News

Aug 18, 2023

New life for steel

When state regulations changed to prohibit split weighing on legal-for-trade truck scales and with a growing volume of scale traffic, the Eau Claire, Wisconsin-based yard of Alter Metal Recycling

When state regulations changed to prohibit split weighing on legal-for-trade truck scales and with a growing volume of scale traffic, the Eau Claire, Wisconsin-based yard of Alter Metal Recycling found itself in need of a new solution.

It could no longer weigh trucks on an axle-by-axle basis and provide the sum as the truck’s total weight. While its existing pit-mounted mechanical truck scale could accommodate most vehicles, the business was expanding, and the increasing frequency of large commercial clients arriving in fully loaded semitrucks demanded a longer scale.

Ken Barnhouse has been in the metal recycling business since 1997. Over that time, he has seen many changes in this evolving business, primarily in the equipment. Some of those changes increased efficiency and throughput, while others proved too unreliable to provide sustained advantages. But when Alter Metal Recycling chose an 80-foot SURVIVOR® OTR truck scale to replace its mechanical predecessor, it made Barnhouse's life easier.

He was working for a metal recycling business in Washington state at the time, and when he took the job as facility manager at Alter’s Eau Claire location, he was pleasantly surprised with the new equipment.

“We had just installed Rice Lake OTRs at the Washington state plant,” Barnhouse remembers. “The ease of installation was one of the great selling points, and it works as it should all the time. There is very little maintenance, and it interfaces very well with our software. We couldn’t ask for anything more.”

SURVIVOR OTRs are not only a favorite of Barnhouse’s, but they have become a good solution for many Alter Metal Recycling facilities. The 45 regional locations of this privately held recycling company are turning red with Rice Lake.

“As the old scales complete their life span, or new state regulations demand an update, we’re moving to SURVIVORs,” Barnhouse explains. “Rice Lake is easy to work with, and the product quality is excellent. It’s a proven solution. Accuracy and durability are very important in our business. I need to be able to tell someone that this is the weight and be confident when saying so. The equipment needs to be consistent, and the OTR is just that. In the three years we’ve had the scale, I haven’t had to replace a load cell, but I do appreciate the easy access to load cell pockets. That will make any future maintenance quick and easy.”

As a truck approaches the OTR, its contents are automatically scanned for potential radioactive material that could make it into the scrap stream. Seemingly harmless items, such as vintage Cub Scout compasses and glow-in-the-dark watches, are often identified and, though they don’t pose any issues for safety or the environment, it does show how sensitive the detection equipment is. If the load passes the radiation test, the weight is captured by the office’s database software. A LaserLight® remote display mounted on either end of the scale shows the driver the live weight. The metal is then offloaded in the yard, and a date with the 4,000-horsepower shredder awaits.

Scrap travels up the conveyor to the shredder where it is pulverized by 400-pound hammers mounted to an 80-inch diameter rotor. As it passes through the shredder, the scrap is sized per consumer specifications. The machine looks like a medieval torture device. Each hammer strike creates a sea of echoes between the mountains of scrap metal in the 26-acre yard.

The now-shredded autos, postconsumer goods, such as refrigerators, washers and swing sets, and a host of other input materials are sent through a magnetic separation system to prepare the steel. They then move on to a variety of sophisticated separation equipment to remove other metals, such as copper, aluminum and stainless steel.

Running at a breakneck pace, the shredder can process 100 tons per hour and fills 80 rail cars per month in addition to outgoing truck loads. Once sorting and separating are completed, the steel leaves the facility, destined for reuse in the construction or manufacturing industries.

In addition to steel, Alter processes copper, aluminum, titanium and other exotic metals. The company is expanding constantly and looking for growth opportunities, both domestically and internationally.

“Everywhere I go,” Barnhouse says, “I see more and more SURVIVOR scales. More than anything else, people know that Rice Lake means quality. Alter enjoys a solid business relationship with Rice Lake, and working together provides us and our customers with accurate, consistent weights that are at the core of our business.