At the staging area near Port Manatee, Fla., an operator loads scrap metal into trucks with an Atlas 400 MH material handler. Owner Alex Gregory said, “We use Atlas material handlers to load and unload trucks, feed stationary shredders and load and transload material when we’re loading a boat.”
(Linder Industrial Machinery photo)
Alex Gregory found his way to the scrap metal recycling industry through chance.
"I started out working for a friend's dad," recalled Gregory, who is now the owner of Scrap King and its sister company, Alex's Metal Recycling (AMR). "When he retired, I purchased some of his Komatsu equipment and grew the business from there. Today, we're one of Florida's premier scrap metal recyclers. We source materials straight from customers and process them in our processing yards before storing them at Port Manatee and eventually loading them into break bulk cargos for direct mill consumer purchases."
Both companies are based in Tampa, Fla.
"The Scrap King yard in Tampa is open to the public," noted Gregory. "We handle non-ferrous materials like copper, aluminum and household scrap. Our commercial facility at AMR handles large demolition iron, industrial scrap and other similar materials."
Efficient Equipment
To help increase productivity, Scrap King and AMR utilize two Atlas material handlers, a 350 MH and a 400 MH, which were both purchased from Linder Industrial Machinery Company. The Atlas material handlers have extendable cabs that provide an optimal line of sight for the operator.
"At Port Manatee, the Atlas 350 has a Winkle 68-inch magnet on it with a 20-kilowatt gen set," explained Gregory. "We use it for general dock cleanup, extracting material that is too close to the water, and shifting plates. Eventually, as the ship is loaded with material and sits lower in the water, we can use the magnet to load straight into some of the hulls and hit the corners that the larger grapples are unable to fill in."
Gregory added, "The Atlas 400 loads material into trucks. When there's a boat in port, we'll use the machine to quickly load material into trucks at the staging area near the port. Once we're finished loading the boat, we'll put the 400 on a lowboy and send it back up to our Tampa yard where it will feed our shredding unit and process material around the facility."
According to Gregory, the Atlas material handlers outperform competitive brands.
"The Atlas has a faster swing time than the other brands we've run," noted Gregory. "We handle a lot of light material and the quicker we can move it, the more productive and profitable we can be. The Atlas is great for that application because the operator can see everything from the cab and efficiently load trucks or move around the yard."
Support From Linder
In addition to the material handlers, Scrap King and AMR utilize multiple Komatsu PC490LC excavators and Komatsu WA500 wheel loaders throughout the scrap metal recycling process.
"The WA500 is a beast of a machine," stated Gregory. "It has the power to push material into piles or load material into trucks. We added 10-yard buckets to the loaders, which allow our operators to effortlessly load a 20-ton pile of scrap."
Gregory continued, "We use PC490LC excavators to process material. Their power allows us to use the largest shear we would need effortlessly. Some are outfitted with stick shears, so you have the extra power to make larger grabs when handling rebar and similar material."
Gregory relies on Linder, especially sales representatives Julio Quiñonez and Randy Dominguez, for service and support.
"Since partnering with Linder, we've enjoyed building personal relationships with everyone, from the sales reps to the product support reps who are in our office all the time to the techs that come on-site and work on our equipment," stated Gregory. "We know them all by name, and they pick up the phone when we call. Their PSR always calls us with maintenance reminders, which, from a management standpoint, makes maintaining our fleet easier. They're extremely accommodating. Linder, Atlas and Komatsu are integral parts of our business."
(This story was reprinted with permission from Linder Link's July 2023 issue.)
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