VS Rubber — Pleased with Solution Provided by Caterpillar and Cleveland Brothers
The Lebanon, Pa., plant of VS Rubber sorts and decontaminates the byproducts of retreaded truck tires, preparing them for new life as flooring and mats. But this part of the repurposing process, which involves moving mounds of rubber, dust and product buildup on the plant’s loader, was creating a fire hazard. In this volatile environment, Cleveland Brothers adapted a debris kit and created a solution that has greatly improved operator safety.
Holland-based VS Rubber is a global player in the processing and cleaning of rubber buffings, mulch, whole tire crumbs, and tubes. The Lebanon plant, VS Rubber’s only U.S. facility, partners with a nearby flooring manufacturer to clean and provide the rubber that will take on such new uses as running tracks, artificial turf underlayment and high-grade commercial flooring.
In order to meet flooring standards, the final product is virtually free of contaminants, including metal, stone, gravel and plastics. The VS Rubber plant works with about 15 commercial truck tire retreaders, carting away the shredded byproducts when old tire surfaces are scraped off.
After the material is delivered to the VS Rubber plant, a Cat® 262D is used to unload it from the trailer, create a central stockpile of materials, and scoop loads into the screening and processing equipment.
“Our material is relatively fine,” says Plant Manager Patrick Cronin. “It ranges anywhere between standard mulch size that you see outside the home, between 10 to 15 millimeters, all the way down to a 20 mesh, which is not quite as fine as baby powder, but is a dust.”
Production has “continued to ramp up,” and in 2014, the plant processed about 20 million pounds of product, says Cronin.
When an older loader became too expensive to continue repairing and was causing heartache and headaches in downtime, VS Rubber got a new Cat loader from Cleveland Brothers. But as the machine was put to work, a problem materialized when up to a foot and a half of rubber debris would accumulate in the machine frame under the operator station.
“That represents a fire concern,” says Cronin. “In order for us to assign that piece of equipment, we needed to find a way to alleviate some of that debris accumulation.”
VS Rubber is a client of Cleveland Brothers’ General Construction Territory Manager John Garloff Jr. To help solve the problem, Cleveland Brothers came forward with a Cat debris kit originally designed for such operations as forestry and cleaning – other places where fine dust is very flammable.
Caterpillar Rep Jim Joy was instrumental in helping adapt pieces of the debris kit to seal the openings between the loader’s cab and the lower chamber housing the hydraulics that operate the wheels. The solution also sealed the engine compartment against any additional debris.
The solution “resolved the issues,” says Cronin. Plus, the comfort of the new Cat loader is “far superior to anything we have used in the past.”
Throughout the process, Cleveland Brothers “was very transparent,” he adds. “They helped us connect directly with Caterpillar and showed us what the kit looked like. While we had questions, they were also very confident it would solve our issue. We relied on some of their judgment and expertise and moved ahead with it and, in fact, it has done everything that was promised. It turned out to be a great piece of equipment.”