MRF Retrofit: Automating Metals Recovery

Project Overview

Hoosier Machinery Solutions completed a MRF retrofit for a Material Recovery Facility looking to cut manual sorting and increase throughput. HMS handled the complete installation: removing the facility’s failing crossbelt magnet, installing a new Dings crossbelt magnet, installing a new platform over the existing bunker infeed conveyor, installing a new Dings eddy current separator, and adding Marathon Equipment transfer conveyors to carry recovered aluminum cans back to the bunker.

This was a first-time HMS customer facing a problem plenty of MRFs will recognize. Their crossbelt magnet was failing, and aluminum cans were being pulled off the line by hand. Manual sorting was eating labor, capping throughput, and letting valuable aluminum slip into the wrong stream. The goal was straightforward: automate the recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and put those labor hours back into production.

HMS crews performed the removal and installation on site, rigging out the old equipment and setting the new magnet, eddy current, platform, and transfer conveyors in place, along with safety rails and the small custom fabrications it takes to make a retrofit run flawlessly inside an existing system. The tight space made this the hard way to do it. Threading new equipment into a running MRF’s footprint takes careful rigging and sequencing, and that is exactly the kind of work HMS self-performs.

The retrofit came in on time and on budget. With the new Dings crossbelt magnet and eddy current in line, the facility now recovers ferrous metals and aluminum automatically, with the cans conveyed straight back to the bunker instead of being pulled by hand, freeing up sorters and opening up throughput.

Service and Support from HMS

A retrofit is often the fastest way to get more out of the MRF you already have. Hoosier Machinery Solutions designs and self-performs sort system upgrades, from magnets and eddy currents to conveyors, platforms, and the custom fabrication that ties it all together, with our own structural and electrical crews on site. If your facility is sorting by hand what a machine should be catching, our Parts and Service team can help you scope the upgrade. To see how HMS approaches every project as a full-service equipment partner, visit our Company page.