Words of wisdom on: Screening

Editor’s note: As part of our Road to Recovery coverage, P&Q is turning to some of the industry’s leaders for their takes on the road ahead. This month, leaders from screening manufacturers were posed with the following question: How are you and your dealers coaching aggregate producers through the pandemic when it comes to their screening equipment?

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Carefully consider screen media

Evaluating screen choices now can prevent downstream headaches

Watch for signals that you are not screening at maximum capacity. Check the worn-out screens in your boneyard: Is there a pattern of where the screens are breaking? Do you notice wrong-sized rock running down the backside of your pile, or too many fines recirculating? You could be running equipment with a broken screen. 

You may even want to evaluate your screen choice. Different types of media offer different results and can even be combined to increase yield. And if you’re running the same spec for long stretches, you can stock up on that size opening to make sure you are never short on screens. 

With public works project budgets being so tight right now, producers can’t afford for product to be out of spec. Not getting paid on a project could be detrimental. Better screen media can be an affordable maintenance solution.

Wayne Honea is a customer service representative at Unified Screening & Crushing.

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Best approaches to overcome downtime

Screen Machine’s Dave Stewart offers a pair of solutions to producers

These are certainly unprecedented times in our businesses and in every facet of our lives. As things continued to evolve, we try to adapt and adjust to the changing landscape. 

For Screen Machine and our dealers, we have leaned on the tried-and-true practices that help our crushing and screening customers succeed year in and year out. One area is maintenance. If you have a machine sitting idle, it’s a perfect time to make sure it is in top running condition so you’re ready when the demand comes. 

Rental is another important area to emphasize: If you are keeping a close eye on expenses, renting is a great way to maintain production without a big hit to the bottom line. Plus, it’s an opportunity to test machinery before you buy.

Dave Stewart is director of marketing at Screen Machine.

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Maintain equipment now before ramping back up

Buffalo Wire Works’ Dominic Nasso recommends proactively protecting your investments

Customers have curbed operations and production to adjust to the pandemic business climate. This, combined with an overall general trend to defer preventive maintenance, creates an inevitable super cell of costly downstream repairs that are avoidable.  

This unique time has allowed for a rare opportunity to advise and work closely with maintenance teams to protect their equipment and investments from costly excessive wear problems. This is effectively accomplished by taking advantage of new developments in both urethane and rubber magnetic liner technologies (or conventional mechanical fastening systems) and Hardox steel wear plates.

In conjunction with preparing for what we see as an unprecedented ramp up in post-pandemic production, we also recommend not relying solely on just-in-time supply chain strategies and stocking certain critical production items such as screens and other key components.

Dominic Nasso is executive vice president at Buffalo Wire Works.

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Featured image: P&Q Staff