Large stationary plants aren’t going anywhere. They still have a firm place within a number of aggregate operations.
Interest in portability continues to grow, though. More portable plant suppliers are surely operating in the United States than ever before, and the suppliers who’ve been entrenched in the market continue to explore ways to expand their reach.
New brands have emerged, and component suppliers who’ve had a presence in the U.S. for years see an opportunity to fix their equipment on chassis. Other suppliers that have roots overseas are creating U.S. bases and strategically partnering with dealers to reach customers in key regions.
Aggregate producers, for one, are more driven to portable plants – and for a variety of reasons. Acquiring the necessary permits to mine is a much more challenging proposition, thus fewer greenfield sites are being established. Many of the greenfields that do get off the ground, however, face initial production limits. This scenario leads producers down a path toward portable plants.
Cost, of course, is another factor driving producers toward portability. Some producers operate multiple sites. Rather than make multi-million dollar investments in fixed plants at all of their sites, producers are getting creative by utilizing portable plants across their company.
“A lot of the producers we deal with are going more portable or skid-mounted versus stationary plants,” says Gary Honchell, senior sales manager at Process Machinery. “They might use one portable plant to satisfy two locations. We’re trying to meet that demand while also supporting the producer market where maybe one of their crushers is down, if they lost a screen or a crusher, or if they’re under water and need to keep going.”
What’s trending
While the more traditional wheeled and tracked plants continue to generate interest, modular units that offer semi-portability are becoming more visible, as well. Eoin Heron, business development director at CDE, can attest to this developing trend.
“There’s still a need for big washing plants but perhaps a little bit less of big, long-build plants that take a long time to set up and a more focused approach to fast and modular,” Heron says. “We’re seeing more customers leaning toward what we do, which is build a plant in a modular format.”
Equipment suppliers are pushing portability to both production extremes, too. As an example, take Terex Minerals Processing Systems’ new CRH1111R portable impactor and screen plant, which presses the blend of maximum production and maximum mobility to an upper threshold (see page 16 for more).
Then there’s the other production extreme – the compact portable plants – that offer producers the chance to utilize equipment in tighter footprints.
“With the smaller machines having their own markets, we want to be in the mix for that,” says Justin Murray of Powerscreen Crushing & Screening.