Production Through Autumn

With winter coming on, producers are finishing up in many parts of North America. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and services providers still have components and particulars to help you get through end-of-season and beyond. To follow is a sampling of products and services folks wanted you to know about as you wind down the 2019 calendar year.

Roads Across America Get Their Vegetables

By Matt Merritt, for POET

A vegetable oil-derived product is now proving to be an effective asphalt rejuvenator and performance-grade modifier. POET’s new product is called “JIVE,” and it is improving performance and economics for more asphalt producers every day, according to the manufacturer.

It is all-natural, renewable, affordable, and proving its resilience and reliability today in roads ranging from high-traffic highways in New Jersey to fierce conditions in Utah and parts of Canada. According to Matt Reiners, vice president of business development for POET Nutrition, asphalt producers have been attracted to the product for three reasons.

• JIVE has proven to improve the resiliency of roads in extremely low temperatures.
• It is more affordable than alternatives in its space.
• It is a renewable product, and it is safe for the environment and public health.
  Reiners said the company started with a few trials in 2016. From there, the task was to prove JIVE’s performance and earn trust more broadly within the industry. Asphalt providers are extremely risk-averse, he said, and with good reason. There’s no room for error,

With time and many commercial trials, business has taken off this year.

“We are either active in the commercial phase or in the middle of trials with nearly every big provider of asphalt in the country,” Reiners said. “It’s become popular. Not only do you get a price and performance advantage, but we’re renewable.”

Getting the word out can be tough in an industry that likes to keep its ingredients secret. However, a number of customers agreed to submit testimonials anonymously.

“We have been asked by many agencies to eliminate the use of recycled engine oil as a component of asphalt cement for use in hot mixed paving applications,” one customer reported. “We find the use of JIVE to be a good fit for this replacement. JIVE is an environmentally safe replacement and seems to react well with most asphalt and polymer blends.”

“JIVE is a sustainable product that allows contractors to use more reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in their hot mix asphalt,” another reported. “It helps restore some performance properties of the aged asphalt binder in the RAP, resulting in improved performance of a new recycled mixture.”

JIVE has been subjected to the battery of tests to ensure it meets the necessary specifications for use in roads and other projects in the United States. That includes TSR for moisture sensitivity, Hamburg Wheel Tracking tests against rutting, cracking resistance at intermediate and low temperatures and long-term aging tests.

Dr. Alex McCurdy, senior research scientist at POET, said the results show JIVE is a reliable ingredient for asphalt, and they also revealed specific advantages, especially in cold climates and where softer asphalts are not available.

By using Jive at 3.5 percent by weight, a producer can modify the performance grade of an asphalt from PG64-22 to PG58-28. The low temperature improvement at such low inclusions has created a lot of interest, McCurdy said.

“For a lot of producers, it’s actually surprising to them to find that we out-perform many of the petroleum-based materials,” he said. “JIVE improves the asphalt performance at a low dose in a more cost-competitive manner.”

In addition, it allows producers to use more RAP.

“It’s going to get in there and allow for RAP material to blend better with the virgin materials,” McCurdy said. “A lot of producers would like to increase RAP as much as they can while not sacrificing mix performance.”

That improved performance is due in part to the ability of JIVE to replace maltenes, which can be lost over time in aging roadways.

“JIVE doesn’t contain asphaltic maltenes,” McCurdy said. “But JIVE contains renewable, non-toxic components that replace the lost maltenes that serve to disperse asphaltenes.”

While performance and price are most relevant to the bottom line, the asphalt industry is not immune to the growing awareness of environment and health concerns from consumers in the United States and around the world. As a green solution for asphalt rejuvenation and performance-grade modification, Reiners sees a unique role for JIVE to fulfill many of those efforts.

“We’re seeing more and more green projects,” he said. “With JIVE, you get the green benefit bolted on.”

While today that might still be a niche, the trends are undeniable. This is an issue that will grow in every industry in the future. The early adopters, those producers starting to use more environmentally sound ingredients today, will have an advantage.

“They’re already going to know how to use this product, where to get it,” Reiners said. “They’ll already be a preferred customer.”

POET is no stranger to competing with petroleum products. Their primary business has been biofuel production from 28 plant locations across the Midwest that replace chemicals in gasoline. For more than 30 years, they have been fueling America’s vehicles. Now they’re paving America’s roads.

For more information, contact Ashley Hummel at (605) 965-6232.

Ammann

Installation and relocation of the new ACP 300 ContiHRT from Ammann is quick and uncomplicated, according to the manufacturer. “Optional quick cabling and steel skids further speed the relocation process.”

Ammann, Langenthal, Switzerland introduces the ACP 300 ContiHRT asphalt-mix plant to the North American market. This continuous plant is capable of producing mix consisting of more than 60 percent RAP, according to the manufacturer.

“We have been in the North American market for several years, learning what the customers need and then creating a product that delivers it: the Ammann AP 300 ContiHRT Asphalt-Mix Plant,” said Gilvan Pereira, region director Americas.

The new continuous plant features Ammann’s unique recycling technology, which is designed to maximize RAP use and meet the world’s most stringent emissions guidelines. The gentle pre-heating of the RAP prevents thermal stress on the asphalt concrete (AC) content to ensure a highly homogenous final mix. The plant incorporates a RAP dryer for the addition of recycled materials and a separate cold recycling feed.

“Separate drying and mixing processes ensure the highest quality and versatility—even with complex designs utilizing RAP and additives,” said Gunter Tesch, commercial support manager plants.

The high recycling technology (HRT) plant’s gentle preheating prevents AC oxidation, enabling both the aggregate and the coating to be reused, according to the manufacturer. The preheating process also minimizes fuel consumption.

The plant is capable of incorporating shingles, liquid additives, fiber granulate and foam AC. It can access a recycling system for RAP use up to 60 percent; a separate cold recycling system for 30 percent; or a combination of the two. The ACP 300 ContiHRT can also produce high amounts of mix without any RAP. Warm mix can be produced with or without RAP. Continuous production capacity is 330 U.S. tons per hour.

The plant uses the proprietary as1 Control System.

Ammann’s North American hub is in Davie, Florida.

For more information, contact Simone Franz at simone.franz@ammann.com or visit www.ammann.com.

ASV Holdings Inc.

ASV Holdings Inc., Grand Rapids, Minnesota, has added C.N. Wood Co. Inc. to its dealer network. With six locations across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine, the dealer will offer all ASV Posi-Track® compact track loaders. C.N.

Wood will also carry ASV’s full line of skid steer loaders.

For more information, contact sales@asvi.com.

CWMF Corp

The Honey Badger Rap Crusher is designed to crush RAP in any asphalt location.

CWMF Corp, Minnesota, announced this summer the official release of its new product line, the Honey Badger Rap Crusher. The Honey Badger Rap Crusher is equipped with replaceable AR steel wear liners and a ½-inch steel pulverizing hopper. The Honey Badger rotor assembly includes 3-inch premium grade cast carbide hammers, a precision-machined shaft, ¾-inch rotor disks and grease lubricated pillow block bearings. Included is a two-way valve hydraulic power pack that allows for easy interior access but, most importantly, performs a controlled close of the hopper top so that safety is never compromised.

CWMF offers two models, the HB-30 and HB-40. The HB-30 has a feed opening of 23 x 31 inches, a 50-horsepower TEFC motor, and rated at 20-50 tons per hour. The HB-40 has a feed opening of 23 x 35 inches, a 60-hp TEFC motor, and rated at 30-60 TPH. To get the RAP to the proper size, CWMF offers ½-inch, ¾-inch, 1-inch, 1-1/4-inch and 1-1/2-inch AR steel grates in both models.

Portable and stationary setups are available. The Honey Badger portable chassis is also equipped with a CWMF Tremor shaker and conveyor to get RAP processed on-site at any asphalt location.

For more information, call (877) 457-3938

Continental

Continental, a division of ContiTech, Fairlawn, Ohio, has introduced a new heavy-duty air hose to the construction and mining markets. The Super Rock Drill 600 HT is designed for applications that require a high working pressure hose in a high temperature environment. The hose offers a working pressure of 600 psi and complies with Association for Rubber Products Manufacturers (ARPM) guidelines on a 4:1 safety factory, according to the manufacturer. The Super Rock Drill 600 HT is characterized as a heat-resistant CPE tube, ARPM class B, which is medium oil resistance and withstands an operating temperature of 275 degrees F, according to the manufacturer.

For more information, contact Anthony.DiGiacobbe@continental.com.

Conveyor Components Company

Conveyor Components Company, a division of Material Control Inc., Croswell, Michigan, offers the Model BR brush style conveyor belt cleaner to remove fines and carry-back material from a conveyor belt. The belt cleaner uses an electric motor to drive a helical shaped, open face brush to remove build-up from conveyor belts. The hanger rail mounting and oversized width allows for mounting on most conveyors.

When mounted under the head pulley, the excess material is thrown into the discharge stream.

For more information, call (800) 233-3233 and check out the Here’s How it Works feature from 2017.

Enerpac

Enerpac, headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, now offers a new lineup of industrial cutters. The new line includes five families of tools designed to cut metal bar, industrial chain, wire rope and cables, metal tubes, profiles, and similar materials. The new Enerpac cutters are designed to provide quick, safe and cost-effective solutions for the construction, mining, manufacturing and other industries.

The cutters are built to handle industrial-grade materials on a daily basis. For example:

ECC-Series Chain Cutters offer a solution for cutting industrial chains. The cutting process takes place behind a protective transparent shield, enhancing safety for users and bystanders. The ECC is ideal for use in chain cutting applications found in rigging, mining, oil and gas, and other environments.

EWC-Series Wire and Cable Cutters offer a controlled cutting process to enhance operator safety and produce minimal vibration to help prevent Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).

EFB-Series Flat Bar Cutters are designed to cut high-tensile flat bar with ease in seconds. The deep cutting head design accommodates metal bar up to 2¾ inches high and over half an inch thick, according to the manufacturer.

For more information, visit www.Enerpac.com.

Haver & Boecker

Haver & Boecker Niagara, Munster, Germany, offers the Hydro-Clean™ washing system to clean deleterious material from aggregates and minerals while reducing water consumption and energy costs over traditional washing systems. Taking feed material as large as 6 inches into its vertical drum, the Hydro-Clean employs high-pressure nozzles, rotating at 90 rpm, to spray as much as 90 percent recycled water on the material with pressures as high as 2,000 psi. The washing system is designed to remove silt and clay particles as small as 63 microns from mineral mixtures. The washer comes in four model sizes that process 18 to 400 tons per hour, depending on the model and application.

Water consumption ranges from 27 to 211 gpm, depending on application and model size.

During the cleaning process, the washed material works its way down the drum and exits onto a discharge conveyor that leads to a wash screen. The screen removes remaining dirt or clay still on the stone as it fractionates the material.

For more information, contact Kristen Randall at (905) 688-2644 or krandall@havercanada.com.

Kespry

Kespry, Menlo Park, California, and DroneBase announced a partnership this summer. Kespry customers will now be able to leverage DroneBase to manage their Kespry deployments as part of Kespry’s Bring Your Own Drone (BYOD) program.

The program includes a new platform pricing model.

Kespry’s BYOD program is designed to give companies flexibility in how they source their aerial data. DroneBase can either manage customers’ Kespry deployments or have DroneBase’s global pilot network fly their missions, which can be turned around in 48-72 hours. Kespry now offers a single fee for its platform.

For more information, visit http://kespry.com

Kleemann

The MR 130 Zi EVO2 mobile impact crusher from Kleemann

Kleemann, a division of Wirtgen Group, Antioch, Tennessee, offers the Mobirex mobile impact crushers which are designed to produce accurately-sized, cubical-shaped end product. The crushers work well as stand-alone plants, or are an ideal choice for smaller-scale recycling operations, on-site recycling, or for tight-space urban and roadside recycling, according to the manufacturer.

Kleemann’s Mobirex MR 130 Zi EVO2 mobile impact crusher has a crusher inlet size of 52 by 36 inches. Maximum input capacity of 496 tons per hour can easily be attained, according to the manufacturer. The smaller MR 110 Zi EVO2 crusher has an inlet size of 44 by 32 inches and input capacity up to 386 tph.

For more information, contact Matt Graves at (615) 501-0600 or matt.graves@wirtgen-group.com.

Libra Systems Inc.

Libra Systems Inc, Harleysville, Pennsylvania, hosts its inaugural Libra Systems 2020 User Conference this Jan. 22-24 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center in Orlando. Libra professionals will offer three days of knowledge sharing, networking and hands-on experience with Libra Systems products while enjoying fun in the sun in central Florida. The main User Conference begins with an optional golf tournament at the Celebration Golf Club, sculpted by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Jr. through a natural wetland environment, creating a truly serene golf experience.

The conference will be filled with world-class meals and over 30 informative and unique breakout sessions featuring everything you’ll want to know about Libra’s products. You’ll be able to meet in-house experts at the hands-on, product-based “Libra Lab” solution center. AsphaltPro magazine is proud to be a sponsor of this educational event.

For more information, visit www.librasystems.com or contact Michael Sherin at msherin@librasystems.com.

Major

Major, Candiac, Quebec, has introduced a new crown curve calculation and updated crown curve adaptors to offer customers greater performance from its tensioned Flex-Mat® high vibration wire screens and other screen media products on screen decks originally designed for modular panels. A proper curve on the screen deck will allow producers to tension the screen media correctly, which is vital to best performance and wear life.

Major’s crown curve adaptors are designed to allow producers to modify a flat vibrating screen deck for use with tensioned screed media and to try tensioned media out without the time and expense of a deck conversion.

For more information, contact (450) 659-7681.

MINDS Inc.

MINDS Inc. launched the PlantManager software in 2019.

Minds Inc., Kelowna, British Columbia, is pleased to showcase its PlantManager multi-plant dashboard software.

PlantManager, an enterprise asset management software, is designed to allow asphalt plant managers to gain a 30,000-foot level view of their company’s plants, all in one dashboard. Managers then spot issues at a glance and drill down into critical production and job data.

The PlantManager software has opened windows into multiple plant processes, according to the manufacturer, thanks to the use of aggregated data and Minds’ software development. The software allows all the Minds-equipped plants in a company’s arsenal to share relevant data, which gives management teams a one-stop shop for viewing plant production, configuring and generating reports, tracking plant health, and more. Managers can use this asphalt plant control system to look deeper into their individual plants, where analog-style gauges make it easier than ever to track the temperature, energy consumption and mix rate of production, according to the manufacturer.

The PlantManager asphalt plant software is available to managers who operate multiple sites that use Minds’ individual plant management systems, and can be used on tablets and PCs.

“PlantManager is one of the very exciting applications we have launched in 2019,” said Pierre Vidaillac, CEO of Minds Inc. “Customers who have many systems from us wanted a simple, meaningful dashboard to monitor all their asphalt production assets in real time. PlantManager does exactly that, and will also be used as an entry point to dive into more granular layers of information.”

Some of the PlantManager features include:

• Production rates from each of your plants, and information on whether they meet your benchmarks
• View of the current mix design name in production
• Current mix temperatures from each of your plants and whether they fall within your chosen range
• An extensive log of plant production, which includes a custom date/time range and is sortable by mix
• Energy output per ton of mix produced, using theoretical numbers unless additional sensors are purchased, installed and configured, as well as a log of that output over time
• All logs can be exported as spreadsheets to other departments
• All units and tolerances for PlantManager are customizable within the software
• Ability to look into trucking details with a subscription to JobLink
• Ability to look into liquid asphalt tanks with a subscription to TankFarm, including hot mix silo storage amounts

For more information, contact MINDS USA, (833) 646-3787 or contact@mindsusa.com.

Stockpile Reports

Stockpile Reports, Redmond, Washington, offers solutions to make completing inventory measurements easier, according to the manufacturer. Stockpile Reports offers the patented iPhone app for measuring bulk materials, such as sand and crushed rock.

The process of measuring the materials is this: All you have to do is walk the perimeter of the stockpile, pointing the iPhone camera at the pile surface. The measurement uploads to the Stockpile Reports system. You’ll have your stockpile volume results in a few hours, according to the manufacturer.

For companies with larger stockpiles or worksites with a high concentration of stockpiles, Stockpile Reports uses drones to measure inventory. In most cases, companies opt for a combined solution of drones and iPhones to ensure that all of their worksite’s inventory is being measured frequently and consistently. This enables companies to measure all of their stockpiles at once. Having a full toolkit for measuring from the air with drones or from the ground with iPhones gives you the flexibility and power to get inventory done quickly, safely, and efficiently.

For more information, contact (425) 285-4303.

Unified Screening & Crushing

When the Unified Screening & Crushing company began in Minnesota in 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad had just been completed. As one of the few remaining family-owned companies in the industry—and certainly one of the oldest—Unified celebrates 150 years of innovation and growth by reflecting on the products and services that have made the company a leader in its field.

For example, Tufflex™ wire is a wire screen cloth that is designed to boost production for in-demand abrasive rock and now celebrates its 25th year.

“It’s really the workhorse of Unified’s woven wire product line,” said Andrew Lentsch, Chief Operating Officer for Unified. “Especially for customers who are screening highly abrasive rock.”

Tufflex wire is an alternative to oil tempered and high carbon wire. The difference is in the chemical makeup and the manufacturing process:

• Two strength-building steps to create a higher tensile strength than a single-step process
• Finer grain structure decreases the surface rust and corrosion, making it less susceptible to breakage with increased ductility
• Greater consistency and flexibility throughout the wire
• Lower per ton screening costs

The wire is one of many products that the Unified Screening & Crushing company has produced throughout its 150 year history. What began in 1869 as a small shop that sold fences, Unified expanded its product line and services to keep up with demands and technological changes.

By 1911, the business added security mesh, machine guards, chain link fences, and steel railings and stairway products, and just a decade later added sand and gravel screening products. It wasn’t until the mid-80s the company made the leap to expand outside Minnesota.

“As the second-generation of my family’s ownership, my parents had a vision to bring Unified’s brand of customer focus to the western region,” said Lentsch. His parents, Tom and Debbie Lentsch, opened the California office in 1985. California Wire was Unified’s first ever sales office, and then first manufacturing facility, outside of Minnesota.

The company committed to more growth in the 1980s, with partnerships and acquisitions of distributors across the country. In 1995, the company began direct sales into Arizona and opened a new office and factory there just two years later. Gilbert, Arizona, is now the site of Unified’s corporate headquarters with a newly-completed expansion of manufacturing facilities for the Southwest region.

Today, Unified has 14 facilities providing manufacturing, finishing, service and sales.

“Five generations after our founding, we have stuck to one principle: exceeding expectations,” Lentsch said. “Tufflex continues to exceed customer expectations, giving them more throughput and less downtime.”

Vital Signs

Ken Monlux is the proprietor of Vital Signs, his consulting service for the improvement of operational management, including such areas as:

• plant log documentation (plant reporting);
• management coaching and mentoring;
• recruitment and retention; and
• special projects.

Monlux is committed to providing a way you can invest in your team members to improve the morale of the team as a whole while retaining managers that will be more devoted to the outcome of your company. The core of his services is a plant documentation program designed to drive down costs and improve efficiency.

For more information, contact (209) 495-1017 or kenmonlux@yahoo.com.