Blue is a one stop shop for Prichard’s Contracting

Prichard’s Contracting takes advantage of being able to purchase all their wood recycling equipment through Blue, instead of making several purchases through different suppliers. Over the past 24 years, Prichard’s have grown immensely, and diversified, since it first began as a Plant Hire Company at Tom Prichard’s father’s farm in 1995. Today the firm offers a wide range of services which include; demolition, site clearance, ground remediation bulk earthworks, infrastructure services, waste management and recycling.

With more focus on the Recycling Industry over the past few years. It is this sector that has become one of the biggest parts of the company, as Prichard’s operates four waste sites across South Wales.

Prichard’s has recently constructed a community recycling centre in Llantrisant, where the firm processes a mixture of waste, collected from local councils, as well as deposited by the public. Securing several large-scale contracts, meaning that the site had high volumes of wood waste that they needed an outlet for. Consequently, Prichard’s decided to shred the wood for Biomass, so began the process of investing in a wood recycling process and two biomass boilers at the Llantrisant site.

Prichard’s first started their Biomass production with a Doppstadt AK 230 high-speed shredder, but soon realised they needed a bigger machine due to increased tonnages coming into the yard. Therefore, the company required a further machine to not only increase the efficiency of their operation but also to enable them to produce a specific biomass wood chip specification. Mike Crooke, Recycling Supervisor at Prichard’s contacted Brian McNabb from Blue Southern to arrange a demonstration of the Doppstadt Shredder DW 3060 K (slow speed shredder).

Tom and the team were so impressed with the product the shredders were producing together and the excellent re-sale value Doppstadt holds, that they quickly decided that the Doppstadt DW 3060 K was the right investment for the company. Tom Prichard explains “The Doppstadts are working extremely well for us and when I’m buying machines, I always look at their re-sale value, we always try and buy leading market brands that retain their value, and Doppstadt does that”
After the success of the Doppstadt machines, Mike decided to contact Brian again as the company required a new material handler and urgently needed to replace their old screener due to it breaking down. Brian suggested that the company should go try the Powerscreen brand and specifically Chieftain 2200, as it would enable Prichard’s to increase the amount of material they process. Furthermore, the Chieftain 2200 boats two double deck screenboxes, which would enable the firm to separate the processed wood into three sizes and circulate any unwanted oversized product back into the shredders, ensuring the firm achieved their desired 80ml wood chip.

Prichards also took a Fuchs MHL320F on demonstration, as they wanted to compare its performance against another competitor machine. However, Mike found the Fuchs was significantly better in both power and comfort therefore, it was an easy choice to go with the Fuchs MHL320. Mike explains “I spend about 14-15 hours a day in that cab and it is a very nice environment to work in. It’s smooth, versatile and easy to use. We tried a competitor machine and it didn’t come close to the Fuchs’ performance.” Mike also added, “Fuchs has created a brand, where if someone mentions material handlers you instantly think of Fuchs, so it has a good name to invest in.”

The Process:

• Material is fed into a Slow Speed Shredder – Doppstadt DW 3060 K by a Fuchs MHL320F.
• Material is shredded to <200ml. • Ferrous metal is removed by an over-band magnet. • Material feeds into a High-Speed Shredder – Doppstadt AK 230. • Material is processed further to <80ml. • The material travels into a Powerscreen Chieftain 2200 where it separated into three sizes; 0-10ml, 10ml to 80ml, oversized • <10ml material falls through 0-10ml woven wire mesh screen deck • >10-80ml material is separated by 80ml woven wire mesh screen deck
• Oversized material is recirculated back into Doppstadt DW 3060 K to be processed again

The performance and re-sale value were not the only winning factors for Prichard’s choosing to deal with Blue, as Blue’s Spares and Service is a huge benefit for the firm. Tom Prichard comments “Blue’s Service and Spares parts is a big advantage, as their backup and aftersales service is always good and reliable. The right back up from a company you are buying from is so important because if there isn’t reliable backup, it essentially means more downtime will occur.” Mike adds, “Spares are good to deal with, Rebecca is excellent and very knowledgeable. With other firms, I can give them a list of parts I need and then I have to chase and chase, but you don’t have to do that will Blue, you know they will get it sorted quickly”.