MACEO, Kentucky: Bob Childress simply wasn't satisfied with the choices he was facing when he was ready to bring a new material handling machine into the Owensboro Gateway transfer station operated by Kinder Morgan. Located at mile 750 on the Ohio River, near the town of Maceo, KY, the 113-acre facility managed by Childress moves almost every type of product you can name, from aluminum to salt to scrap steel and timber. A former coal miner with an ingrained appreciation of heavy equipment, he knew what he would need from the new machine and from the distributor behind it. When Kelly Cates arrived on the site from Brandeis Machinery & Supply Company, Bob was ready to hear about the new "green machines" that Brandeis was just taking on.

"I won't take a machine without good service. I've always had good results with Kelly Cates and the Brandeis people. Then (SENNEBOGEN North America President) Constantino Lannes came in and showed me how they had a full parts inventory in North Carolina and could deliver any part I need overnight – any part! That's what I need to run my business on a day-to-day basis."

With a hydraulic elevating cab, the SENNEBOGEN 825 M material handler allows the operator to sit eye-level with to the top of rail car stanchions as the machine stacks logs into it.

Childress was purchasing a new machine to load rail cars with logs: up to 1000 tons a week moving wood from the pine forests of Kentucky, Ohio and Illinois en route to Chillicothe Ohio for milling. Cates examined the specifications that Childress had in mind for the new machine and recommended the 825 M machine, SENNEBOGEN's 63,300 lb. rubber-tired model, equipped with a hydraulic elevating cab. Brandeis was able to bring in an 835 M unit right away and fit it with the log grapple provided by Childress for demonstration.

This was the first SENNEBOGEN machine to be sold by Brandeis. The SENNEBOGEN line of material handlers, widely recognized by their distinctive green color, has been highly successful in scrap handling applications across the country since they were first introduced here in 2000. But Kelly Cates had no problem recommending the 825 M for Kinder Morgan's log loading operation. "This is an easy machine to sell. I'm always impressed with the simplicity of the SENNEBOGEN design. It doesn't take a lot of technical aptitude to explain why it's the better machine."

In fact, in other parts of the world, SENNEBOGEN material handlers have also been a common sight in a wide range of logging and forest operations for many years.

Once Childress saw the SENNEBOGEN 835 M, he could see immediately that he was getting a sturdy, very stable purpose-built machine that would fit the application. "We took the 835 as a loaner until the 825 could be delivered and it worked out very well. I wanted the mobility of a rubber-tired, purpose-built machine. It has to cover about 6-acres of gravel-based yard to pick from our logs. And I expect it to unload a truck in 10 minutes. It's a great machine for what we do."

Speed is key as the 825 M works throughout the 6-acre site, unloading trucks in less than 10 minutes picking logs from stacks for rail shipment.

The hydraulic cab on the 825 M is an essential feature for the log loading application. The log grapple picks up as many as 10 logs at a time and stacks them between the standards on the rail car. Then the logs are strapped down. Naturally, it pays to have as many logs as possible in a car load but, for safety, the logs cannot be any higher than the standards.