Kleemann showcases equipment, facilities at Technology Days

Wirtgen Group hosted its Mineral Technology Days event last Thursday and Friday in Windhagen, Germany, where Kleemann’s latest crushers were among the equipment demonstrated for U.S. invitees and more than 1,000 invitees from around the world.

Three specific Kleemann systems were demonstrated, including one involving the Mobicat MC 125 Z jaw crusher, the Mobicone MCO 11 cone crusher, a Mobicone MCO 11 SX cone crusher and a Mobiscreen MS 20 D screening plant. The system crushed and screened greywacke, a variety of sandstone, and Kleemann showed how the equipment can be interlocked so production is fluid from start to finish.

Kleemann also crushed concrete in another demo and recycled natural raw materials like mixed rubble, concrete and asphalt in a third, exhibiting the strength of a magnet that removes debris.

In addition to the Kleemann equipment demos, invitees also saw Wirtgen’s new 4200 SM surface miner in action. Invitees also had the opportunity to sit in on lectures from experts like Bramco-MPS’ Lee Heffley, who talked to a global audience about how mobile equipment like Kleemann’s is changing the way U.S. producers do business.

Still, as Heffley noted, some producers hesitate to move toward more mobile equipment because they are not ready to abandon existing equipment investments.

“The best way to introduce equipment is with a progressive strategy,” Heffley says.

While Technology Days involved participants from around the world, many of the U.S. producers in attendance also received a tour earlier in the week of Kleemann’s 1.4-million-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in Göppingen, Germany. The facility, completed in 2009, relies on 26 overhead cranes to move the parts needed to build Kleemann’s equipment. Invitees also learned that many of the parts used to manufacture equipment are actually produced at the Kleemann facility.

Those on the tour also saw crushers being assembled. Kleemann says assembling one crusher takes about one week, but an intense testing period follows that takes a few more weeks per crusher to ensure quality functionality.