Rick Cohen, president of Screen USA Inc. in Smyrna, GA, doesn’t let an opportunity pass him by. When he learned that Southern Grading in Greenville, SC, was looking for a new screen to add to its equipment, he got up there and showed off the Tornado Star 4012 Deluxe.
Mark Ells, owner of Southern Grading, called Cohen to ask about his screen. After they talked, it seemed Ells was interested in the equipment, especially since it is manufactured to handle high-moisture materials without clogging.
“He told me, ’Put your machine where your mouth is. If it can do what you say it will, I will buy it,’ ” Cohen remembered.
Sure enough, after putting the equipment through a demo run for Ells, Cohen was able to close the deal within hours of running the screen during the fall of 2000.
“We are in the composting and grinding business and we needed a way to separate our fines out of the mulch and to develop topsoil,” Ells said. “We went with that particular style because it is easier to change the sizes of the milling fines and because of the ability to use it with more moist soil.”
So far, Ells is happy with his Tornado Star 4012 Deluxe, which is the medium-sized machine in the Star screen line. It is designed for a 2- to 4-yd. (1.8 to 3.6 m) bucket loader.
Screen USA manufactures portable screening equipment for a wide variety of products such as sand and gravel, topsoil, mulch, compost and peat moss.
“We manufacture different types of equipment targeted for each of these needs,” Cohen said.
Cohen predicts that during the next few years the Star Screen line will replace trommel screens in 90 percent of its applications.
“Over the years, the customers have demanded finer and finer screening for topsoil and compost and with the Star screen they can do that,” he said. “It can screen at three-eights inch up to seven eights of an inch just by turning the dial. There is no screen replacement required.”
On traditional shaker screens, it can take anywhere from half an hour to two hours and as much as eight hours on a trommel screen to change a screen.
“What we found is most of our customers are landscaping supply companies who need to screen more than one material,” Cohen said. “If they have a customer who wants to buy three truckloads of one product and another customers want to buy five truckloads of another product, it is too time consuming to take the traditional screen out and face down time while changing the screen. Many times, they just turn away the business. With the Star screen, they can just turn the dial and make any product so they aren’t losing time on the job and they are able to provide a wide range of particle sizes to their customers.”
The Star line also has a system that continuously cleans the screen, enabling it to handle high moisture levels without clogging.
“The open surface area is always open, which allows for maximum production,” Cohen said. “It can produce twice the normal amount of a trommel screen in the same size area and about three or four times as much as a shaker screen when producing a fine product.”
Screen USA distributes its machine throughout the United States. About 3 to 5 percent of the business is overseas. In some areas of the country, Screen USA works with dealers. In other areas, Cohen and his staff at the manufacturing facility work directly with the customer, as was the case with Southern Grading.
The company has been in business since 1973. It has grown over the years to occupy three buildings on an 8-acre site in Smyrna, GA, and currently employs 26 people.
“The Star screener really is a superior machine,” Cohen said. “Our objective is to come up with niche products that solve the problems facing our customers.”
Southern Grading, which is headquartered in Greenville, SC, operates three grinding locations all in upstate South Carolina. They have been in the grinding business for about two years.
While its name may imply it, the company doesn’t complete grading work. Instead, its job is to go on site after grading is finished to handle the grinding of debris for grading contractors.
The company can then take the end product and sell it to the public at their Landscapers Supply stores. Southern Grading also sells in bulk to mulch yards, Ells said.
This was Ells’ first purchase with Screen USA. He said the sales process was a good experience and the equipment continues to live up to his company’s needs.
“It has been a good experience,” Ells said. “This equipment is very important for producing the end product.”
When Ells was researching this purchase, he was amazed that most screen dealers didn’t seem interested in showing off their equipment.
“It was hard to get anyone to come out and demo a piece,” he said. “We talked with a lot of screen suppliers, but no one acted like they wanted to sell us one. When Rick came up and demoed this model, we bought it. His willingness to bring his piece of equipment to us and let us demo it helped us make our decision.”
That may have been the start of a new relationship for both companies. Ells said he was impressed with Cohen and would consider doing business with him in the future.
“I think Rick is an honest guy,” Ells said. “He is willing to help me beyond just selling a screen. If I call him with a technical question about something else and he can’t give me an answer, he will find someone who will.”
Servicing the clients, both during and after the sale, is the most important part of the sale, Cohen said.
“If you don’t get service when you are attempting to buy something, God knows what will happen if you buy a machine and need service after the sale,” Cohen said. “Many other manufacturers and dealers believe once the deal is done, the relationship is over. My dealers and the factory are here for the long run. We focus on service and even offer our customers 24-hour support.”
Cohen added he likes to build relationships with his customers, so that when their screen needs increase, they will turn to Screen USA.
“We offer many different sizes of our equipment,” he said. ’We treat our customers fairly so we can continue to serve them for years to come as they grow and need bigger screens.”
Today's top stories
