Koenig Materials is a sand and gravel operation located in Oxford, Michigan.
Operating for more than 100 years as Koenig Sand & Gravel, the company supplied the metro Detroit market with aggregate products for hot-mix asphalt, ready-mixed concrete and concrete pavement. In 2022, Mid Michigan Materials purchased the Oxford pit and now serves customers in southeast Michigan as Koenig Materials.
The challenge
When the Oxford pit was purchased in 2022, Koenig Materials decided to invest in a new wash plant and crushing operation there.
Koenig’s parent company, Mid Michigan Materials, had commissioned a wash plant for its sand and gravel pit in Jeddo, Michigan, a few years prior that Koenig Materials wanted to replicate at the Oxford site.
The Jeddo wash plant featured a 46-in. x 35-ft. log washer, two 12-ft. x 48-ft. sand classifying tanks, three Ultra Sand Plants for producing Mid Michigan’s sand products, one ultra fines recovery (UFR) system for recovering salable material from the waste stream, and multiple cross belt samplers.
Mid Michigan Materials had evaluated several equipment suppliers but ultimately chose McLanahan Corp. based on its knowledge and experience. The team valued McLanahan’s history and product offering, but what stood out most was McLanahan’s support and the time the company took to understand their material and the products Mid Michigan hoped to produce.
The service and support, along with the performance and reliability of the McLanahan system at the Jeddo operation, made choosing McLanahan again for the Oxford site an easy decision.
The solution
Through McLanahan’s Michigan dealer, Hi-Point Aggregate Equipment, Koenig Materials purchased a 1,000-tph wash plant consisting of two 12-ft. x 48-ft. sand classifying tanks and three Ultra Sand Plants to produce Koenig’s primary 2NS product, secondary mason sand and tertiary Class 2 sand product.
The plant included a UFR system to capture product-sized sand in the waste stream to prevent it from filling up Koenig’s settling pond, as well as nine single-stage cross belt sampling systems for automating the sample collection process. The plant started up in 2023 with McLanahan and Hi-Point on site for support.
The wash plant’s success was attributed not only to the quality of the equipment but to the support team. Collaboration with McLanahan allowed Koenig’s operational team to optimize plant performance through regular communication and troubleshooting. The ability to directly connect with the right experts for timely guidance was an advantage compared to previous experiences.
This direct access to technical support and the consistency of service was a large contributing factor to the plant’s successful implementation and ongoing performance.
The results
Since the plant has been operational, it has met Koenig’s expectations for producing the company’s three primary products, and the UFR has been instrumental in helping Koenig manage its setting ponds.
The UFR is primarily used to manage pond efforts more efficiently. By limiting the amount of product-sized sand sent to the pond, the system reduces pond maintenance and associated costs. This improvement led to increased productivity.
Additionally, the sand recovered from the UFR can be sold as fill sand, providing an additional benefit to operations.
The cross belt samplers are also a valuable asset, allowing for the collection of representative samples directly from the moving conveyor belt without interrupting plant operations. The samplers contribute to more accurate sampling, offering a composite picture over time rather than a momentary snapshot typically obtained through manual sampling. Their use saves personnel time, effort and energy while offering a competitive advantage through improved data collection and quality control.
Beyond the washing equipment’s benefits, the relationship with McLanahan has been considered a critical factor in the operation’s overall success and profitability.
Information for this article courtesy of McLanahan Corp.
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