Hitachi Construction Machinery Loaders America Inc. (HCMA), Newnan, Georgia, announced that President Masaaki Hirose has is retiring from his current position, appointing HCMA Vice President of Operations Al Quinn to succeed him in day-to-day management of the company.

Hirose has accepted a new position within Hitachi, now serving as chairman and director of HCMA and VP of the Hitachi Americas Operations Group. Quinn becomes managing director, reporting to Hirose.

Thanking HCMA employees for their support during his tenure, Hirose noted his close collaboration with Quinn in establishing HCMA as a new top-tier player in the wheel loader industry.

“Al joined us in 2017 and took the lead in several of our key customer-facing roles,” Hirose says. “His profound expertise and experience in our industry have been crucial to our success in sales, marketing, parts and service and purchasing. Now, as managing director, he will continue to provide leadership in those areas, with additional responsibilities for corporate and production operations.”

As Quinn accepted his appointment, he recognized key milestones that HCMA has achieved since it began operations in January 2018.

“We have certainly gone through tremendous change in the past two years, but I want to say thank you to Masaaki for his dedication and commitments to improving our company,” Quinn says. “It is very rewarding to see the improvements that we are making in market share, profitability and in better serving our customers.”

Under Hirose’s leadership, HCMA has seen 175-percent growth in revenue and has nearly doubled its market share, the company says. Last June, the company celebrated the grand opening of its new U.S. corporate headquarters and training facility, representing a $4 million investment in support for customers and dealers in the Americas.

Speaking to more than 30 Hitachi wheel loader dealers at HCMA’s first national conference, Quinn said, “It’s great for all wheel loader customers to have access to an alternative global brand. We expect to exceed customer expectations.

“Expectations are high, and that also drives change. While we have accomplished much, we still have much more to do,” Quinn continued. “We will stay on course to implement the strategies and plans that have been working for us through the past two years. No radical new plans are expected. I am very optimistic that we are creating a very bright future for HCMA.”

Despite a slight decline in overall economic growth, Switzerland-based Liebherr Group says its construction machinery and mining equipment divisions and product areas saw an overall increase in sales revenue in 2018. The company reports sales of 10.55 million euros, representing a 7.5 percent increase compared with the previous year.

Revenues from construction machinery and mining equipment increased by more than 10 percent to 6.8 million euros, with especially strong growth in earthmoving equipment and mobile cranes, according to the company. Sales rose 2 percent in other product areas, including gear technology and automation systems.

The growth in sales can be attributed to higher demand in several sales regions, the company says, especially in Germany and France and markets in the U.S., Australia and China. In non-European countries, sales fell because of the negative effects of currency movements in Russia.

Liebherr Group reports a net profit of 321 million euros in 2018, a slight increase above the previous year. The company also reports an increase in workforce, ending the year with more than 46,000 employees worldwide, an increase of 2,3000.

Research and development 

Liebherr invested a half billion euros in research and development in 2018, used in the development of new products and joint research projects with universities. An area of focus was “the construction site of the future.”

Liebherr says it started a development partnership with the RWTH Aachen within the framework of the Center Construction Robotics and is also involved in the "Construction 4.0" joint project initiated by the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA).

Production, sales and service

Liebherr Group increased its investment activities by 51 million euros compared with 2017. New construction and material handling equipment will be developed, tested and inspected at a new exhibition center in Germany, the company says.

In addition, the group has invested in Bad Schussenried, Germany, which will serve as a new manufacturing site for concrete pumps.

Liebherr says it is starting to install a heavy-duty crane in the port of Rostock. The TCC 78000 portal crane will be available for external heavy load handling in the port. In the U.S., Liebherr investment projects are intended to support the company’s long-term growth strategy in the U.S. crane, construction machinery and concrete technology markets.

Demand in most regions and industries may develop positively in the future and sales revenues are expected to rise in 2019, the company says.

The Phoenix Public Works Department has announced a partnership with Renew Phoenix to turn Nos. 3-7 plastics into fuel. The partnership is the latest venture in the city's “Reimagine Phoenix" initiative to increase its waste diversion rate to 40 percent by the end of 2020 and ultimately reach zero waste by 2050.

“I believe in taking bold chances to make big change,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego says. “The idea of making fuel with the plastics we are throwing away is certainly an 'out of the box' idea that I am thrilled to say will also bring jobs and revenue to our city. During a time when cities are giving up on recycling, Phoenix is again leading the way in setting the gold standard for innovation and creativity.”

China used to be a popular destination for mixed plastics bales, but changes to the country’s scrap import policies have cut off that market. In some regions of the U.S., material recovery facility (MRF) operators have had difficulty marketing Nos. 3-7 bales as a result and have had to landfill these plastics.  

“The future is all about recycling, sustainability and doing our part to ensure future generations have a healthy planet," says Councilwoman Thelda Williams, who serves as the chair of the Water, Wastewater, Infrastructure and Sustainability (WWIS) Subcommittee. “I am certain that once others see what we are doing, they will want to be part of this movement to prevent more materials from being simply thrown away."

Renew Phoenix, a joint venture between Generated Materials Recovery, Phoenix, and Renewlogy, Salt Lake City, will build a facility to process the materials on the city's Resource Innovation Campus.

“I am excited for what this partnership brings to Phoenix," says Councilman Michael Nowakowski, whose district is home to the city's Resource Innovation Campus. “This new, innovative venture will encourage other businesses to bring next-generation technology to Phoenix to help us reach our diversion goal of 40 percent by 2020."

Renew Phoenix was selected through a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process. The company will use a proprietary chemical recycling process to reverse the plastics into their basic molecular structure, which will allow them to convert the plastics into fuel, according to a news release issued by the city of Phoenix. Renew Phoenix will bring as many as 15 full-time jobs to the valley, after investing more than $5 million into the project.

"Renewlogy is excited about bringing our technology to Phoenix and creating a more circular economy around plastic waste locally," says Priyanka Bakaya, founder and CEO of Renewlogy. “Phoenix will serve as a model for cities around the country looking for local solutions for plastic waste.”

At its Salt Lake City facility, Renewlogy processes bags of mixed plastics—including film, small form plastics, multilayer packaging and Nos. 4-6 plastics, which are typically not accepted in curbside recycling programs—that are collected through the Hefty Energy Bag Program in Boise, Idaho and Omaha, Nebraska.

The company also is embarking on a project sponsored by National Geographic that targets river plastics. Starting in India, focusing on the area around the Ganges, which the company says is estimated to contribute 1.2 billion pounds of plastic waste to the oceans each year, Renewlogy in helping to address plastic collection and conversion, providing compensation for local communities.

During the Plastics Recycling Conference and Trade Show March 11-13 in Harbor City, Maryland, Bakaya said the project in India would use reverse vending machines that issue coupons to local collectors, who are largely women. A scaled-down conversion system that is mobile and off the grid will be able to process 1 ton of the collected material daily, making diesel products.

Once Renew Phoenix is at full production, the project is expected to divert 10 tons per day of mixed plastics from landfill, which equates to 60 barrels of liquid fuel. Renew Phoenix will be able to scale production to allow regional processing, the city says.

“We are proud to continue bucking the trend and pushing forward with innovation, economic development and repurposing our waste," says Ginger Spencer, Phoenix Public Works Director. “We are committed to building a circular economy and achieving our Reimagine Phoenix goals. This new venture to turn plastics into fuel is eye-opening, and we hope it will serve as a model for other cities to reimagine their own recycling programs."

Asker, Norway-based Tomra Sorting Recycling has launched Tomra Insight, a cloud-based data platform that can transform sorting from an operational process into a strategic management tool for fact-based decision-making at every step of the value and product chain, according to the company.

Tomra Insight turns sorting machines into connected devices that generate process data. The new platform collects this data in the cloud and turns it into actionable information accessible through a web interface. The secure cloud-based data transmission and storage package is provided in partnership with cloud computing service Microsoft Azure. The monitoring and reporting functions of this new platform will complement existing process control systems.

Tomra Insight provides near-real-time data that is accessed via a secure connection and user-friendly interface on desktops as well as on mobile devices. This provides machine users the freedom to remotely analyze performance metrics and proactively manage machines for performance optimization and preventive maintenance.

By providing digital metrics such as throughput, material and size distribution and acceptance and rejection rates, Tomra Insight gives equipment operators the critical operating data necessary to optimize sorting performance. The information can help reduce machine downtime, optimize machine settings, maximize throughput, sort to target quality, improve the efficiency of machine operators and internal service personnel and reduce operating costs. Through personal reports and alerts, Insight provides data analytics to help manage proactive and condition-based maintenance, parts ordering and servicing.

“The launch of our revolutionary Tomra Insight platform is but a first step in the future evolution of improving the sorting circuit’s overall operating performance,” says Carlos Manchado Atienza, regional director Americas, Tomra Sorting. “It unlocks the true power of near-real-time reporting of operating data, so our customers have the necessary tools to monitor and optimize their sorting processes, improving profit potential. Tomra Insight will allow us to enhance service and maintenance schedules, offer predictive analytics for a component’s service life and develop optimal machine sorting configurations, technologies and applications.”