Arjes celebrates 15 years in business

Leimbach, Germany-based shredder manufacturer Arjes GmbH says in just 15 years it has grown to become a leading supplier of industrial shredders for the recycling industry, “meeting growing global challenges of the numerous mountains of waste of a wide variety of materials.” In the United States, Arjes shredders are distributed by Michigan-based Bandit Industries.

The company was founded in 2007 by Norbert Hammel, whom Arjes describes as a pioneer of twin-shaft crushing and shredding. He bought the site of an old concrete factory in Leimbach and converted it into a shredder production facility that started with 19 employees.

Today, Arjes describes the headquarters site as “a buzzing operation with just about 190 employees.” The company, which started with a shredder for scrap wood, continues to develop, optimize and expand its machinery to be able to shred a wider variety of materials today, including metal, mixed materials and concrete.

“The thing that makes our machines so unique is their mobility, their wide range of applications and the fact that they are very easy to handle,” says Martin Priewe from the Arjes marketing department. “We are a relatively young company, but we have been able to grow very quickly over the last 15 years due to our commitment and willingness to innovate. Every machine we develop is a progression of the previous one. Hence our motto ‘Innovation is what keeps us thriving.’”

In 2016, Arjes launched the Impaktor 250, its first machine designed to crush stone and concrete. It also was also the first machine to be equipped with an Arjes quick-change system for shafts.

“With the development of the Impaktor 250, we wanted to clearly stand out from our competitors," says Christian Hennig, operations manager at Arjes. “We researched the market and questioned the needs of our customers. Many stated that it was difficult to change the shredding shafts and that this affected the daily work output.”

Arjes says healthy demand for its mobile shredding plants means it will continue to develop its product line “in order to be able to maintain the successful course in the future.”