COST EFFECTIVE CRUSHING

When Leicestershire-based MRD Plant, which provides nationwide services to the UK recycling, construction, quarrying & mining sectors, first invested in a second-hand ALLU screening bucket just over a year ago, they quickly realised the benefits of this innovative Finnish-manufactured hydraulic attachment. Since then, they have added three new models to their machinery fleet, all supplied by dealers Blue Group.

“The ALLU screening bucket is so much more efficient, productive and less expensive than bringing a mobile crushing plant on to the work site…

They were initially attracted to the ALLU DS 3-23 screening bucket after securing a series of relatively small crushing and screening contracts, as it was more cost-effective for their clients than employing an expensive mobile crusher on the job site. Earlier this year, they took delivery of a brand-new ALLU DH 4-17 model, primarily to process asphalt road planings that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

MRD Plant’s Managing Director, Tom Chapman, has nothing but praise for the ALLU transformer buckets, which can screen, crush, pulverise, mix, and separate a wide range of materials. If the material is particularly wet or dirty, they are far more efficient at processing it than a standard mobile screener.

Using the machine’s hydraulic system, the ALLU screening buckets—virtually converting your excavator or loading shovel into a mobile processing plant—are user-friendly and allow for quick attachment, ensuring easy control and operation. With interchangeable blades and segments of various sizes, you can easily adjust the particle size to meet the different requirements of job sites.

“In many cases, an ALLU screening bucket is much more efficient, productive, and less expensive than transporting a mobile crushing plant to the work site. That’s something we began to realise when we invested in that second-hand model last year. Some of the contracts we secure involve processing just a few hundred tonnes of material over a couple of days, and it would have been inefficient to set up a standard mobile crusher on-site.

“Had we done that, we would still have had to use a loading shovel to feed the crusher. The fact that we can fit an ALLU screening bucket to the shovel means we are literally halving our fuel costs and using less labour on-site,” said Tom. “As a result, we can pass those cost savings on to our clients, which they appreciate.”

The ALLU DH 4-17 screening bucket, one of the largest in the D-Series range, is specifically used by MRD Plant to process road planings. However, it can also screen and separate various other materials, including different soil types, sand, gravel, topsoil, compost, demolition waste, and biomass, producing end products of different fractions. This makes the D-Series suitable for various applications, including construction, excavation, recycling, landscaping, and agriculture.

DOING MORE FOR LESS

TOM CHAPMAN MANAGING DIRECTOR MRD Plant

More or less permanently fitted to a 35-tonne Hitachi Zaxis 350-7 excavator, the ALLU DH 4-17 screening bucket is in constant use. “It essentially does the same job for less than a top-of-the-range mobile crusher,” added Tom, who established MRD Plant in 2022 after working alongside his father in a similar business before it was sold in 2019.

“Apart from the versatility of the ALLU screening buckets, I was also attracted to them because of their simplicity. They are easy to use and much easier to maintain compared to a standard mobile crusher. Plus, being fitted to an excavator or loading shovel, they enable us to access restricted sites where we might not be able to bring in a separate crusher unit.”

The other three ALLU buckets in the MRD Plant crushing and screening division are fitted to two JCB loading shovels and a smaller Hitachi excavator. They are easily interchangeable to suit various applications. One of the ALLU transformer buckets has been used to break up and screen Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA), also known as fly ash, which can then be partly used as a cement substitute in the manufacture of concrete blocks. Extremely wet PFA would be impossible to screen using a conventional mobile screener, and this material would normally end up going to landfill.

In just a few short years, Tom Chapman has built MRD Plant into a successful and growing contract crushing and screening operation that can take on projects ranging from small-scale work to larger, long-term contracts. In addition to the ALLU buckets, he currently operates two mobile crushers, three excavators, and five loading shovels.

PLANT HIRE DIVISION

The business also includes a plant hire division with an expanding fleet of excavators, loading shovels, mobile jaw crushers, and screeners, all available on either an operator or self-drive rental basis.

The plant hire division also offers a variety of ALLU transformer buckets, which are not only limited to aggregate processing but can also be used to meet the requirements of almost any application—from pipeline filling and compost and soil processing to highway construction and asphalt recycling. These buckets serve a range of sectors, including quarrying and mining, and wood chip & biomass production.

Since starting the company, Tom has enjoyed a highly successful working relationship with both Blue Group and ALLU. “They have been very supportive and have put in a lot of effort to ensure we have screening buckets that work for us, especially with the DH 4-17, which we primarily use for processing asphalt. Any issues or queries we have are dealt with promptly and efficiently, and we look forward to building on that relationship going forward.”