“I’m working on the advanced performance management stage with Sam Sawant, a crusher specialist with Innotech Solutions,” Bessen says. “Sam designed two of the key crushers in the system. We’ve been adjusting those crushers to optimize the yield of key products with great success, using the belt scale systems for feedback on both current yield and system capacity.” The feedback is presented to the operator, giving him the information he needs to make appropriate changes in feed rate, recrush setting, and crusher setting to improve performance.

“There’s nothing magic about automation in a quarry,” Bessen adds. “We take big rocks and make them into little rocks. Making the most money out of it in the process comes back to how you control the yield of products to get the most saleable product with the least by-products and waste. Improving profit is the reason for automating the performance management system.”

The plant processes the same amount of stone, but produces more saleable fractions instead of making larger stone that doesn’t have a market or has to go back for recrushing.

“Our crushers and scales are tied together so we can see what’s going on at any one time,” Rufer says. “We make product according to the program, not just according to what an operator decides to do. Instead of ending up with a bunch of material that we have trouble selling, we have the flexibility to make more of our hot products. The new system lets us make small adjustments to maximize production of the products we want to make. Before, we just crushed and got whatever came out.”

Before the new system was added, production of 3/8-inch product averaged 120 to 130 tons per hour. With the new system in place, the quarry hit a new record for 3/8-inch production in September of more than 250 tons per hour — essentially doubling prior production capabilities.

The new system allows employees to extract downtime, uptime, and what types of products are being made at any given time from anywhere. “We can see what’s going on, in real-time, no matter where we are,” Rufer says. “I can bring it up on my laptop at home. I can see how many tons of material are coming off any conveyor belt at any stage in the plant. I can check the production rate for the day and get a running graph of what products we’re making for the entire day.”

Phase II of the automation project, planned for this winter season, will tie up a few loose ends. “We’re seeing that we need to make a few changes,” Rufer says. “We want the crushers to interact with the new computer system, so the crushers can adjust on their own according to gradations that come off our belts at the time. I believe that will be the final touch to really take it to the next level, but you always want to stay one step ahead.”

Staying alive

Production levels at Haverstraw Quarry have been declining over the last several years. “Back in 2004, we produced about 2.8 million tons,” Rufer says. “This year, we’ll make about 1.35 million tons. This used to be a 24-hour operation — we ran three shifts and were off on Sundays only. Now, we’re running one production shift of eight to 12 hours and an eight-hour shift dedicated to maintenance. And we’re not working as many weekends. We’re still going, but we’re not going as much as we’d like to.”

In order to stay alive, the quarry has gone to a lean manufacturing concept. It currently has 38 hourly employees and six salaried employees — a drop from 93 employees back in 2005.

Each job is being closely scrutinized to see if there’s a better way of doing it. Employees are being cross-trained to make sure they can do many different jobs.

“When you look at the drop in demand, you have to look at ways to keep or increase your profits,” Rufer says. “It’s necessary. We’re kind of lean and mean now. We don’t have a lot of extra people around. With the cross-training and restructuring of all our jobs, we’ve become much more proficient.”

EQUIPMENT LINEUP

Caterpillar 992 wheel loaders (2)

Caterpillar 988 wheel loaders (3)

Caterpillar 980 wheel loader

Kawasaki Z 115 wheel loader

Hitachi 450 excavator

Hitachi 540 LR excavator

Komatsu HD605 haul trucks (4)

Caterpillar 773 50-ton haul truck

Terex T.A. 40-ton haul truck

Svedala 50-inch x 65-inch gyratory crusher

Svedala 84-inch STD cone crusher

Svedala 384AC crusher

Metso HP 300 crusher

Metso HP 500 crushers (2)

Sandvik H-4000 crusher

Sandvik H-3000 crushers (2)

Simplicity double-deck screen

Astec external RAP system

8 x 20 triple-deck screens (2)

8 x 24 triple-deck screens (10)

8,000-foot conveyor system

66-inch screws

Belt feeder

External hoppers

5-ton H&B batch plant

Hot bins (5)

Cold-feed bins (8)

250-ton silos (2)