Kross & Maskin i Kisa secures aggregates production with Lokotrack LT120 and MX jaws

Kross & Maskin i Kisa AB is located in Smaland County in Central Sweden. Established in 2008 by Mikael Pettersson and Mattias Pettersson, the company is using mainly Metso Outotec’s Lokotrack® mobile crushers and screens. They also utilize the OEM wear parts and services from Metso Outotec for their Lokotracks. All their equipment is mobile so they can move around where their customers need materials for projects in Central and Southern Sweden.

Over the years, Kross & Maskin i Kisa have grown their reputation for producing high-quality aggregates and building good relationships with their customers. They have a wide range of customers for whom they produce aggregates for housing, quarrying and construction, and their products vary from raw material to finished aggregate products, such as ballast and road base materials.

Material for roads

At the time of this case study in early 2023, the company was crushing granite at two different job sites. The newest of their two Lokotrack LT120 jaw crushers with Nordberg® C120 crushers, delivered in 2022, was crushing 0-150 mm aggregate fraction in Vimmerby for road base.

Their second job site was in Sävsjö and had two crushing lines. The first line consisted of a Lokotrack LT120 jaw crusher and a Lokotrack LT330D cone crusher with the Nordberg® GP series cone crusher and a triple deck dual slope screen. The second line had a Lokotrack LT300HPB with Nordberg® HP300 crusher and screen and a third-party screen.

The two crushing lines in Sävsjö produce five different fractions. “We use the LT120 and the LT330D to produce 16-90 mm fraction suitable for road base,” explains Mattias Pettersson. “Then we use the LT300HPB to crush smaller fractions out of the 16-90 mm for asphalt production.” The smaller fractions are 0-4, 4-8, 8-11 and 11-16 mm. In addition to the Lokotrack units at these two sites, they also operate a Lokotrack ST4.8 mobile screen, which was located elsewhere.

Crushing longer with MX hybrid composite wear parts

Kross & Maskin i Kisa use Metso Outotec wear parts in their crushers. Both their LT120 jaw crushers are equipped with MX jaw plates. “We have used the MX jaws in our jaw crushers for many years already,” says Mikael Pettersson. “The operation is more secure, we get better material quality, and there are less operation breaks as we don’t have to do maintenance on the machines the same way.”  Mattias adds: “I think that the MX jaws last about 2.5 times longer than traditional plates.” With the MX jaw plates, they have had fewer maintenance breaks and therefore more time for crushing. The MX wears are a patented solution by Metso Outotec, combining manganese and hard metallic wear-resistant inserts for abrasion resistance; the result is longer wear life in demanding applications.

The second and third stage crushers use Metso Outotec manganese wear parts: medium or fine cavity and XT720 alloy. The company takes advantage of Metso Outotec’s Full Container Load (FCL) deliveries and orders wear parts for stock, so that they have the wear parts on hand when needed.

“We selected Metso (Outotec), because we think that (their solutions) give us a good operating economy and more secure operations. Their machines are also safer to work with,” Mikael comments.

Some of the machines are covered by the additional Metso Outotec’s Equipment Protection Service (EPS). “The warranty for these machines has been really good,” says Mattias. “Help has been available when needed – even during evenings and weekends.”

Building the talent for the company

One of the challenges in the business is finding employees with the right skill sets. “Working in our line of business requires multiple skills – from maintenance to operating crushers, excavators and so on,” says Mikael. “We have solved the problem by training our employees ourselves.” Mikael and Mattias have a combined 30+ years of experience in aggregates crushing.

A solid example of their skills is the LT300HP that is currently in their workshop having further work done on it. They built it by themselves from two different units. Now the crusher is getting an additional by-pass chute.

Excited about the future developments

“I follow with excitement the future developments of the Metso Outotec crushers, and the development of the whole industry,” says Mikael. “The future looks bright for our company. In the future, we hope to move more to electric machines eventually,” concludes Mattias.