When Telsmith engineered strategic upgrades at the Kentucky-based Glass Aggregates Barren County Stone Quarry, the operation increased production, plant availability and stockpiling capacity — while reducing overhead and operating costs.

Targeting the Bottlenecks

Plant General Manager Warren Hawkridge said that top priorities were increasing tons per hour by better matching production capabilities between the primary and secondary crushing circuits; achieving greater screening capacity and processing flexibility; streamlining labor-intensive maintenance; revamping material handling methods to eliminate costly double handling; and strengthening an ongoing safety focus.

Strategic Upgrades

“When we upgrade a plant, it involves an analysis of the entire process in order to deliver a total solution. Our engineering and service team recommends cost-effective ways to fine tune the operation of every circuit and component — not just the ones that we manufacture. By taking a creative and comprehensive approach, we can better ensure specified performance,” said Bob Meyers, vice president of sales and marketing of Telsmith.

“Also, the strength of Astec and the long-term relationships we have developed in our industry, allows us to better partner with our customers to make potential processing solutions a reality,” he said.

Plant upgrades began with a new skid-type primary plant featuring a Telsmith 3858 hydraulic jaw and a 60 in. by 20 ft. (152 cm by 6 m) vibrating grizzly feeder.

“The new jaw allows easy adjustments on the fly and is engineered with hydraulic chamber clearing and overload relief. Most importantly, by replacing the old primary circuit, we’ve increased production by 200-tons per hour, giving us a solid 700-tons-per-hour capacity. We’ve balanced the circuits and have consistent feed going into the secondary, so the plant runs much more smoothly,” said Hawkridge.

The primary circuit feeds a new Telsmith 7 ft. by 20 ft. (2 by 6 m) triple-deck Vibro-King TL screen that’s customized with special screen product chutes with blending gates; and a variable splitter gate. Hawkridge explains that they can flop a gate and send material to a product conveyor, or flop a gate and send it forward into the surge pile.

“We can easily change with the needs of our market. We did not have this kind of flexibility in the past,” he said.

The plant was upgraded throughout with a series of new KPI conveyors — eight new conveyor systems comprising stationary transfer conveyors and fixed stacking conveyors, plus a 36 in. by 150 ft. (91 cm by 46 m) super stacker telescoping radial stacking conveyor. The placement of these conveyor systems allows the operation to stockpile material just where it is needed, avoiding double handling.

Realizing the Return

These combined strategic upgrades netted major savings. At the end of the first season, the operation had exceeded its budgeted savings goal — proving a quick return on investment right from the start. The plant realized a 35-percent increase in tons per hour and a 20-percent reduction in costs per ton.

For more information, call 262/242-6600 or visit telsmith.com.

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