EVRAZ uses Sennebogen material handlers to keep scrap moving at its Reginal Steel Division yard

EVRAZ uses Sennebogen material handlers to keep scrap moving at its Reginal Steel Division yard
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Sennebogen material handlers have carved out their place at EVRAZ North America’s Regina Steel Division yard in Regina, Saskatchewan. They are not only integral to current operations but as future solutions in potential yard configurations that would add more of the machines in different tasks, says Kris Vancha, site maintenance superintendent.

EVRAZ North America, headquartered in Chicago, currently has several Sennebogen 850 M machines working at its Regina steel mill. The yard’s first 850 Ms were purchased new in late 2010 and were put into active duty in early 2011. Each of those units has about 21,000 hours of service as of early May 2017, the company says. One of EVRAZ’ original Sennebogen units is equipped with a grapple, while the other units have magnets.

“It is all scrap transfer,” says Kevin Hicks, area manager of yard operations. “If it’s an offloading situation, these machines will be emptying out outgoing railroad cars and putting the scrap into the inventory piles, and when it is time to fill the railcars going to the melt shop, it’ll be coming from the piles and loaded by these same machines into our internal fleet of railcars.”

Different days of the week pose different demands for each of the rubber-tired material handlers, Hicks says. During the day shift Monday through Friday, when tractor-trailers are constantly moving in and out of the yard, the material handlers work in proximity to one another. When an opportunity presents itself at other times of the day or night, they can be moved and spread throughout the yard to maximize production.

“We used to run rail-track mobile cranes, and we would have to load one railcar at a time and then put it away and go grab another empty railcar,” Hicks says. “With the Sennebogens, now we can set up 10, 15, 20, 25 railcars—as many as we need—and load them all without having to move them. Being able to set a string of empty railcars up at three, four or five different piles of scrap and then be able to access all of those cars in succession is huge for us, not only in terms of time, but it’s way better for overall production.”

The elevated-cab design is a key factor in the material handlers keeping up with the Regina yard’s busy demands, as well as operator safety, Hicks says. “Back in the old days with the cable cranes, when you were offloading a railcar, you would have to get out of your crane, walk over and climb up on the car to make sure that the car was empty,” he recalls. “Now with the Sennebogens, being able to position yourself at the middle of a car, elevate the cab and see what’s left inside the car is huge.”

With the Regina facility’s rebuilt 850 M now operating, it is time to begin cycling the original three units through a refurbishment program, Vancha says. Having received numerous pallets of parts shipped from Sennebogen, he was just about to take “No. 1” offline for a month and send it off-site for a major overhaul, including a new engine and hydraulics.

For regular machine maintenance, “With four yard mechanics, we do as much as we can in-house,” says Vancha who, like Hicks, has been working at the Regina yard for about 20 years. In the future, Vancha anticipates reaching out to authorized Sennebogen dealer Regina-based Redhead Equipment for major machine support and other sales and service opportunities.

Based in Stanley, North Carolina, within the greater Charlotte region, Sennebogen LLC is the Americas subsidiary of Germany-based Sennebogen Maschinenfabrik GmbH and offers a complete range of purpose-built machines for material handling applications. 

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Source: Recycling Today
EVRAZ uses Sennebogen material handlers to keep scrap moving at its Reginal Steel Division yard
<![CDATA[Sennebogen material handlers have carved out their place at EVRAZ North America’s Regina Steel Division yard in Regina, Saskatchewan. They are not only integral to current operations but as future solutions in potential yard configurations that would add more of the machines in different tasks, says Kris Vancha, site maintenance superintendent. EVRAZ North America, headquartered in Chicago, currently has several Sennebogen 850 M machines working at its Regina steel mill. The yard’s first 850 Ms were purchased new in late 2010 and were put into active duty in early 2011. Each of those units has about 21,000 hours of service as of early May 2017, the company says. One of EVRAZ’ original Sennebogen units is equipped with a grapple, while the other units have magnets. “It is all scrap transfer,” says Kevin Hicks, area manager of yard operations. “If it’s an offloading situation, these machines will be emptying out outgoing railroad cars and putting the scrap into the inventory piles, and when it is time to fill the railcars going to the melt shop, it’ll be coming from the piles and loaded by these same machines into our internal fleet of railcars.” Different days of the week pose different demands for…