Building a better bale with Sierra - Sierra International Machinery balers - Brief Article

Recycling Today, Oct, 2003

When it came time for Allen Stein of Gulf Coast Recycling to select a baler for his new high-volume Houston paper-packing operation, he surveyed the baler market and settled on a Sierra International Machinery Macpresse model.

"The machine seemed to be as good or better than anything else we looked at. It was very competitively priced, and we could get a delivery that met our needs," Stein says. "It seems like Sierra has a good parts inventory and good support in the U.S. to be able to stand behind the machine," he adds.

The Macpresse 111AS baler that Stein selected offers high production and a small footprint, two very appealing factors to Stein. "Our objective was to be able to get as much throughput as we could get without taking up a lot of space."

The 111AS offers baling speeds of 25 to 39 tons per hour for OCC, and even higher rates of 50 to 60 tons per hour for ONP and high grades. The bales are sized to maximize shipping in export containers, vans and railcars.

Gulf Coast Recycling uses its 111AS to bale corrugated, news, printer grades and office fibers. Stein says the machine has performed equally well with all the materials.

"It will bale material as quickly as you can load it," Stein says of the Macpresse 111AS. In fact, Stein finds that the facility is more restricted by the speed of its conveyor than by the baler's speed.

In addition to the baler's small footprint, its speed also serves to minimize the amount of floor space required. "When you can't get material through very fast, then the baling process takes up more floor space," Stein says. "It's been very economical in floor space, and the weight of our bales has been very efficient. In turn, loading is more effective, as is wire usage."

Stein continues, "We've had a very good experience with Sierra. Whatever it is we need, they are there. And the baler performs even better than I anticipated."