Anaconda Equipment International entered the U.S. market four years ago with conveyors for the aggregate markets, most notably portable tracked conveyors along with traditional wheeled conveying systems. Today, the product line has been expanded to include portable tracked screening plants and, soon, will include a trommel screen.
“Four years ago, we introduced to the world our portable tracked conveying system, which we viewed as the missing link to the portable tracked market. If your crusher and screener is a completely mobile one-man setup operation, it makes sense to add the conveying system,” said Alistair Forsyth, managing director of Anaconda Equipment International Ltd.
“With the systems success, we have started to explore other products to bring to the market place. Our key to setting up the distribution of the conveyors is that we were not competing with existing aggregate product offerings. Now we are bringing to the marketplace other machines that fill gaps in current offerings. Typically, we are identifying certain sized portable tracked screening plants that there is a market for, and that are not typically being offered by other manufacturers,” he added.
In the area of portable tracked screeners, the company has found an opportunity in the entry level sized machines.
“Because these particular sized machines do not generate high sales volumes, some manufacturers have eliminated them as a product offering or have scaled way back in the production of them. So, once again, we have been able to bring portable tracked screening plants of those sizes to the marketplace and have them readily accepted by current distributors to enhance their existing product offering,” Forsyth said.
Shipping Ease
Another key to Anaconda’s expansion is the entire product range can be shipped in a container, fully assembled and set up in minutes, Forsyth said.
Manufacturing all of its products to fit in one shipping container makes distributing the product anywhere in the world that has a port that handles containers an easy task. This also makes it possible to ship from the factory directly to the end user, according to the manufacturer.
A Global Marketplace
“One of the things that we have really focused on as a manufacturer is the global market,” Forsyth said. “As we looked at how to get our product distributed worldwide and be price competitive, it became obvious to us that being able to ship any and all of our products completely assembled and in a single container for shipping purposes would be key to our strategy.”
That is why Anaconda has focused much of its product development on machines in specific size categories, which allows them to be loaded into a container in Ireland and be shipped as a whole unit to its port of destination, and then easily transported by truck in a single load that does not demand any over-width permitting.
“Since the 1980s, the growth of this portable concept has swept through Europe to the point, today, where some of the younger producers are not even aware that at one time crushing and screening plants were on wheels,” Forsyth said. “In addition, particularly in Europe, but also in the United States, labor rates have increased significantly, which also adds to the desirability of the portable tracked systems, which in most cases, are a one operator setup. In urban areas the footprint of job sites has become smaller and smaller, again increasing the desirability of tracked spreads.”
Born of Irish Roots…
The first portable screening plants were developed in Northern Ireland back in the 60’s, according to Eamon McMahon, president of Anaconda USA.
“Portable screening plants first started to arrive from Ireland in the United States over 30 years ago,” McMahon said. “The products initially really took hold on the east coast of the United States. As operating costs began to rise, it became more cost effective for contractors to utilize portable screening and crushing units onsite to process material into finished product, as opposed to removing material off site.
This led to significant growth in this industry as manufacturers introduced tracked equipment in the mid to late ’90s, demand for the mobile products continued to flourish.
According to Forsyth, much of the world’s mobile crushing and screening equipment is manufactured in Northern Ireland, within proximity of the Anaconda factory.
“The most talented individuals in the engineering and design of this type of equipment have migrated to Northern Ireland as a result. That has created an excellent pool of human resources for us to tap into,” he said.
…Growing in the
United States and Beyond
Anaconda now has distributors on five continents and in 30 different countries.
In the United States, Anaconda USA’s role has been to identify U.S. aggregate equipment distributors that see the value and need for its product, which is largely what it has been doing since ConExpo last year, according to McMahon.
“It has also been a focus of ours to build our company’s infrastructure in such a way as to be able to support the machines that are in the field with a reliable and speedy supply of parts and product support,” McMahon said. “The first step in that direction was the opening of our major warehouse for product and parts inventory in Massachusetts. From this facility, we have the proper inventory to supply the needs of our distributors in the North American market on a timely basis.
“We work closely with our distributors on after sales support which includes technical training and recommended spare parts list so they can better support their customers. We know that our product will be judged not only on quality and performance but also on product support”
“All of our current distributors have a background in screening and crushing, which in turn gives us great confidence in their ability to sell and support the Anaconda brand.”
Anaconda currently is engaged in the process of building a 60,000-sq.-ft. expansion on to its factory, which will allow for increased manufacturing capability.
Adding to the Team
Sam Harbin has been added to the Anaconda USA staff as a product line manager. He is heading up the efforts behind all after sales support in the U.S. market and the training of all new dealers and identifies the right parts inventory for each new dealer.
Harbin’s role is to be the liaison between dealers and the factory with any product related issues.
He also is responsible for training the distributor’s personnel so that the Anaconda brand can be transitioned seamlessly into their organization.
For more information, call 800/285-5721, or visit www.anacondausa.com.
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