Mobility to the MACS
October 1, 2007 By: Rodney E. Garrett Pit & QuarryA Nevada producer trades two portable plants for one — a new, high-tech system from Terex Cedarapids.
MACS (Mobile Aggregate Crushing System) is a portable crushing/screening system that is turning some heads in the aggregates industry. Designed and built by Terex Cedarapids, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the first MACS plant was presented to distributors and Pit & Quarry magazine in April. The first unit was well received and sold by June to H.E. Hunewill Construction Co. Inc. of Winnemucca, Nev.
"For years, I have been looking for a portable crushing/screening system like this, and when Greg Vroman [sales rep for the Terex Cedarapids' distributor, Kimball Equipment Co.] told me about this MACS plant going on display at the factory, I went to see it. The system was exactly what I was looking for, so in June we bought the plant," said Loren Hunewill, president of Hunewill Construction.
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Hunewill Construction is a mid-size construction/crushed-stone producing company that was founded by Loren's father, Harvey, in 1958. It had a modest beginning as a company by offering services to farmers to level their agricultural land using a bulldozer and scraper. Today, Loren owns the company with his brother Greg, vice president, and sister Lynda, secretary-treasurer.
The company has been in a growth pattern that not only involves the production of aggregates for sale to other contractors but also for Hunewill Construction's own consumption to produce hot mix asphalt (HMA) and ready-mixed concrete. Last year, the company crushed and screened 1.7 million tons of aggregates, including materials required to meet the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) aggregates specifications.
The aggregates were produced in various gravel pits as far as 250 miles apart. "We have five gravel pits of our own, but we likewise crush in third parties' gravel pits, including some that are owned by NDOT," Hunewill said. "The gravel pits we crush in at any one time are related to current local paving and construction projects that require aggregates or our paving materials. The quantity of rock crushed depends on the quantity of aggregates needed for the specific project."
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The construction projects can call for aggregates and/or fill to 500,000 tons or more. Since the crushing activities at any one gravel pit are sporadic, Hunewill finds he cannot justify the capital investment associated with installing stationary crushing/screening plants. High productivity is central, and Hunewill said that most portable crushing/screening plants do not have the production capacities to be seriously considered. Likewise, they are not designed as an efficient, integrated crushing/screening system. "We need a crushing/screening system that can produce at least 400 tph and preferably up to 550 tph or more."
Replaces two
High production is important. When a paving project starts, Hunewill Construction must supply the aggregates in a timely fashion, whether they are supplied to another contractor or to one of its own HMA or ready-mix concrete plants.
 Hunewill Construction plant operator Ruben Gomez is seen here inside the control tower. The tower has wraparound glass for easy viewing of the entire site. |
Until Hunewill took possession of the new MACS plant, the company owned five portable crushing/screening plants. Depending on how brisk the aggregates business was, all five plants were in operation at various locations. However, with the MACS portable plant now in operation, two of the portable plants were sold, including one that was only a few years old.
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