July/August 1997
Supershredders offer scrap processors super power to boldly pump iron in ways no smaller shredder can. Will they master the shredding universe, or are they just the latest big thing?
By Eileen Zagone
Eileen Zagone is an associate editor of Scrap.
Look, out in the scrap plant. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s ... Supershredder!
Are we talking about the latest super action hero?
No. We’re referring to the latest generation of automobile shredders, behemoth machines that offer more of everything—size, power, processing capacity—than “normal” shredding systems.
Introduced in 1990, these machines—variously called megashredders, killer shredders, hypershredders, and supershredders—were slow sellers for much of the subsequent five years. Beginning in 1996, however, they’ve enjoyed a sales spurt and become quite the hot commodity.
Outmuscling the Competition
As all the talk about cost per ton, operational savings, and greater processing versatility suggests, the heart of the matter behind the interest in supershredders is simply this: competition. Supershredders are essentially the latest—and largest—means of stepping up the competition in the ultra-competitive shredding niche.
“There’s so much competition for scrap and especially for shreddable scrap such as auto hulks,” says Schwartz. Since supershredders can shred a broader range of materials, they free shredder operators from dependence on traditional shreddable scrap.
And the competition isn’t expected to wane anytime soon. Most shredding experts, in fact, predict that car hulks and other traditional shreddables will become even more coveted, making the ability to shred different types of scrap increasingly important. As Newell observes, “The shredder isn’t about automobiles anymore.”
The demand for shreddable scrap will also intensify due to the growing popularity of frag among consumers, both domestically and abroad. According to Newell, the quantity of scrap being processed has risen steadily each year for the past few years, “and every year a higher and higher percentage of that total is shredded.”
Shredded scrap is desired, in part, thanks to its metallurgical consistency, relative cleanliness, and density, which helps explain why consumers are willing to pay more for the material. From a scrap processor’s perspective, shredders in general—and supershredders in particular—present a prime opportunity to add value to scrap, thus increasing profitability and their odds of long-term success.
In any case, says Phillips, as with just about everything in the industry, the needs of the market will determine the long-term success and prevalence of supershredders.
Supershredders offer scrap processors super power to boldly pump iron in ways no smaller shredder can. Will they master the shredding universe, or are they just the latest big thing?