays well in to mid year and possibly beyond.

While we anticipate better delivery, please continue to plan on a 120 day parts supply lead time from date of order to be on the safe side.

We will continue to post any new developments here in our blog. Check back in on a regular basis.

Closely Monitor Your Wear Parts Inventory and Do Not Delay Orders

To keep everyone up to speed on the transit times for inbound shipments:

There has been some movement to resolve the labor issues involving the major West coast ports in the US. They have not reached an agreement, but are making progress on some of the key issues.

This being said, however, even if an agreement is reached, it will be months before the backlogs of ships and containers get back to some type of normalcy.  Key issues at the ports will remain a problem for some time.  There are not enough trucks, drivers, and chassis to move the inbound containers to rail or their final destinations.  Delays are expected to continue in to at the middle of 2015, possibly as far out as 2016.

Large scale congestion at USA and foreign ports is the result of several issues:

• Labor slowdowns and anticipated labor actions have both slowed ship loading and unloading.  Labor issues at some Chinese ports slowed several weeks of deliveries.  At US ports, the promise of contentious labor talks had many ship early to avoid delays if talks bogged down.  Contract talks continue.
• US Ports are facing longer times unloading the new class of ever larger vessels.  The delays are congesting already packed dock schedules.  The terminals need more physical space, a problem that cannot be resolved quickly.
• A change in the truck chassis system in the USA has increased delays.  When carriers controlled container chassis, they provided one with each container pick up.  Carriers decided not long ago they didn’t want to own truck chassis, and the new system has them everywhere but where they need to be: at the port.  The result is long waits for a free chassis to pull containers from the yards, and a lack of driver hours to deal with the delays.
• The surge in volume and the port delays has intermodal terminals and trucking capacity out of sync, causing further congestion.

The bottom line:  Don’t get caught short on your wear parts.  Be sure to re-order as soon as you use your stock.  Do not delay purchases and give yourself more time for delivery.

The United States is the leading exporter of scrap metals in the world.  Barges leave the inland river system to get loaded in on ships at NOLA, tens of thousands of containers are loaded with recycled metals each day, and bulk ships of shred and HMS depart our ports.  That’s a lot of cargo.

How many ships are there at sea?  80,500 on the seas Jan 7, 2015.

snapshot of ships at sea on Jan 7, 2015. image courtesy of MartinTraffic.om

The number is for all types of commercial vessels, not just scrap carriers.  That a lot of traffic.  The information is provided by MarineTraffic.com.

There has been a definite change in the types of scrap being shredded these days. We are seeing much lighter scrap as everyone who has a shredder has noticed and more non-metallics.  The old days of 15 to 20% loss in white goods and 25 to 30% loss in autos are long gone.  Baled sheet metal is more common as shredders reach further out for material.  More powerful balers generate hard hitting bundles that test your hammers and keep the motor working hard.

So which kind of hammers should you use?

Manganese steel hammers basically have been around since the shredder was invented.  Manganese is still the hammer of choice for the vast majority of shredders around the world. It is usually the lowest cost per processed ton performer and the most forgiving with baled and heavy scrap.  If your product mix has a good percentage of heavier scrap to shred, you will be able to work harden the hammers for excellent wear.  For best results, manganese hammers should have a minimum 1/2% Molybdenum (moly).

Alloy steel hammers, both UHT and DHT types are up and coming products targeting the shredders with lighter gauge scrap to process. Be sure you compare the higher costs of the alloy hammers versus the increased tons of processed material.  For instance, if you are getting an additional 50% increase in tons out per set, and you are paying almost double the cost, does it make sense for your operation?   Even with the labor savings from delayed hammer changes, you may still save money with manganese.

Forged hammers are the newest and most expensive  type in the market today. They are a hard hammer, so you will need to have special hammer pins as well.  Otherwise you will wear your normal pins out much sooner.  Monitor it closely to see if your cost to shred comes down as much as you anticipated.  We are hearing double or more the wear life compared to manganese.  Gather all costs, so you can compare the hammer cost per ton with pins included.  While an improvement, it may not be as much a savings as anticipated.  Only your numbers will lead to the right answer.

K2 Castings produces manganese and alloy hammers for all sizes of shredders. Our suggestion is to test them both and settle on the type which works better for your product mix. If you have any questions or need some help figuring out which is the most cost effective for you, let us know. We will be happy to help you out.