SBM reports positive results from BAUMA
Success across the board
SBM Mineral Processing is highly satisfied with the outcome of the recent BAUMA 2025 trade show. The Austrian full-range supplier put a lot of effort into presenting its products in the areas of rock processing, construction material recycling and concrete mixing technology and recorded a sustained high level of visitor interest throughout the seven days of the show. "In addition to the valuable exchanges with long-standing customers from our key European markets, it is always gratifying to see how many new contacts we make in Munich, including from new regions," summarises Managing Director Erwin Schneller.
"Initial feedback suggests that we can expect good to very good post-fair business. After the generally rather subdued mood of the past few months, we are seeing an increasing willingness to invest and rising demand in all sectors. We are very well positioned with our highly efficient, sustainable and therefore highly subsidisable mobile plants in many markets. The same applies to our stationary technologies, which can be flexibly adapted to the respective possibilities and requirements."
Processing yesterday, today and tomorrow
It was the eye-catcher of the SBM hall stand and, with its rich patina but still fully functional, the link to '75 years of SBM': the SAP 1 wheel-mounted crushing plant. Built in 1960 at today's SBM plant in Liezen, it was already a highly flexible solution for the production of road construction materials with its triple-deck screen.
Outside, SBM showcased its current mobile crushing plants, highlighting the great flexibility of SBM's modular technologies as well as the pioneering hybrid electrified drives with plug-in option. On display was the REMAX 600 large impact crusher with double magnets and an extra long single-deck secondary screen with recirculation, making full use of the 600 tph maximum capacity of the 1400 impact crusher to produce defined fines. The JAWMAX 300 with double-deck secondary screen also proved a hit with customers: as only jaw crusher in the 40-tonne class, the highly mobile 300-tph plant enables three final fractions to be produced economically in a single pass - with all the benefits of pressure crushing in terms of wear costs and consumption.
"We are entering the home stretch," says Helmut Haider, SBM sales director for processing, on the subject of "Autonomous Crushing". Decisive breakthroughs have been made in the development of AI-supported sensor technology for precise evaluation of raw materials, intermediates and standard-compliant end products, satellite-supported exchange between the real machine and its 'digital twin' working with thousands of reference data, and real-time adjustment of all process stages. Market readiness is currently planned for 2026/27. "Based on the relevant machine classes and their typical applications, we are already working on practical packages that will make 'autonomous crushing' attractive and profitable for as wide a range of users as possible," says Helmut Haider, giving an initial outlook on the positioning of the new technology. In addition to significantly reducing the workload for on-site personnel, this should also greatly simplify project planning and machine-specific maintenance.
SBM COMPONENTS: "Made in Austria" for everyone
The reference list of SBM's Stationary Processing division includes over 130 processing plants worldwide for a wide variety of rock deposits and residual materials from the construction and industrial sectors, as well as almost 6,700 individual machines to date. Even compared to much larger plant manufacturers, the company has extensive in-house capacities in rock testing and application-specific plant design. The development and design departments are closely integrated and work in direct contact with the company's own production and long-standing, exclusively European supply partners. "In plant engineering, this often gives us a decisive advantage in the realisation of highly specific new constructions or conversions. For individual machines and plant components, we now offer a broad portfolio of state-of-the-art technologies that even outshines the offerings of many specialists," emphasises Division Manager Helmut Haider.
Under the new label SBM COMPONENTS, SBM Mineral Processing is now making its extensive range of individual machines available to OEM partners in the fields of plant construction/planning and machine trading. The offering also includes comprehensive end-customer-specific services in materials testing and performance design, as well as technical support for installation, commissioning and after-sales. SBM COMPONENTS will start with 54 selected standard machines: 24 jaw crushers and horizontal and vertical impact crushers with hourly capacities up to 1,000 t/h, covering all crushing stages up to the highly profitable production of sand and high-quality aggregates. Classifiers and production screening machines are represented by a total of 21 machines; 8 vibrating chutes and pushers make up the COMPONENTS segment for feeders and heavy-duty conveyors. In Munich, the manufacturer presented innovative crushing solutions for increased added value through targeted optimisation of high-quality fine aggregate and sand fractions, represented by the SMR 13/7/4 reversible horizontal impact crusher and the V8 vertical impact crusher (VSI).
Concrete: Premium pays off
The mood was also upbeat in the concrete division of SBM Mineral Processing, where the semi-mobile and stationary DYNAMIX® 2500, VARIOMIX®, LINEMIX® and TOWERMIX® concrete mixing plants were exhibited in various configurations as detailed scale models.
Two mixing units from the EUROMIX® 1600 NOVA mobile concrete mixing plant, launched in November, shared the outdoor stand. Visitors were able to explore the significantly increased space available for maintenance work inside the smallest mobile SBM concrete plant. Virtually unchanged external dimensions continue to allow easy transport on flatbed trailers. In combination with modularly expandable silo units, horizontal rock hoppers and the control cabin, the complete mobile mixing plant can be set up ready for operation in just eight hours using a mobile crane, according to SBM.
Equipped with the BHS DKX 1.67 twin-shaft mixer with a solid concrete output of 80 m³/h, the plant is suitable for small to medium-sized construction sites with a daily requirement of up to 800 m³ of concrete or liquid soils for backfilling. Thanks to an efficient 'winter package', the EUROMIX® 1600 NOVA works all year round and can therefore be used as a temporary supplement to stationary plants for the production of high-quality mixes – including special and recycled concrete – or as a space-saving permanent solution in precast production.
"The great flexibility of the EUROMIX® technology across all performance classes was particularly impressive to many visitors," says Ernst Stöttinger, SBM Sales Director for concrete mixing technology, assessing the high level of interest in the plant range, which comprises a total of seven models with hourly outputs of 80 to 175 m³, or up to 300 m³/h in the combined "Duo" version. "Added to this is our high-quality premium design which, together with modular adaptability and expandability, offers high added value for individual projects and, ultimately, long-term value retention and thus investment security."
From automation to autonomy
In a pilot project, SBM Mineral Processing is currently working with an operating company and software specialists in the concrete sector on new solutions that will enable largely autonomous operation of individual process stages or complete mixing plants, including upstream material logistics.
Here too, the focus is on reducing the workload of the responsible personnel, in particular the mixing engineer, in routine operation and at off-peak times. In further development stages, production, which is already largely automated, will be further optimised by means of comprehensive sensor-based monitoring of the raw materials (moisture, temperature, etc.) and the mixing process (mixing moisture, consistency), which will make it possible to adjust the concrete recipes at short notice.
As a first step, autonomous concrete delivery to different delivery vehicles based on pre-ordered recipes has now been implemented. Once the truck mixer/tipper is correctly positioned under the delivery hopper, the driver releases the delivery. Special sensors in the hopper monitor the smooth filling of the concrete batches. Once the delivery vehicle has left the area and the passage has been secured, the mixer and hopper are automatically washed if necessary – for example, in the case of fibre or coloured concrete – or at a pre-set interval. Sensors monitor the swivelling range of the cleaning hopper – once cleaning is complete, the passage is reactivated via a barrier.
"Until now, concrete delivery has always had to be done 'by sight' – either from the control centre on site or remotely via cameras," explains Sales Director Ernst Stöttinger. "Our autonomous delivery works reliably, makes traffic in the plant safer and noticeably reduces the workload for the staff thanks to the controlled execution of all necessary work steps."