5 questions about landfill compactors

1. What are the biggest challenges landfills face when it comes to landfill compactors?

When we meet with customer prospects, their No.1 challenge is excessive downtime. All manufacturers love to talk about compaction ratios, wheel design, fuel efficiency, ground clearance, etc., but regardless of our differentiators, excessive downtime will annihilate landfills’ compaction ratios, leading to a loss of air space and an increase in cost of ownership.

Some landfills have backup machines, but, in most cases, those machines are typically older models that are less efficient at compacting. Even worse, many landfills don’t have a backup machine, forcing them to sometimes spread material with a dozer and cover, and track-type tractors (dozers and track loaders) are not designed for compaction. At Aljon, our No. 1 priority is to respond quickly, diagnose the problem and develop a repair strategy to get the machine back in production. We have a lot to talk about when it comes to our machine design, but we know uptime is our customers’ top priority. A machine that is down produces no compaction at all.

2. How much impact do current emissions systems have on cost of ownership of compactors and other equipment?

After treatment systems on all heavy equipment put a burden on the end user as it brings many challenges that impact total cost of ownership. The cost of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), maintaining the DEF filtration system, the requirements of maintaining proper DEF storage, eliminating any possibility of contamination, loss of production due to regen and the replacement costs of diesel particulate filters (DPF) are a few examples. Aljon compactors are powered by Volvo Penta engines with a highly efficient selective catalytic reduction system that requires no DPF and no regen.

3. What is the typical life expectancy of a landfill compactor?

This is an area where we should consider total cost of ownership. Once a compactor exceeds 10,000 hours of operating time, the risk that major components could fail increases. While all Aljon compactors are equipped with a frame that can endure 30,000 hours, in order to minimize total cost of ownership, the target time frame for a certified rebuild on any compactor is somewhere around 10,000 to 12,000 hours, depending on the life the machine, the application and the volume the machine was subjected to.

At Aljon, we have an OEM Certified Rebuild Program. We bring machines back to our factory to be disassembled down to the bare frame, sand blasted, and then we repair any parts that show signs of stress and rebuild the machine with remanufactured components. Our remanufactured machines have a six-month full machine warranty and a three-year/6,000-hour powertrain warranty at a fraction of the price of a new machine. This process gives a machine a second life and reduces the total cost of ownership by extending its life by an additional 10,000 to 15,000 hours, enabling the customer to calculate total cost of ownership over a longer life span.

4. Are landfills taking advantage of today’s technology, such as GPS-powered machine guidance systems?

We are engaging more customers who want to take advantage of this technology. Considering the cost compared with the gain of air space because of stronger compaction ratios and the ability to obtain optimum density in fewer passes, it’s definitely an option that will produce a return on investment. We have received very favorable feedback from customers using this technology who have experienced notable increases in density. All Aljon machines are prewired for GPS systems. These systems track data in real-time and generate both density and volume reports.

5. How long have Aljon products been in production, and how can solid waste operators learn more about Aljon landfill compactors?

We are still building American-made machines today in the same Ottumwa, Iowa, location where it all started 60 years ago. We continue to grow and expand our history by putting loyal customers first in everything we do. At Aljon, we “keep it simple and build it strong.”

Greg Shockley can be reached by cell at 479-629-6550 or by email at greg.shockley@candcmfg.net. Those interested in learning more about our products and our company also can visit our website at www.aljon.com.