American Iron & Metal orders a second helping of Steinert equipment.

Operating an automobile shredder plant and its downstream system effi­ciently takes a combination ofcapitalinvestment,industry knowledge and dedication to maintenance and systems management. Pierre Paquet of American Iron & Metal Co. Inc. (AIM), East Montreal, Quebec, Canada, says he is glad that he has been able to rely on Steinert people and equipment to make this difficult job easier.

Pierre, the production manager at AIM, says the company has relied on a close working relationship with Texas Shredder Inc., San Antonio, and SteinertUS, St. Petersburg, Fla., since entering the auto shredding business in 2000.

Bright yellow Steinert equipment can be found at AIM’s East Montreal auto shredder plant in the form of two ISS (induction sort­ing system) machines, two eddy current separators, two drum magnets and a cross-belt magnet. The equipment has performed so well and so reliably that AIM will be installing a nearly identical Steinert downstream system at its Quebec City auto shred­der facility, which is currently under construction.

“We are very happy with our Steinert system,” Pierre says of the East Montreal set-up. “We don’t want any other kind of magnet at our new Quebec City facility. We buy our shredders from Texas Shredder and our magnets come from Steinert,” he states.

Pierre praises the Steinert equipment for being produc­tive and reliable. “The eddy currents pick up the copper, aluminum and brass. Now, with the ISS models, the stain­less steel and any electric wire that might get past the eddy currents is captured.”

The company has had five years to observe the low-maintenance requirements and reliability of its Steinert eddy currents and drum and cross-belt magnets. “The eddy currents and magnets don’t require a lot of mainte­nance,andwhentheydothey are very easy to work on and to maintain,” Pierre remarks. “It’s one of the reasons I like the Steinert models.”

AIM is installing a 5,000-hp Texas Shredder plant in Quebec City that will also feature plenty of bright yellow Stein­ert equipment. Pierre notes that Steinert’s newest, most powerful drum magnet will allow AIM to function with just one drum magnet rather than the two it has in East Montreal.

A 30-year veteran of the scrap industry, Pierre says he has been impressed with the leaps in separation technology demonstrated by Steinert in the first half of this decade.“Five years ago, we talked about an ISS with Don Wolfram and others at Steinert, but we agreed that the time was not right to try to handle 300 tons of fluff per day.But now we started up our ISS units in late August, and in just the first full week we are handling 30 tons per hour and getting really good, clean metal. We are very happy with the quality of the clean, nonferrous metal stream.”

Because of the good relationship he enjoys with the people of SteinertUS and the track record of Steinert equipment, Pierre anticipates a successful installation process at the Quebec City facility.“The service they have provided us has always been outstanding; they are there when we need them and when we call them,” says Pierre. “They are really good people offering equipment of the highest quality.”

November 2004