According to Bob Brewer, OmniSource Vice-President Ferrous Operations, Tim Kreider, Sales Representative at the Fort Wayne branch of SENNEBOGEN distributor Brandeis Machinery & Supply brought the manufacturer and product to them. He showed the OmniSource people how rubber-tired SENNEBOGEN material handlers would meet their needs. They must have liked what they saw and heard. Today, SENNEBOGEN 840 M machines account for about 10% of the fleet operating in OmniSource’s Midwestern scrap yards.

“What initially attracted us to SENNEBOGEN was we had a special need for a rubber wheeled material handler of a particular size,” says Gibble. “We demoed a couple of SENNEBOGEN machines and decided to go with the 840 M. As it turned out, the rubber-tired 840 M models were exactly what we were looking for in our application. That explains why we have 9 of them.”

840 M - a response to market requirements
Scott Gibble recalls how his company’s acquisition of its fleet of SENNEBOGEN 840 M machines took shape and likens it to the process of elimination. He says “When we are spec’ing machines, the 840 M series wasn’t even in the SENNEBOGEN product line yet. At the time, the company offered 835 M and 850 M lines. We tried the 835 M and it was too small for our needs; we tried the 850 M and it was too big. So in response to our needs, SENNEBOGEN developed the 840 M – and it was just the right size for us.”

“The new machine was specially created to serve the increased demands of high performance operations like OmniSource,” says Constantino Lannes, President of SENNEBOGEN LLC. “SENNEBOGEN engineers took the best features of the 835 M and 850 M models and created the new 840 M. The machine specification and performance is a direct response to the market requirements.”

“Our distributors sincerely appreciate our proactive approach to their customers’ needs. At the same time, we have maintained a commitment to our distributors to continue to provide them with the tools to support their customers in their equipment needs,” says Lannes.

Our Machines Get Around
Outfitted with Young Grapple Magnets, the company’s fleet of SENNEBOGEN 840 M machines are used for general material handling in OmniSource scrap yards in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan. Brewer and Gibble note that the powerful rubber-tired machines have given their operators the mobility and quickness they were seeking. “It has proven to be a very good performer,” says Brewer. “It’s a fast machine with ample reach and great cycle times that can drive the right size of attachments for our application. What’s more, it’s a very stable machine with a low center of gravity and a wide stance. It is the perfect fit for our special needs.”

Gibble praises the units’ ease of serviceability. “It’s a very simple machine with parts that are recognizable to us. Most of the parts on SENNEBOGEN machines are off-the-shelf items and readily available. That was very attractive to us in going with the 840 M machines.”

Equipment acquisition a two-part equation
According to Brewer, there are two parts to the equation that companies like OmniSource must take into account when purchasing equipment from a manufacturer.

“First, you have to consider the quality and integrity of the manufacturer itself. In this regard, SENNEBOGEN has proven worthy of praise in what they have been able to accomplish in the manufacture of reliable purpose-built material handlers,” says Brewer. “The dealer support network is the second important part. You can have a wonderful product, but if you have a bad dealer, it ends up weighing heavily on the purchaser. We gave Brandeis and Gibson Machinery a very high benchmark to meet and they have worked hard to live up to that expectation. We’re very happy with the relationship we have developed with them. ”

Brewer and Gibble agree that Brandeis and Tim Kreider went the extra mile to get their company’s business. “The dialogue that was initiated between our company and SENNEBOGEN was largely driven by Tim,” says Gibble.  “Brandeis deserves a lot of credit for listening to what we needed for our application and then bringing the manufacturer and product to us. They had machines on site for demo purposes almost immediately and there was never any bickering about paying for their use or making guarantees about purchasing them. They just said, Here it is, try it out.”

Brewer also liked the attention OmniSource received from SENNEBOGEN Senior Administration. “SENNEBOGEN North America President Constantino Lannes visited OmniSource jobsites on a number of occasions and listened attentively to our needs,” he says. “I’ve also spoken directly to Erich Sennebogen, Owner and Managing Director of the company.”

After-purchase service support was a factor that figured prominently in OmniSource management’s decision to go with SENNEBOGEN. Brewer says, “It doesn’t help our uptime or bottom-line if we have to wait for someone to drive three or four hours to service our equipment. Having good distributor support in the states where the machines were going to be located was and has been a major factor in going with the SENNEBOGEN product line. Since we acquired our 840 M units, our distributors – Brandeis in Indiana and Gibson Machinery in Ohio – have done a great job in servicing the machines and getting any necessary parts to us in a timely manner. We have repair and maintenance plan agreements for most of our SENNEBOGEN machines.”

Necessity and availability are the factors that initially brought OmniSource and SENNEBOGEN together and they continue to nurture the business relationship between the two companies. “Simply put, SENNEBOGEN has been able to meet our immediate needs for reliable purpose-built material handlers of a predetermined size and local distributors like Brandeis and Gibson have provided us with the dependable service support we require to maximize our uptime and productivity,” says Brewer.