Italian crushing equipment specialist
OM's growing presence in the crushing equipment sector is significant given that only a few years ago it sold machines predominantly to its home market. Piccolo said that OM has seen a 15-20% growth/year in exports since 2000 when the company first made serious moves to develop sales out of Italy, where it had become a market leader. At present some 85% of the firm's production is now being exported outside of Italy.
Piccolo explained that the growing trend towards recycling of materials has boosted sales in Germany. "Today the German market is interesting for us and is the most important market," he said, adding that while the aggregate production is still an important sector for OM's German sales, recycling of asphalt and concrete (and the latter in particular) has helped drive the firm's market growth in the country.
Piccolo is confident too that the recently introduced Ulysses crusher will attract sales. This machine features a self-sensing system that continuously monitors load in the jaws of the crusher and enables the machine to optimise performance. Because this OM machine has hydraulics operating directly onto the jaw, the system is able to monitor pressures continuously and accurately. Piccolo said, "We adjust the feed to ensure the crushing chamber is at the optimum level. We slow down and speed up the feeder but we never stop it. The machine adjusts the pressure for optimum crushing and it is a self-learning system." This method of optimising material levels in the crusher allows for greater performance consistency and Piccolo said, "When you are able to keep the level within the hopper to around 10%, you have 10-15% higher output efficiency." He added that this system can also quickly determine whether any tramp metal has entered the machine that needs to be removed, preventing damage to the wear plates.
