The Rotochopper Advantage First Hand
Demo Day kicked off with President John Babcock explaining how Rotochopper, as an employee-owned (ESOP) company, is invested in the success of each customer. “Our employees are committed to building hardworking, dependable machines that help make our customers money,” said Babcock. “The dedication and commitment carries through the entire Rotochopper sales and manufacturing process.”
Factory Tours
After the opening remarks, guests toured the factory and saw Rotochopper grinders in every stage of manufacture, from cutting to final inspection and testing.
Grinding Demonstrations
Following the factory tours, the grinding demonstrations kicked off with something never before seen in a Rotochopper demo: two B-66 horizontal grinders running back to back in the same application. The opening demo featured a 765 horsepower B-66 TD and a 950 horsepower B-66 TD grinding solid round wood. The demo started by showcasing one of the most popular options for the B-66, the track and dolly system. Both B-66 track-mounted grinders entered the demo area on transport dollies, towed by full tractors (semi trucks / lorries) completely set up for highway transport. The grinder operators then quickly unhooked the trucks and uncoupled the dollies, showing how easily the B-66 TD can go from highway transport to maneuvering on crawler tracks. The 765 horsepower B-66TD tracked into position and quickly began grinding round wood that was fed by a Ponsse Buffalo King forwarder. After the 765 horsepower ground round wood for a few minutes, the 950 horsepower B-66 tracked into place and brought the same level of end product control with even higher productions rates. The two B-66 grinders featured different rotor tooth styles, each designed for processing solid wood. Both grinders featured rotor configurations recently developed for efficiently processing logs and whole trees.
After the initial B-66 TD demos, the featured machines, raw materials, and end products rapidly began to diversify, allowing attendees to see the specific machines and applications that had brought them to Demo Day. All told, the schedule included over ten raw materials, including slabwood, hardwood chips, yard waste, pallets, tear-off roofing shingles, and sorted C & D, that were transformed into high value commodities—colored landscape mulch, animal bedding, RAS (recycled asphalt shingles), compost, and boiler fuel. The demonstrations featured models from each Rotochopper equipment line: diesel horizontal grinders, electric horizontal grinders, wood chip processors, asphalt shingles grinders, mobile baggers, and fine grinding systems.
Partial List of Demonstrations
- B-66 TD grinding logs
- MC-266 grinding brush and pallets
- MP-2 grinding and coloring coarse pallet fiber (gold colorant)
- FP-66 grinding bark
- Go-Bagger 250 bagging mulch and compost
- EC-366 grinding pallet scrap and sorted C & D
- MC-266 grinding slabwood
- RMT Hammermill fine grinding coarse pallet fiber
- RG-1 grinding tear-off shingles
- B-66 grinding yard waste
- MC-266 grinding yard waste
- CP-118 grinding and coloring wood chips (brown colorant)
- B-66 grinding tear-off shingles
- B-66 TD grinding and coloring coarse pallet fiber and whole pallets (red colorant)
The already-packed schedule even grew throughout the day, as guests requested to see additional machines grinding the wide selection of raw materials available. A few of the demos came together with only a few minutes notice.
Rotochopper Advantages
In addition to grinding demonstrations, attendees also watched other Rotochopper exclusives in action, including the unique screen change system and volumetric end product monitoring system.
Kleiman Off-Road Racing
Throughout the day, Kleiman Off-Road Racing (sponsored by Ponsse NA, Rotochopper, and other companies that serve the wood products industry) showed off their TORC Pro-Lite truck to all of the guests and employees. Members of Kleiman Off-Road Racing eagerly fielded questions about their trucks and the growing sport of short track off-road racing. For a mid-day break, the Kleiman crew treated guests to a quick demonstration of the Pro-Lite truck in action in the alfalfa field behind the factory.
Finishing with a Rotochopper Trademark
The demonstrations concluded in a big way, showcasing a feature that has been a hallmark of Rotochopper for over a decade: the patented grind-and-color system. The same B-66 TD used to grind logs in the first demo produced color-enhanced landscape mulch in the final demonstration. The demonstration started with the B-66 grinding and coloring coarse pallet fiber. Then, after a brief pause to fine tune the feed and coloring settings, the B-66 TD was grinding and coloring whole pallets. Scott Harrington, Northeast Sales Manager, who was the announcer for this demonstration, explained over the PA system that changing the grinding application “mid-stream doesn’t diminish the ‘Perfect In One Pass’ product standards that Rotochopper customers have come to expect.”
A Complete Success
“This year’s Demo Day was the best one so far—a complete success!” stated Monte Hight, Rotochopper. “I am beyond proud of everybody who helped put this event together, and I am happy that we were able to show off our facility, our machines, and the spirit of the company in such a fun way to such a large crowd.”
“If you are in landscape mulch, tree care, biomass fuel, land clearing, C & D recycling, or any other industry that depends on grinding equipment, you owe it to yourself to attend Rotochopper Demo Day,” said Michael Hundt, Rotochopper Midwest Sales Manager. “The opportunity to see all of the latest cutting edge processing equipment in operation at one location in one day while networking with the big players in these industries from all over the world is invaluable.”