Burlington, ON – "When you have 25 trucks lined up out in the yard and the machine is down - well, that just can't happen!" For Sheldon Kumer, General Manager of Ivan Waxman & Sons in Burlington, Ontario, downtime in his scrap yard is simply unthinkable. Located in the heart of Canada's steel country at the western shore of Lake Ontario, the Waxman yard ships out 30,000 tons of scrap metal each month to steel mills and foundries throughout the southern Great Lakes region. It's a highly competitive market, and Waxman is one of the long-time survivors. According to Sheldon Kumer, getting the right equipment and keeping it operational is essential to lasting success.

Even with its 61-ft reach, the SENNEBOGEN 835 R-HD can swing full loads through 360 degrees, minimizing the travel required to move material between various piles and bins.

"Everything today is just-in-time," he says. "That's why scrap is such a hands-on business. You have to be able to react and respond. So we depend very much on machine reliability."

The Waxman yard operates a variety of material handling equipment along with its large truck fleet. "The machines all do a good job," he admits, "because they were all purchased for their role in the business." The latest addition, acquired this past Spring, is a SENNEBOGEN 835 R-HD crawler-mounted purpose-built scrap handler. Recognized for simple, efficient engineering with minimal dependence of electronics, the SENNEBOGEN green line machine was chosen as "the right fit" for reliable performance.

"With daily changes in markets and processes, it's difficult for public companies to be successful. Buying equipment is also a hands-on process. You need to buy equipment to fit very specific requirements; in the same way that a truck is spec'd for its loads and roads, material handling equipment also has to fit individual needs."

These days, Sheldon is committed to a "hands on" management approach, having seen his operation evolve through phases as a family-run business and as a unit of larger corporations. Sheldon has shared management of the company with his brother-in-law, Chester Waxman, for 46 years. He's also well known in the industry across Canada, as past President of the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries. About 18 years ago, I. Waxman & Sons was sold to Lake Ontario Steel which underwent a succession of ownership changes. In 1998, after 5 years as part of Philip Industries, ownership of the yard returned to Sheldon and Chester, whose father was the original founder. After the corporate experience, Sheldon is glad that business decisions are being made right at the yard again.

For his purchase, Sheldon turned to Joel Paikin at Top Lift Enterprises for advice. Joel knows that, no matter what the application, Sheldon Kumer's top requirement is uptime. The theme recurred at each of the meetings that led up to Waxman's purchase of the SENNEBOGEN machine. "What's important to Sheldon is uptime, operator satisfaction and machine flexibility – those are the components that make him happy. We were able to show him that SENNEBOGEN could meet all his criteria."

Top Lift handles all the service for the 835 R-HD, so Joel has seen the difference that simple design can make. “Even though the SENNEBOGEN machines and hydraulics are highly advanced, state-of-the-art for heavy equipment, they're simpler." Top Lift recently sold a larger SENNEBOGEN machine, an 850 M wheeled scrap handler, to another recycler in nearby London, Ontario. Joel recalls a comment on the SENNEBOGEN approach made by Bruce Zubick, of John Zubick Ltd. Scrap Metals. "Bruce said 'to go forward, we have to go back!”

The 835 R-HD has been proving to be the right operational fit for Waxman's, too. "Some sections of our yard are hard on mobility," Sheldon explains. "We had a role where a machine would work in a limited area with low demand for mobility; loading rail cars with a 66" magnet. We have a more traditional tracked machine working in another part of the yard and we have one wheeled machine to move around wherever we need it. We decided that adding another track machine would relieve workloads on the other two machines. The new SENNEBOGEN machine has worked full shifts every day since May."

To see how the SENNEBOGEN machine would improve productivity, Sheldon only had to look at the load charts in the machine specifications. He hadn't yet seen the 835R-HD in action but, as Joel explains, "the charts showed Sheldon how the SENNEBOGEN machines can all handle their maximum capacity through 360 degrees of swing. Where other machines have a reduced capacity over the side, the stance and balance of the SENNEBOGEN machines provide uniform weight-handling in all directions: front, sides and back. This means less travel is required for positioning to load a truck, for instance."

"The machine we recommended also has a longer boom (61 feet) than the previous unit," Joel continues. "The machine can load from the back and has enough reach to fill a large scow without moving. With its 360-degree load-handling, it can swing through from the pile to the truck with a maximum load and never have to relocate to compensate for the load."

With less travel time and full loads, it's easy to see how the machine is able to achieve goals for higher throughput even though, at 110,000 lbs, the 835 R-HD is actually outlifting larger equipment supplied by other manufacturers.

Dave Shea, the Vice President of Top Lift, agrees that the 835 R-HD was the right size machine for Waxman, but says the purchase runs counter to recent trends. "We have seen, in Canada, a tendency to buy a larger machine than the job requires. That just results in additional costs to buy and operate the equipment. With this unit, we were able to show Sheldon that SENNEBOGEN could fit the application, reduce capital and operating costs and actually increase productivity. By going with SENNEBOGEN, Waxman was able to downsize their specification to a model that costs less to own and consumes less fuel, but can still handle the same size magnet as the other machine."

For a hands-on manager like Sheldon Kumer, the success of the SENNEBOGEN machine is no surprise. The 835 R-HD simply fits the loads and duty cycles required in the Waxman yard. According to Sheldon, "Our operator is happy with it; it has a comfortable cab, it's easy on the back. The machine is performing as expected."

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 line 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.

- FEBRUARY 2005 -