ARMOREL, AR – Last year, Rick Ellis, General Manager of Marine Terminals Inc., Armorel, AR, looked to the SENNEBOGEN green line to fill his company's material handling needs, and he hasn't looked back since.

The model 870 M material handler has been on the job at the facility since August 2004. It will soon be joined by an 850 M as well as other SENNEBOGEN units in the near future. Power, versatility, mobility and an overall user-friendly design without electronic componentry to knock it out of service, led Ellis to look to SENNEBOGEN machines to equip his operation.

The 870 M provides Marine Terminals with the flexibility it requires.

“We offload scrap metal for Nucor Steel and our equipment has to be ready to go at all times. Nucor counts on it.”

Ellis confirms that the 870 M has proven durable having clocked more than 3,000 hours since being placed into service. “It stands up to a demanding production schedule at a facility that offloads between 2.3 and 2.5 million tons of scrap metal from barges and railcars per year,” said Ellis.

“It's got the horsepower it needs and with its design, it can handle the job we identified for it,” Ellis says.

Powered by a 408 HP CAT engine, the 870 M has a working radius up to 68
feet, 11 inches, a lifting capacity of up to 61,070 pounds and an operating weight of 154,300 pounds.

Another reason for the choice was the flexibility it offered. Ellis says the 870 M is employed on the scrap lines, where it pulls tons of scrap metal off incoming barges with the help of several different attachments.

“Our ability to use multiple attachments is another very attractive feature of the 870 M,” said Ellis. At Marine Terminals, our 870 M is used with a 78-inch magnet, a 4-yard grapple and a clam bucket, depending on what has to be moved.” According to Ellis, this includes No. 1 and No. 2 scrap, pig iron and machine turnings.

In addition to power and versatility, easy maintenance is another feature of the 870 M that has Ellis recommending the machine to his colleagues in the industry. “We can buy a lot of parts right here in the states. Our mechanics find it easier to work on and the SENNEBOGEN parts inventory ensures our uptime and machine availability.”

“The end result is that the 870 M has helped Marine Terminals increase production,” says Ellis. “It used to take between 40 and 45 minutes to unload an average railcar with his old equipment. With our SENNEBOGEN 870 M, the job takes only 20 to 25 minutes per railcar. We've pretty much doubled our production with it," said Ellis.

The performance numbers of the 870 M have convinced him that choosing a SENNEBOGEN machine was the right business decision. “We're very happy with it,” Ellis says. “And we're looking forward to switching more of our equipment over. For us, it’s an all-purpose machine and,” confirmed Ellis, “it's one of the best on the market for our needs.”

SENNEBOGEN has been a leading name in the global material handling industry for more than 50 years. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SENNEBOGEN North America offers a complete range of purpose-built machines to suit virtually any heavy lift or "pick & carry" application. A growing network of distributors supports SENNEBOGEN sales and service across North America, ensuring the highest standard of professional machine support and parts availability.

- MARCH 2005 -