VIDEO: A. Montano Company, C.D. Man Partner on Port of Albany

Thu December 31, 2020
CEG

C.D. Man LLC is a NYSDEC permitted construction and demolition processing station that opened its doors in 2017 and operates in the Port of Albany, N.Y.

This covered facility was designed so that any size truck or trailer would be able to dump on a level platform with little or no waiting and be on its way. The facility was constructed adjacent to the railroad so that all the construction and demolition material is transported out of the Albany area by rail, reducing truck congestion and emissions in the local area.

C.D. Man is currently permitted to process up to 600 tons per day of construction and demolition debris, which is being shipped out by rail each day. The majority of the material is shipped to Ohio, thus relieving pressure on New York State landfills.

According to Josh Geers, operations manager of C.D. Man, the clean level tipping floor and ease of unloading is a very popular feature of their new transfer station.

"The other disposal sites in the area are in a landfill-type environment, so the unloading process is a bit challenging and the wait time to unload can be counted in hours at times. The other thing that we are very proud of at our facility is our state-of-the-art certified Emery Winslow scales. We are very confident, and our customers can also be, that the weight that comes up on our scales is absolutely accurate."

As a result of these and other features, this relatively new transfer station to the Capital District area already is receiving material from more than 150 miles away.

The entire C.D. Man transfer station is built under cover, protecting it from the elements, another feature that sets it apart from other facilities in the area.

Once mixed construction and demolition materials are dropped at the facility, they need to be sorted before being loaded into the rail cars. An important part of the sorting process is identifying all ferrous metals so that they can be separated for recycling. The machine tasked with this duty is the centerpiece of the transfer station.

A properly sized excavator with a highly specialized attachment is the right tool for this job and Josh Geers, operations manager, was tasked with identifying the right excavator and the right attachment to get the job done.

After extensive research, the decision was made to purchase a Hyundai HX220 equipped with a Bateman Demo-Mag demolition magnet grapple. The Hyundai was purchased from A. Montano Company of Saugerties, N.Y.; the Demo-Mag was purchased directly from the manufacturer and installed by A. Montano Company.

The Demo-Mag attachment is an all-in-one tool that combines the versatility of a demolition grapple with a durable magnet, which gives it the ability to maneuver mixed materials and, at the same time, the magnet draws the ferrous metals and attaches them to the frame.

As the excavator works through a pile of mixed materials, the metals get attached to a magnetized area on the top of the grapple attachment. The grapple can pick up a load of non-metal items, drop it into one rail car meant for transportation of non-metal items, and then swing over to a recycling bin meant for metal items and release the magnetized metal items from the attachment into the recycling bin.

To make this highly specialized attachment work properly, it had to be expertly sized to the right carrier and have modifications made to the carrier to ensure the attachments' proper operation, and that was the job of A. Montano Company — making sure that the new Bateman Demo-Mag grapple worked seamlessly on a Hyundai HX220.

The excavator needed to be equipped with a 9,000-kw generator capable of producing 9,000 watts of power to create the magnetic field in the nose of the grapple. A dedicated hydraulic pump needed to be installed to handle the increased hydraulic demands of the grapple, and the excavator needed to be equipped with heavier counterweights, again due to the weight of the Bateman Demo-Mag grapple.

This setup worked very well. Well enough that three years later, the decision was made to retire the Hyundai and replace it with an identical brand-new setup.

"We ran this machine seven days a week continuously, regardless of the weather, including upstate New York's sub-zero temperatures. That's going to take a toll on any machine, and we had no issues at all with the Hyundai. However, if we were to have a problem it would virtually shut down our operation.

"After three years of reliable service it seemed prudent to put a brand-new machine in its place and to take advantage of a very aggressive Hyundai warranty. There was never any question about sticking with Hyundai and A. Montano Company. We get great support from our sales rep, Jenn Harvender, and our product support team of Rob and Nick. A. Montano Company is just down the road in Saugerties, N.Y., and their response time is always good.

"We also take a lot of comfort in the fact that the Hyundai machines are powered with Cummins engines. Cummins has a facility right here in Albany, and we know that if we need engine parts, we can get them immediately. Hyundai also sells at a great price point, which is another motivation to stick with the product," Geers said.

"Our operator has 25+ years of experience, and frankly he was very surprised when we put him in the Hyundai. He has experience with all major brands and now he is sold on Hyundai. We have found it to be a bullet-proof machine that runs every day and does everything that we ask of it."

According to Geers, C.D. Man's entire experience with A. Montano Company has been excellent.

"When we first decided what machine we wanted, we were told the machine was on back order and that we had a three to four-month wait. Kevin Knaust, the general manager of A. Montano Company, took it upon himself to search the country and find the machine we needed.

"When the installation of the Bateman Demo-Mag was completed, we found that there were little things that they did that showed us that A. Montano Co. goes the extra mile. For instance, the electric line from the generator to the magnet was covered up by angle iron to protect it. The air filter pre-cleaner had been moved to accommodate the extra pump. They also installed a flex-air reversing fan that blows debris off the radiator every five minutes, which in our type of work environment, is crucial."

The commitment to Hyundai and A. Montano Company is made even more evident by the fact that after each load of construction demolition is dumped on the floor of the facility it is cleaned up and moved into place with a Hyundai HL760-9A wheel loader powered by a 222 hp Cummins engine. CEG

This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.