“It’s difficult to find heavy equipment mechanics, generally,” says John Anderson, director of maintenance for ABC Recycling’s operations in British Columbia. “If we don’t have the people we need on our own payroll, we can end up waiting a long time for machine service. Having our own team of factory-trained technicians makes a huge difference.”

Anderson’s goal of self-sufficiency is one reason ABC, headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia, has been growing its fleet of Sennebogen material handlers over the past 10 years. Logan Strohm of Great West Equipment, a Sennebogen dealer with locations in British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada, is sympathetic to his cause. “We have 11 service branches here in BC, but that still leaves our techs with a lot of territory to cover,” he admits. “That’s why we recommend that customers take advantage of the free factory training that Sennebogen offers.”

With eight recycling yards under the ABC Recycling flag in British Columbia and one in Alberta, the firm has been operating in the region since 1912. A service crew in Burnaby supports the company’s material scrap there and in nearby Surrey. The fleet includes 835 M and 830 M models, equipped with grapples and magnets.

“We’ve had very good success with these machines,” Anderson says. “The 835 seems to be the right machine for everything we do: whether feeding stationary shears and balers or loading trucks and rail cars.”

Anderson’s maintenance staff and operators have attended the Sennebogen Training Center in Stanley, North Carolina. The Training Center, part of Sennebogen LLC’s 100,000-square-foot head office complex, provides classroom instruction and hands-on training with a demonstration module and full-size machines in a three-story high indoor bay. The Level I course and the Level II advanced program for technicians are five-day programs offered free to dealers and their customers.

“It’s a very impressive facility,” Anderson says. “And while you’re there, you also get to see the extent of their parts inventory. As well as regular and routine service items, they also have a huge inventory of major components on hand, such as pumps, engines, cylinders, axles and even boom and stick assemblies. You can see the company has invested heavily in parts for North America.”

ABC’s technicians and operators take an active role in ABC’s purchase process for new equipment. Anderson says the company’s maintenance team appreciates how Sennebogen simplifies access to routine service points, with most service and diagnostic items accessible from ground level. Additionally, a autolubrication is standard equipment on SENNEBOGEN machines, which further simplifies maintenance tasks and extends the life of major components.

Anderson listens to his operators’ recommendations. “They are in the machine eight hours a day. We want to be sure they have a comfortable operating environment along with good functionality. They like the Sennebogen Maxcab for its visibility and its two-camera system. They tell us the seating is comfortable and the machine is easy to handle.”

The parts warehouse also attracted ABC to Sennebogen machines. Anderson the company uses commonly available parts wherever possible for power, hydraulics, electrical and other service requirements. This approach advances Anderson’s goal of self-sufficiency, he says, adding, “We can get all the parts we need from our dealer, of course, but we can also source parts locally. With their Cummins engines, we can find routine parts almost anywhere. Some parts might be a challenge for us to bring across the U.S. border, but our dealers (Great West in British Columbia and Strongco in Alberta) are able to help with expediting that too.”

In the long run, the simplicity and serviceability of these scrap handlers lead to a lower life cycle cost for ABC. “We do track all that detail here,” Anderson says. “Run time, fuel, maintenance labor and spare parts, all go towards our total cost of ownership analysis. Using standard components and Cummins service parts saves money for us. With our own crews and easy parts supply, the Sennebogen equipment needs little downtime for service and repairs, so that brings down our total operating cost.”

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) is accepting applications for grants that would support increased access to proper electronics recycling in rural areas.

According to a press release, $250,000 is available for grants, each worth up to $10,000. Deadlines for the two application periods are April 5 and Aug. 1.

The grants can be used to support improvements to electronics collection programs or events, leading up to the establishment of new, permanent collection locations.

The rural electronics recycling grants are part of the MDEQ’s 2019 sustainability grants, which also include scrap tire cleanup and market development grants and recycling infrastructure grants.

Municipalities, tribal governments, conservation districts, municipal solid waste (MSW) and resource and recovery authorities, nonprofits, health departments and universities are among those eligible to apply.

According to the World Steel Association (Worldsteel), Brussels, the 64 countries that report their crude steel production figures to the association made 4.1 percent more steel in February 2019 compared with February 2018, having produced 137.3 million metric tons.

Among the countries with production increases were China, which produced 71 million metric tons, 9.2 percent more than in February 2018 based on an estimate from the China Iron and Steel Association; Ukraine, which produced 1.7 million metric tons in February 2019, 5 percent more than one year earlier; the U.S., which produced 6.9 million metric tons of crude steel in February 2019, a 4.6 percent increase from February 2018; Spain, which produced 1.1 million metric tons of crude steel in February 2019, 2.5 percent more than in February 2018; India, which produced 8.7 million metric tons of crude steel in February 2019, 2.3 percent more than in February 2018; and South Korea, which made 5.5 million metric tons of crude steel in February 2019, 1.1 percent more than one year earlier.

Those countries that posted production declines included Turkey, which made 2.6 million metric tons in February 2019, 12.5 percent less than one year earlier; Japan, which made 7.7 million metric tons of crude steel in February 2019, 6.6 percent less than in February 2018; Italy, which produced 2 million metric tons, 2.7 percent less than in February 2018; Brazil, which made 2.7 million metric tons in February 2019, 1.7 percent less than in February 2018; France, which produced 1.2 million metric tons of crude steel in February 2019, a decrease of 0.3 percent compared with one year earlier.

For antitrust reasons, Worldsteel says it no longer produces a monthly global capacity utilization ratio. 

A Mexican government official has indicated that the country and its steel and aluminum producers remain dissatisfied with tariffs or quota proposals emanating from the United States on the two metals.

In a March 26 online article, Reuters has reported that a deputy economic minister of Mexico has called the continued reliance by the U.S. on Section 232 national security concerns as “not justified” when it comes to either tariffs or quotas on Mexican-made steel or aluminum.

According to Reuters, Mexican Deputy Economy Minister Luz Maria de la Mora told reporters that “quotas make no sense” as a way to manage trade and that “what industry in North America needs is the elimination of this tariff and not managed trade.”

The 25 percent U.S. tariff on Mexican and Canadian steel and the 10 percent tariff on aluminum from those nations has been a source of complaint from Canada and Mexico since they were imposed in June 2018.

The governments and producers in the two nations had thought the renegotiation of the former NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) into the new USMCA (U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement) would result in the tariffs being canceled, but so far the Trump administration has not done so.

Instead, the U.S. government Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has indicated it is formulating a plan that will lift the tariffs but then impose tonnage quotas on imported Mexican and Canadian steel and aluminum, it has been widely reported.

As of late February, Mexico City-based steel industry trade association Canacero was urging the Mexican government to convey the ongoing displeasure of its member companies with the U.S. policy.

In a Feb. 26 letter to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and two other government officials, Canacero referred to the 25 percent U.S. tariff on steel as one that “America unfairly imposed on our exports.”

Canacero continues, “We also agree with the position of the Ministry of Economy that Mexico should be excluded from Section 232 [and] demand that the United States exclude Mexico from Measure 232, which penalizes our industry unfairly.”

The organization adds in its letter to Obrador, “In parallel, we need to work together and look for long-term solutions,” concluding, “We are a sector committed to Mexico, with our 700,000 employees and communities that accompany us, as well as with the extensive and successful value chain between suppliers and customers, of which we are part.”