May/June 1992
This manufacturer of shredders, shears, nonferrous metallic separators, and other processing equipment draws on nearly a century of global experience.
BY JEFF BORSECNIK
Jeff Borsecnik is assistant editor of Scrap Processing and Recycling.
"Quality, quality, quality." It's the underlying business philosophy at Lindemann Recycling Equipment Inc., says Peter A. Gross, president of the New York City firm. "Quality must be assured," he explains. "Our work isn't done until the customer is completely satisfied."
The company didn't happen upon this ethic by chance, notes Gunn Phillips, national sales director for scrap equipment. Attention to quality, he says, is part of the "craftsman mentality" that serves as the foundation of the company's parent firm, Lindemann Maschinenfabrik GmbH (Dusseldorf, Germany), which has been engineering and manufacturing scrap processing equipment since 1913.
That mentality also seems evident in the types of products the company develops and its timing in doing so. For example, Lindemann executives point out, in 1988, it became the first manufacturer to introduce an eddy current separator—which uses rapidly alternating magnetic fields of opposite polarity to repel and separate nonferrous metals—into the U.S. market. Lindemann's patented permanent-magnet model features an eccentric design that reportedly allows users to concentrate the magnetic field in a specific, adjustable area.
On a grander scale, another recent Lindemann innovation is the Kondirator, the firm's "very revolutionary" shredder, which Gross says can swallow large, "unshreddable" scrap that would damage traditional shredders. The design of traditional shredders, Phillips explains, dictates that if an incoming scrap item is bigger than the opening between the rotor and the grates, "there is a possibility of wedging and major problems." In the Kondirator, he notes, the rotor's direction of rotation has been reversed; materials first move over the top of the rotor and then through a very large grate at the bottom of the back wall. "No material is allowed to go under the rotor at any time, and the large pieces can be ejected by the opening of the grate," Phillips says.
He also notes that the machine offers improved shredding efficiency: "A traditional U.S. shredder of 2,000 horsepower might be rated at 60 tons per hour, whereas a 2,000 horsepower Kondirator would be rated at 100 to 110 tons per hour output." Lindemann has not yet installed any Kondirators in the United States , but 12 of the massive machines are operating around the world.
Though proud of Lindemann's string of patents—more than 100 stretching back from the Kondirator through nearly a century of innovations in shears, shredders, and other machines—Gross tempers his enthusiasm for the cutting-edge, noting, "It's important to have a quality piece of machinery that will perform and perform and perform. Nobody wants a prototype with tremendous amounts of downtime, so there has to be a balance struck between innovation and proven machinery."
A World of Experience
Lindemann Recycling's parent company, which employs about 750 people worldwide, also has subsidiaries in Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom and agents or distributors in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. Its German headquarters performs the majority of the international company's manufacturing and acts as the engineering, research, and development center.
Worldwide, Lindemann has about 180 shredders in operation, and Phillips says the firm is a "dominant" producer of shears, with its 700-plus installations leading the field, and only one competitor reportedly coming close. Lindemann has also sold about 150 of its nonferrous metal separators around the globe, he notes.
Lindemann Recycling Equipment was established in 1985 to serve the North American market, and today employs a dozen individuals with specialties in equipment service as well as sales. Both Phillips and Gross emphasize their firm's American character and independence. "It's managed from a U.S. point of view and service is delivered from a U.S. point of view," says Gross. "It's an American company solving the problems of the American scrap dealer by using a piece of quality equipment from Europe ."
Lindemann Recycling's most successful product in North America , by number of sales, has been the eddy current nonferrous separator—40 are up and running on the continent. In dollar-sales volume, the company's leading product has been its heavy hydraulic shears. In addition, two of Lindemann's Zerdirators, large top-and-bottom-discharge shredders, are operating in the U.S. aluminum industry, and the firm has placed high-density briquetting equipment in both the United States and Canada . It has also sold wood shredding equipment and established construction and demolition waste sorting facilities in the Northeast. Finally, the firm also sells turnings crushers and tire shredders, among other scrap- and waste-processing equipment. Phillips sums up the company's current position: "We have a nice little population of equipment working out there and a tremendous amount of potential."
The Cost of Quality
Lindemann quality doesn't come cheap, and it's been a long, slow job building the sort of reputation f
This manufacturer of shredders, shears, nonferrous metallic separators, and other processing equipment draws on nearly a century of global experience.