Gary, Indiana: David Coslov, Vice President of Maintenance and Equipment for Tube City Inc., recently took delivery of an 870M Sennebogen scrap handling machine at the Gary, Indiana operations of US Steel where they have been located for almost 10 years. This 145,000 pound rubber tired machine was engineered to specifications laid out by Tube City in conversations with Sennebogen.

On hand for the ceremonial presentation of the keys were David Coslov, Vice President of Maintenance and Equipment for Tube City Inc. Erich Sennebogen Jr., Managing Director of Sennebogen Maschinenfabrik GmbH, Straubing, Germany, and Richard Centner, Executive Vice President of Sennebogen North America.

According to Coslov, "Our first meeting with the Sennebogen people in Las Vegas was very positive. We discussed some of the concerns our operation posed for equipment of this nature." Coslov continued, "When we got to Straubing, Germany (Sennebogen's head office) they had examined all the issues we discussed and in turn had challenged their engineering staff to come up with a number of recommendations to address each situation, which they did."

Erich Sennebogen, Managing Director of Sennebogen Maschinenfabrik GmbH visiting from Germany for this ceremonial event, indicated that this was a major step in gaining a foothold in the North American market place. "Tube City took a risk, but at the same time, had the vision to order the first two Sennebogen 870 rubber tired machines in the US. The second one is being delivered in October.

"We have very talented engineers on staff in Straubing," continued Erich Sennebogen, "But one of my jobs is to make sure that they do not over engineer the machine but respond to the customer's needs. After all, we are a customer driven organization."

Tube City's new 870M goes right to work.

David Coslov (left) Vice President of Maintenance and Equipment for Tube City Inc., discusses their new 870M with Erich Sennebogen Jr., Managing Director of Sennebogen Maschinenfabrik GmbH.

Looking for a tough machine

"This is an industrial operation and we handle up to 250,000 tons of ferrous scrap per month. We were looking for a company that had the right equipment, recognized the demands of our application and were willing to listen to our concerns," said Coslov.

Sennebogen no longer makes earth-moving equipment. "Our line of material handling equipment is just that, a line of equipment that is purpose-designed and built to handle the tough jobs in the yards. Even the box design of the material handling booms have been specifically constructed to meet and exceed the productivity requirements of today's material handling sector. Our machines," continued Sennebogen, "are very tough and built to handle the constant stress of this application. There is no easy part of this job."

Richard Centner, Executive Vice President of Sennebogen North America and Erich Sennebogen, both stressed that the company's philosophy is to have open dialog with our customers on all technical issues. "This way, we learn from our customers and the customers get what they need. In this instance, it went right down to the selection of special solid tires with a tread pattern and a little give to take into consideration the ground that they are running on," continued Centner.

Reliable, versatile and cost effective Sennebogen Green Line material handlers are custom designed and supplied by Sennebogen's newly established North American headquarters located in Charlotte, North Carolina. SENNEBOGEN green line material handlers offer a complete line of purpose-built machines to meet your specific application. A growing network of distributors such as Crane & Machinery Inc., who know the importance of machine support and parts availability have been selected to support the sale and service function across North America..