JCB Telehandlers ramp up productivity at Century’s Metal Recycling plant

A young fleet of JCB Loadall Telehandlers is enabling Century Metal Recycling to meet its production targets on time for its customers, besides facilitating maintenance and other works at the plants. P.P Basistha takes a look at the value addition the versatile machines bring to the production chain.

Century Metal Recycling Private Limited is a major producer of aluminum and zinc alloys. The company has seven production facilities, six in Haryana and one in Chennai, with a total production of 200,000 metric tons of materials yearly. The materials are produced in ingots as well as liquid alloys. The latter are directly transported to customers in customized, close-bodied trucks.

The company’s major customers are automobile manufacturers, namely Maruti Suzuki, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, TVS Motors, Bajaj, Yamaha, Royal Enfield, and more. These companies procure the finished alloys primarily for production of the engine blocks, crankshaft casing and compressors casing, that are produced at Century’s highly automated scrap processing facility. The finished alloys are mainly produced from imported aluminum scrap; close to 1,50,000 tons yearly of which are procured by Century from various global sources.

In view of its high customer base of automobile manufacturers, it was extremely important for Century to meet orders on schedule. It streamlined its production processes, which mainly involved feeding the raw material (scrap) to the automated plants, for which it procured three JCB Loadall Telehandlers.

Mr. Akshay Agarwal, Director, Materials Department, Century Metals, informs, “Two of the Telehandlers are working at our plants in Haryana and another has been deployed at the Chennai facility. The earlier practice was to unload the scrap manually from the 20 and 40-feet standard containers mounted on flat trailers. This took us five to six hours. However, the flip side of the practice was that it went on to extend the lead times for feeding the materials, which was not commensurate with the requirement of our modern automated plants. Now, with the deployment of a JCB Loadall Telehandler, our feed time has drastically come down to less than two hours. One of the biggest advantage of the Telehandler is that with its 11-meter boom it can fully reach, horizontally, the inside of the container, getting every piece of scrap that used to be left uncollected earlier.”

JCB has customized the telehandlers as per Century’s requirements; it has added a dragging tool for collection of the scrap, and specialized tires to prevent them from deflating

He informs that to ensure full collection of the scrap materials, JCB has customized the Telehandlers as per Century’s requirements. It has added a dragging tool for collection of the scrap; and specialized tires have been added to prevent them from deflating due to the sharp aluminum scraps, thereby neutralizing the chances of non-availability of the Telehandlers.

Value in production chain

While the Telehandlers have enabled Century to curtail lead times for feeding the materials, the versatile machines undertake numerous other jobs in the plants. They are being deployed for feeding the loose scrap into the hoppers for processing. This was earlier done through loader attachments fitted on conventional tractors. Further, fitted with man baskets attachments, the Telehandlers have begun facilitating maintenance of the plants as well. That’s not all: with the fork attachments, the JCB Loadalls are assisting in loading the finished palletized ingots that weigh 500 to 600 kgs.

Besides increasing production time, JCB telehandlers are feeding the loose scrap into hoppers for processing, facilitating maintenance of the production plants, and loading the finished products.

Buoyed by the faster uptime, higher productivity, and versatility of the machines, along with the value that they have brought along the entire production chain, Century will be adding one more Loadall to its fleet. Says Mr. Agarwal, “Besides increasing our productivity, the Telehandler’s 11-meter boom can easily perform routine maintenance of our processing facilities at the height of 8-9 meters. Plus, the stabilizers on the Telehandlers make them stable and ensure safe operation. The running cost of the machines also meet our estimates, enabling us to get the right return on investments.”

JCB Loadall: The Perfection of 4 Machines In 1


JCB pioneered the concept of Telescopic Handlers in India with ‘JCB Loadall’ which has gained popularity in various industries and applications such as Agricultural Logistics, Construction, and Process industries.

Ranges: In India, the company has a range of Telehandlers from 7 metres lift height to 17 metres. The available Made-in-India variants include–530-70 and 530-110 and additionally, it has 540-170 for high lift and reach applications and is imported from the UK.

Versatility: Being a versatile machine, Loadall comes with variety of attachments. The widely used attachments are General Purpose Shovel, Heavy Duty Forks, Bucket with Grab, Crane Hook, Grain Bucket, Power Grab, Man Platform and Drum Handlers. All these are made with the purpose of making the machine do a variety of tasks on site, thereby improving the utility of the machine.

Operator’s Comfort: JCB Loadall provides unmatched safety and comfort. It is robust and ensures maximum strength in high stress areas. It is better suited for heavy duty bucket application. Additionally, clean air kit options further enhance ventilation to work in dusty environment. The cabin is fitted with rolling over and falling over protection systems that enhance the operator safety.

Safety: For JCB, safety is of paramount importance. Some of the key safety features that are being offered in its Telehandlers are: ROPS / FOPS cabin, Load Moment indicator with alarm, Hose Burst Check Valves, Stabilizers and 4 Wheeled Drive for better traction.

Service and Maintenance: Apart from these features, JCB Telehandlers have Livelink, an advanced Telematics Technology fitted as standard. This revolutionary technology helps customers in fleet and maintenance management. Livelink ensures that apart from location, information regarding the Service, Operations and Security of the machine are available on smart phones or mobile devices in real time. Livelink also gives out SMS alerts in 11 different languages.