Page 66 from: Recycling International May/June issue

ZB hammermill game-
changer at Louisiana yard
Manufactured by Spain’s ZB Group, the THOR-1616-K hammermill, has impressed

scrap metal recyclers around the globe. One of them is Chad Smith, owner of

Jena Metals in Louisiana, USA.

The 1616-K hammermill is the smallest
of the ZB’s THOR series but don’t let
that fool you. It has been engineered
to solve the problem that many scrap-
yards worldwide have with pre-shred-
der scrap: a lack of density and cleanli-
ness.

US recycler Chad Smith has been run-
ning Jena Metals in Louisiana for 13
years. He, like many others, operates a
family owned recycling business, which
is in its second generation. The com-
pany processes around 1 000 tonnes
of various types of scrap per month.

ADDING VALUE
Smith has gone through a natural pro-
cess during his years leading the busi-
ness, including the realisation that he
needed to add value to the material in
his yard. This prompted him to invest
in equipment.

Among the numerous options in the
market, he decided to acquire a twin-
shaft shredder. At the beginning, he
was able to process material and add
value to his product but, after a short
time, he realised it was not the most
effective way to do so.
After trying to upgrade his light steel
scrap using a twin-shaft shredder for
about three years, he concluded the

output material did not reach market
premium standards with respect to
cleanliness and density. ‘We were get-
ting a lot of pushback from the mills,’
he says. ‘They were quite reluctant to
purchase the material processed by
the twin-shaft.’

Smith needed a solution tailored to a
company of his size that would allow
him to upgrade his pre-shredded
material. ‘I researched a lot online
and, after watching all the THOR vid-
eos on YouTube, I was sure that I
needed to reach out to ZB Group.”

MOBILE SHREDDER PIONEER
ZB Group is based in the green hills
above San Sebastian in Spain’s Basque
country. The recycling equipment pro-
ducer has more than 40 years of expe-
rience in designing and manufacturing
crushing and shredding equipment. It
was the first company to offer a
mobile hammermill shredder, introduc-
ing the first unit into the North
American market in 2013.

Smith contacted ZB Group, which also
is a family owned and operated busi-
ness, for more information. From the
beginning, he says, communicating
with and understanding the ZB
Group’s team was easy and fluent with

both firms being on the same page.
‘As soon as you start talking with
them, you realise they are an honest
company willing to help you from the
beginning.’

PRODUCTIVITY UP
‘Changing to a hammermill was a
scary leap for us; these are significant
investments for an owner-operator,’
Smith continues. ‘But it has been a
game-changer for us. Productivity and
density have gone up, wear and tear in
the twin shaft has gone down, and we
are getting a significant premium from
the market as we are able to market
our material as shred rather than HMS
[heavy melting steel].

‘Most significant of all, we are now
able to recover the non-ferrous metals
and that’s the true goal of shredding,
isn’t it? Once you see how quick the
return on the investment is and the
amount of money you were giving
away before, you regret not making
this move earlier.’

TROUBLED SERVICE
Based on his previous experiences
with overseas manufacturers, Smith
said he originally had serious concerns
about the level of after-sales service
he would get. ‘Who doesn’t have or

Chad Smith: ‘We are now able to recover the non-ferrous metals and that’s the true goal of shredding, isn’t it?’

know of someone that has had a
nightmarish service experience with an
overseas company?’ he asks.

However, given that ZB Group has a
spare parts warehouse and service
team in Atlanta, Georgia and the feed-
back he heard from existing custom-
ers, that concern was all but gone.
‘Having a local service team and spare
parts stock was key for us. Our experi-
ence so far has been great. Both ser-
vice teams, the one in ZB Group’s
headquarters and the one in Atlanta,
are very involved and have responded
to our questions in a timely manner.’

SOLID INVESTMENT
What has surprised the recycler most
is that he did not think he would be

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