By: Kathryn
Gerardino-Elagio
Metals have been reused and recycled for centuries – some,
possibly for ages. In South East Asia, production and consumption are growing.
But the region lacks advanced recycling framework and technology. Although companies
are starting to handle recycling, this industry is still very small and processing
plants are quickly overwhelmed.
Integration of shredding machines into
manufacturing plants in South East Asia is a must in order to produce
economically and resource efficiently as possible. For that reason, the recycling
of scrap parts and casting residues is becoming increasingly important.
Germany-based recycling system expert Erdwich
Zerkleinerungs-Systeme GmbH is looking to South East Asia including India as
key areas of growth for its business in the coming years, reveals CEO Mr.
Harald Erdwich, in an interview with International Metalworking News for Asia.
Beginning
The company first started as a manufacturer of
conveyor belts in 1972 by Mr. Johann Erdwich (senior). In the 1980’s, the core
business began changing from conveyor belt manufacturing to crusher systems.
CNC driven lathes also started during that period and Erdwich designed and
developed single-shaft shredders for metal swarfs treatment which was highly
innovative. First units have been sold directly to OPEL in Germany and immediately
started business opportunities in the automotive branch with a well-known
reputation till today.
Afterwards, a complete product enlargement consisting
out of new two-shaft shredders, three-shaft shredders and complete turn-key
solutions as well as plants for e-waste treatment and refrigerator recycling
have been developed. The main focus was moving to the key issues: recycling,
destruction and reprocessing of precious raw materials.
Over the next years, the company Erdwich continuously
developed successfully new machines till today and enhanced the already
existing product range with new innovative crushers, including improved
features for new business fields.
In 2010, the technical centre started with a high
variety of crusher availabilities for test customer test samples. In 2017, the
complete company moved from Kaufering to the now well-known headquarter in
Igling, out of capacity reasons.
Increasing focus on South East Asia
Harald Erdwich stressed that the strategy in South
East Asia is now more focused than the years before. Especially future markets
like, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, are the main focus with different
strategy aspects by Erdwich.
“Such countries are starting with the recycling issues
especially, the governments are changing some rules for the future regarding
waste treatment and recycling quotas. Very important customer applications in
this case are landfill dismantling, e-waste treatment, refrigerator recycling
and cast reprocessing,” he said.
Erdwich has been in the markets of Korea, Japan and
Taiwan for decades. Harald detailed, “Just to name two examples, we have
already built two refrigerator recycling plants in China and likewise one
e-scrap recycling plant.”
Over the last four years, Erdwich has been installing
and supporting in cooperation with the ALBA Group the biggest e-facility
located in Hong Kong, which was the biggest project realised in the company’s
history. “At this very complex plant, the complete e-waste stream from the city
of Hong Kong consisting out of dryers, washing machines, refrigerators and
further electronic devices are processed here,” he mentioned.
50th
anniversary in 2022
According to Harald, the company will celebrate its
50th anniversary in 2022. “Till this time a lot has changed. Erdwich have been constantly
growing during the last years and has now a factory size of 40 employees and is
a middle-sized company, located in Igling,” he shared.
Harald explained that the main focus here is the area
of solutions for metal swarfs treatment, automotive industry, die cast
reprocessing, cardboard crushing and many more, especially pharmaceutical
issues in the near future.
New
machines
Erdwich is constantly developing new machines in the
last couple of years, in cooperation with the internal R&D department for
changed applications and varying market needs. “The big and robust
hydraulically driven RM1800/2 was launched for aluminium scrap treatment,
landfill dismantling in the Asian market, municipal household waste streams,
and a lot more applications,” he remarked.
Furthermore, a new and smaller hammer mill of the type
HA600/1 was presented at IFAT exhibition in 2018 with now optimised dimensions
for smaller and limited production spaces. The hammer mill is mostly used for
swarfs treatment, small electronic device crushing and many more applications.
Harald added, “Also for the metal swarfs branch,
Erdwich presented at the AMB exhibition in Stuttgart 2018 the M400/2-400
machine on basis of a single-shaft shredder for wooly and very voluminous metal
swarfs treatments, especially for customers in the automotive industry.”
“Moreover, the very compact and heavy M800/1
single-shaft shredder was designed and brought into the market for metal swarfs
treatment and higher throughput-rates together with the electro-mechanical
driven RM1350/2 especially for cast reprocessing,” he further added.
Harald revealed that the company is looking and organising
trainings for constant development of their employees, including further
education measures to have a group of experts for each application area in the
internal company process.
The
time is ripe to design all products and services for the circular economy, and
ramp up efforts in recycling. Recycling products that we’re no longer using is
always good practice. It can help protect the environment from hazards. With
the right shredding system waiting at our fingertips, the future is looking
bright and profitable.
E-zine link: http://edms.industrysourcing.com/ezine/20/04/imna.html?pagenum=18
Website link: http://www.industrysourcing.com/article/excellent-shredding-system-key-profitable-recycling
