Kross & Maskin i Kisa is based in Smaland County in central Sweden. Established in 2008 by Mikael Pettersson and Mattias Pettersson, the company mainly uses Metso’s Lokotrack mobile crushers and screens. It also utilises the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) wear parts and services from Metso for its Lokotracks.
All its equipment is mobile, so it can move around to where the firm’s customers need materials for projects in central and southern Sweden.
Over the years, Kross & Maskin i Kisa has grown its reputation for producing high-quality aggregates and building good customer relationships. The company has varied customers for whom it produces housing, quarrying and construction aggregates. Its products, such as ballast and road base materials, vary from raw to finished aggregate.
The company has been busy crushing granite at two job sites. The newest of its two Lokotrack LT120 jaw crushers with Nordberg C120 crushers, delivered in 2022, has been crushing 0-150mm aggregate fraction in Vimmerby for road base.
The other job site, in Sävsjö, has been operating two crushing lines. The first line consisted of a Lokotrack LT120 jaw crusher, 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 16-90mm 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 11-16mm. In addition to the Lokotrack units at these two sites, Kross & Maskin I Kisa also operates a Lokotrack ST4.8 mobile screen elsewhere.
The company uses Metso wear parts in its crushers. Both the company’s 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, Kross & Maskin I Kisa has had fewer maintenance breaks and, therefore, more time for crushing. The MX wears are a patented solution by Metso, 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 manganese wear parts: medium or fine cavity and XT720 alloy. The company takes advantage of Metso’s Full Container Load (FCL) deliveries and orders wear parts for stock to have the worn 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.
The additional Metso’s Equipment Protection Service (EPS) covers some machines. “The warranty for these machines has been really good,” says Mattias. “Help has been available when needed – even during evenings and weekends.”
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-plus years of experience in aggregate crushing.
A solid example of their skills is the LT300HP which is currently in the company’s 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.
“I follow with excitement the future developments of the Metso 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.
