Page 54 - Hub 4 Magazine issue 53

“We tend to over engineer our machines as we are so used to handling lots of bulk material per hour, so you will find that they are heavier and stronger than the competition. We assemble all machines on-site and they are fully tested and checked prior to dispatch. We design them so that they can be split into sections wherever possible so that they can fit in containers for cost effective transportation. We’ve also recently invested another £2m in a new shot-blasting and paint facility which opened in July 2017. Our high-tech shot blasting facility has 100% recycling capabilities and two new state-of the-art paint booths which we believe are among the largest and most technologically advanced of our industry in the UK and Ireland.
Telestack ship loader with telescopic chute
“With the combined structure in excess of 10,000ft we are able to take assemblies out after shot-blasting straight into a large undercover area keeping them clean & dry before then going into one of the two paint booths. The shot-blasting process cleans the metal to a specified profile thickness allowing the paint to adhere much more effectively during the painting process, giving a higher quality finish to all our machines. We activate a paint cycle which preheats to 25 to 45°c. This is followed by a baking cycle of between 70 to 90° which will work harden the paint within 30 minutes. This allows us to increase our capacity by up to 400%. The second paint booth also has a centre splitter door that can be dropped so that we can divide it into two independent environments giving us the ability to paint 3 booths simultaneously.
After the production tour we sat down with Malachy Gribben, Commercial Director who explained more about their goals “We are in the business of moving material quickly from point A to point B and the UK market has always been very good for us and I see it becoming even bigger for us in the future. Right across the quarrying and aggregate industry we are seeing more and more of our end user customers wanting a reduction in cost per tonne processed, and traditionally they would buy another wheeled loader and/or haul truck to move the material around, however we can often propose a much more cost-effective solution for moving their material by using a mix of mobile conveyor systems whilst still using a smaller number of wheeled loaders and haulers. Typically, the cost of moving material around with just wheeled loaders and haulers would be in the range of £80ph and with combination of conveyor system and wheeled loaders it would be around the £25ph mark, so a very good saving to be made. Other benefits are that because all our equipment is mobile our clients don’t have to worry about planning permission or the length of their project and our solutions can also help improve site safety.
“We’re also seeing many more businesses moving bulk material by the coastal network, rivers and rail so there is huge potential there for Telestack. One of our latest projects has been to supply Bristol Port with ship loading equipment so that the local supplying Hanson quarry can load the material onto ships and it can be transported down the coast to Hinckley Point, saving on huge movements of material by road.
“Currently we are producing around 25 – 30 machines per month, with most machines being built bespoke for our clients to include customisations like dust management so these machines do have a longer lead time. We have doubled the business since 2015 and with the continued investment in the facilities and infrastructure we plan to double business again over the next three years.
Malachy explained about the education process “Education to potential clients and consultants is hugely important to us and we spend a lot of time explaining that there is always a different way to handle bulk material, allowing them to save on the cost per tonne of processing. One example was in West Africa where there was a project for loading iron-ore into ships. The company involved hired a consultant who wasn’t familiar with our technology and advised the company that it wouldn’t work. They did their own research eventually and ended up buying the mobile ship-loading equipment direct from us and they have since run 7m tonnes of material through it and have purchased 9 machines from us over the years. It’s all about getting people to look beyond how they normally think about bulk material handling. By using our equipment, it also means that there is much less vehicle movement on site, so it makes it a lot safer for employees and eliminates any operator error.”
Telestack mobile bulk material handling systems are available direct from Telestack or from their network of global dealers and agents. They also collaborate with many OEMs to offer complete solutions for the end-user clients. Telestack can offer resale support after a client has finished their project if they wish to sell the equipment on, as the global resale market for mobile bulk material handling systems is very strong and Telestack have the worldwide contacts to enable this. For more information please visit www.telestack.com or call +44 (0) 28 8225 1100
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www.hub-4.com Nov 2018 - Issue 53