Equipment flexibility and dependable support drive Riverbend Construction Services to choose Metso

In North Carolina sit three quarries approximately 80 km (50 miles) apart. Riverbend Construction Services was contracted to drill, blast, and crush hard granite at each site.

A dependable, flexible solution

Riverbend had the difficult task of reaching peak production at each location without the footprint available for stationary crushing equipment. Duff Boyd, owner at Riverbend, chose Metso’s line of mobile Lokotrack^® crushing units to solve this unique challenge: “We’ll come in here (each site) and build a bunch of inventory, fold up shop, pack it up, head to the next site, do the same thing.”

Since his client wanted everything broken down to -1/2" after crushing in the pit, he simplified the end material production process by connecting multiple units together. He lined up the Metso LT300HP™ for secondary crushing with the LT220D™ for tertiary crushing. After that, material is fed to an ST4.8™ washing screen.

“With Metso offering the LT220D, it removed the need for five pieces of equipment,” Boyd says. The machines have proven to be dependable, flexible, and mobile to allow one solution to be shared between all three sites.

Choosing the right partner for the job

Choosing Metso for the job meant weighting a few factors. Boyd explains, “Number one, can it do the job? The equipment has to be physically capable of producing a quality product that meets specs. And secondly, you have to have the support. You can have the best piece of equipment in the world, but if you don’t have the support, then I’m not interested. And that’s where the local dealer, Stowers, and Metso come in. Metso’s support is unmatched.”

Maximizing results through simulation

Metso’s proprietary simulation software, Bruno, was another factor that helped Riverbend choose the equipment best suited to their needs. They used the Bruno software to input their unique site challenges, model exactly what equipment would work, and even how best to configure it.

Again, Boyd explains: “They can plug in their models, whether it be the LT300HP, or the LT106, and plug it all in and hit ‘go’. With Metso, they understand their equipment. It’s not just a generic AggFlow program, it’s unique to Metso, and the accuracy is impressive.”

Decision based on the right equipment, support, and simulation

The combination of the right equipment, both OEM and local dealer support from Stowers, and experimenting with production options in Bruno made Metso the only solution for his production process. “It’s that total package that makes it very desirable to buy,” shares Boyd.

For this particular project, with tough terrain and a client who needed a very specific product spread out over three sites, Riverbend needed a unique solution that would cover all the bases:

“Having a customer that wants everything passing half-inch is a giant challenge to begin with. That’s a big task because you’re talking about pure horsepower to take blasted granite down to half-inch. And in my opinion, there’s only a couple of manufacturers out there that have the equipment that’s reliable and have some support. But Metso, and Stowers, their support, is way above their competitors. The available support is what drove our decision. I don’t care if you make the best equipment in the world, it’s worthless unless you can support it, fix it, help the customer fix it, and operate it efficiently.”