COMPETITIVE KNIFE EDGE

How Knife River's collaboration with Powerscreen is driving efficiency and expansion

Knife River prides itself on building strong communities with a reliable team and wide range of services. Now operating across 14 US states, this strength has led to great success for the construction and materials company. To support this nationwide growth, the business needed the right machinery. Having dealer partner Powerscreen of California at hand made reaching this potential possible.

Established near North Dakota’s Knife River in 1917, the last 30 years have seen this aggregates, asphalt, concrete, and construction provider grow into one of the US’s biggest industry players. Having made nearly 100 acquisitions since 1992, the company’s people-first focus has driven huge expansion and revenue growth of up to $2.2 billion.

Producing quality aggregates is at the base of Knife River’s business, with 180 sites between Alaska and Hawaii delivering ready-mix concrete, asphalt, and natural rock materials. This includes a yard in Chico, California, which recycles concrete and asphalt, and produces gravel materials of various sizes.

However, this rapid growth hasn’t come without its challenges. As Knife River’s Administration Manager Marc Ingvoldsen explains, “We need a good spread of reliable machinery to produce quality materials from all our sites. But the size of our business means it can take a long time to sign off big capital expenditure. Luckily, Powerscreen’s flexibility allowed us to access the machinery we needed without having to wait.”

TRY BEFORE THEY BUY

To produce a high standard of materials efficiently, Knife River needed a complete spread of machinery for its Chico site. However, the business couldn’t commit to this investment without having proof of concept. Alongside their parts and servicing support, the Powerscreen team were able to lease the equipment required for this testing and development phase.

“Powerscreen’s flexibility allowed us to access the machinery we needed without having to wait...

“Having the flexibility of a rental option is useful for a range of businesses,” says Powerscreen of California, Nevada, & Hawaii Sales Representative, Jordan Pendergrass. “For companies as large as Knife River, it means they can continue driving high product quality without interrupting cashflow. With our expert help, they could also adjust their train setup until it ran as efficiently as possible.”

Improving the standards of their current material was just one benefit the Knife River team enjoyed from Powerscreen’s rental service. “The crushing efficiency of the machines they provided meant we could recycle at a higher rate,”Marc explains. “The site was also producing lots of bird’s eye gravel that we didn’t have an outlet for. With Powerscreen’s help, we were able to turn that into a sellable product.”

By renting a 1300 Maxtrak cone crusher as part of the site’s processing train, gravel material could be recirculated and turned into dust. “Ten years ago, most people would say you couldn’t do that,” says Pendergrass. “But our experts got in there and delivered. This is the kind of product that sets industry leaders like Knife River apart.”

A TRUSTWORTHY TRAIN

Alongside the 1300 Maxtrak, Knife River also rented the Premiertrak 400X jaw crusher during their proof of concept phase. Combined with Chieftain 2100 and 2200 incline screens, the Chico site team could maximize their recycling processes and natural rock production thanks to this efficient, versatile machinery.

Pea gravel is recirculated into the 1300 Maxtrak via the Chieftain 2200 to reprocess into sand for the asphalt plant. Using the same train, recycled concrete is crushed into road base material, with recycled asphalt processed separately. Hydraulically adjustable, this equipment could be easily optimized for maximum efficiency.

Designed for use in medium to large-scale operations, 1300 Maxtrak’s heavy-duty chassis, safety features (such as cone overload protection and dust suppression system), and fuel-efficient direct drive system proved its performance in a direct demo. “I’ve never tested this cone out against another without it winning,” Pendergrass explains. “The Automax technology and hydraulic settings mean it always outperforms competitor machines.”

“Our people come first in everything we do,” Marc adds. “So the safety features of these machines were a huge plus for us. They were also easy for our team to use and maintain. We were so impressed by this machinery’s performance that we eventually bought the Chieftain 2200, followed by the 1300 Maxtrak.”

SOLID SUPPORT

By providing the equipment Knife River needed under flexible terms, the Powerscreen team helped the business justify its investment. With experts on-hand to support train setup, the dealer partners got the site running quickly. Plus, they continue to maximize uptime and efficiency with responsive, experienced servicing.

As Marc explains, “Powerscreen allowed us to rent equipment for several seasons before purchasing. This support during the proof of concept stage, along with their team’s knowledge of the machines, has established a strong relationship that we can trust to support our growth.”