Celtic Crushing And Screening And Blue Machinery

01 June, 2007

Hillhead is all about quarriers and recyclers working together with products and services firms to try and find the best route for business development. In light of this MQR wanted to highlight the ways in which some of this year’s exhibitors are helping firms meet business goals by developing materials streams, lowering downtine or increasing productivity. Below you will find a range of stories from aggregates processors across the UK.

Jonathon Lewis set up Aberdare-based Celtic Crushing and Screening with Elwyn Jones in November 2003. After working in gritstone quarries in the South Wales area it became apparent to them that contract crushing and screening professionals were thin on the ground.

“They were around but they weren’t reliable. So we decided to make the break and start up our own business,” Lewis explained to MQR. “We got our first job in December with Hanson’s Machen Quarry making sub-base from poor top rock that Hanson was going to tip. Since then we haven’t looked back.”

Now, with the ‘big five’ quarry companies among its client list, 16 full-time employees and eight contractors, Celtic has grown significantly over the past three and a half years. All money has been piled back into the business and a glance at its plant assets offers an indicator as to how business is developing.

With seven jaw crushers including Terex Pegson XR400s, 1650 Premiertraks and a Finlay, a 1412 impactor, three Terex Pegson Maxtrak cones, two Tesabs, three 1800 Chieftain screens along with a 1400 and 2100 model just scratching the surface of its plant line-up you know business is brisk. And equal investment is made in staff.

All operators for Celtic are CPCS and EPIC certificated, carry quarry safety passports and are trained in health & safety and dust & noise awareness. The company has also been awarded the ISO 9001 certificate for high standards of quality management.

“Through persistence, hard work, listening to our customers and providing a professional and reliable service we have found word-of-mouth recommendations and plenty of repeat business has made our customer base grow and they know that they can rely on us to deliver the productivity levels they demand and expect,” says Lewis.

Wales has a large number of limestone quarries so recycling contracts in the area are rare – although he doesn’t discount the prospect of investing in recycled aggregate washing plant. He also covers the South West and has travelled to Hull and Reading to carry out a contract and has worked with slag, glass, sand, gravel and many other materials on projects ranging from 5,000 to 500,000tonnes.

And, being a contractor, he cannot afford down-time so he is fussy about his plant. A quick recap of his plant list shows that Terex Pegson and Powerscreen machines tend to top the bill. These are sourced through Blue Machinery Southern.

“There are a number of reasons I keep choosing these makes. Mostly it is because the plants have a superb build quality and they are reliable, powerful and more than capable of contributing to our reputation for service and productivity,” he says.

He cites his latest acquisition, the Terex Pegeson XR400 mobile crushing plant, as a good example.

Featuring hydraulic release, designed to alleviate problems associated with crusher overload which can be encountered when tramp metal enters the crushing process, the crusher will self-protect and open in the event of an overload being encountered.

“It is fully adjustable, quick and easy to reset and makes blockage clearance a simple process. This saves us time and money by allowing the crusher to continue processing with minimal disruption while protecting the jaw from potential damage. As a contractor, time is everything,” he says.

But as well as believing the companies involved build good machines, he also feels they make everything quickly available.

“For example, last week a filter housing went on my Pegson. I was up and running again the next day. It is a great service from the OEMs and the dealer,” he says.

He also prefers OEM manufactured parts to what he calls ‘look-alike’ parts. “They fit properly and are designed for the job and, with fast turn-around we get from Spares UK, we know that most of the items we need on a regular basis are usually off-the-shelf.

“When you build up a crushing and screening contract hire business like ours, you have to be able to offer the best equipment, top operatives to work the plants and, above all, delete the word downtime from the vocabulary. This is what the plant helps us do,” he says.