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Waste management and machinery designer and manufacturer, Whitham Mills, is to formally explore the use of 3D printing technology to manufacture breakdown and repair parts on customers’ sites to reduce baler downtime.

The company said it will investigate the process of training staff and requirements for fitting out vehicles with the necessary technology to produce a range of specific machine parts other than standard consumables.

According to Whitham Mills, the study, which will be carried out by its engineering team, will be used as a “test-bed” designed to accelerate repair times by enabling every maintenance vehicle to carry an unlimited number of components which would be downloaded and 3D printed.

Whitham Mills explained that 3D printing technology has now become available on the high street. And, developments in techniques mean that printing of parts made form stainless steel, titanium and cobalt chromium in a process called direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), is now “commonplace”.

The technology is being used in sectors such as aerospace and a range of medical applications.

The company added that this is in addition to the ceramic, plastic polymers, rubber and fabric materials which can also be made using similar techniques.

Ben Smart, managing director of Whitham Mills, said: “We are continually thinking about service response times and what we can do differently to keep our customers happy. In the future we’ll be able to bring the entire Whitham Mills factory direct to your baling system.

“We are convinced that companies like ours need to keep moving and innovating in order to remain competitive. That’s why we are pushing ourselves to discover what can be done with this technology and investigating its use. These are exciting times.”

Whitham Mills provides machinery to a range of public and private sector organisations in the waste management, retail and warehousing sectors.

Source: http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/equipment-news-round-02062017/

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Whitham Mills opens Manchester headquarters
Recycling equipment manufacturer Whitham Mills has completed its move to a new 33,000 sq ft headquarters at the Stakehill Industrial Estate, on the outskirts of Manchester.
The company, which previously had headquarters in Todmorden, on the Lancashire/ Yorkshire border, supplies and services baling machinery and bespoke-engineered technology to the international recycling industry.

Ben Smart, managing director of Whitham Mills
Whitham Mills said the move is part of a “wider growth strategy” which has also seen the recruitment of six new engineers. The company has also reported a 35% year-on-year increase in revenue.

Its client base includes retailers Tesco and JD Sports, national waste management companies such as Veolia and Viridor and a number of local authority operated recycling centres.

Facility

According to Whitham Mills, the facility comprises 25,000 sq ft of factory floor space, which is “triple the capacity” of the old location. Within this is a separate area for operator training, storage for the complete catalogue of consumables and spare parts, and a showroom displaying a range of balers, tippers and conveyors.

The warehouse also features two inbuilt heavy-duty gantry cranes, capable of manoeuvring Whitham Mills’ products, which can weigh up to 50 tonnes. There is also 8,000 sq ft of office and canteen space for the firm’s sales and support staff.

Ben Smart, managing director of Whitham Mills, said: “The demand for both our products, and the comprehensive after sales support we provide, has resulted in a 35 per cent increase in year-on-year revenue. Relocating to the larger base was necessary to support this continued growth, and it has been part of our strategy to relocate to Manchester for some time now.

“The regional and national motorway network are now on our doorstep, which is important for our rapid-response service team, who provide 24 hour breakdown cover and consumables supply to clients.”

Milestone

Mr Smart added: “We’re also doing more business in the UAE, New Zealand and mainland Europe, so the fact we’re now half an hour’s drive from Manchester airport makes things easier; not only for our sales and support staff flying out, but also for clients visiting us.

Whitham Mills has recently completed installation of a baler along with a conveyor system at Veolia’s Armoury Road site in Birmingham
“Additionally, the larger floorplate has allowed us the space to create a showroom for our products. The greater storage space means we can stock more consumables and spare parts, and have them ready at a moment’s notice.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time for the company and the move is an important milestone for us.”

Whitham Mills also announced it has recently secured the repeat business of Greater Manchester-based recycling and waste disposal company, Wheeldon Brothers. The family-owned firm has four material recycling facilities in the region, and previously bought a baler from Whitham Mills in 2007.

According to Whitham Mills, for the latest commission it will provide a GB1111 baler, capable of processing 20 tonnes per hour of cardboard and plastics.

http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/whitham-mills-opens-manchester-headquarters/

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Waste management machinery designer and manufacturer Whitham Mills has completed the design, installation and commissioning of a bespoke roll cage tipping system for food waste on behalf of Tesco.

The system replaces over 700 compactors at Tesco stores and is designed to reduce the cost of compactor lifts, cleaning, maintenance and replacement.

This was installed after the retailer sought to incorporate segregated food waste into its reverse logistics operation – which sees food waste collected in-store before being bulked at one of 10 ‘recycling units’ run by the retailer and transported onward for treatment by contractor DS Smith.

The full inventory of installations includes: 18 patented roll cage tippers, two 4-metre high patented roll cage tippers, nine heavy duty conveyors and 11 patented compactor bin/roll cage tippers.

Collection

The system designed by Whitham Mills involves the segregation of food waste in-store, with the material then transported in plastic lined roll cages before being bulked centrally at Tesco’s Recycling Service Units, loaded into walking-floor trailers and sent for processing by contractor DS Smith via anaerobic digestion.

To operate the system, the cage, which can weigh up to 350 kilos, is placed into the housing with its door fully open. Once a safety guard is in place, the cage is lifted and tipped in two stages to ensure the material is deposited onto a waiting conveyor.

The systems have been installed in Tesco Recycling Service Units across the country.

John Masters, procurement manager for waste and recycling at Tesco, said: “As part of our commitment to reducing food waste, we wanted to include this waste stream into our backhaul function and use it to generate green energy.

“With the introduction of a plastic liner, the four-side roll cages were the perfect instrument to allow segregation and removal of the 700+ compactors at stores and consolidate the waste at our Recycling Service Units.“

Design

DS Smith’s recycling division’s account director, Nicholas Power added: “We went out to market to find the ingenious solution we needed. We had a number of conversations with companies large and small but it wasn’t until we spoke with Whitham Mills Engineering that we felt we were moving in the right direction.

“We presented them with the problem and asked them to present their solution. When we saw the simplicity of their proposal, it looked right and sounded right; as though it was the natural and obvious way this problem should be tackled.

“With a few tweaks here and there, we had a working design and an operational prototype within 8 weeks”.

Material is deposited directly into a walking floor trailer before being transported for onward treatment
Material is deposited directly into a walking floor trailer before being transported for onward treatment

Whitham Mills’ system has been designed to reduce the time spent by operators in emptying the cages which was previously a less automated process and took around six minutes per cage. It now takes close to 70 seconds, as well as being safer to operate, Whitham Mills claims.

Managing director at Whitham Mills, Ben Smart, said: “We have now installed this new system in ten of Tesco’s recycling service units and our design is proving to be a valuable addition to their recycling operations.

“It was a challenging brief which tested the mettle of our best brains but it is very pleasing to see the system in operation across the country.”

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The appointment is a part of a ‘strategic focus’ on growing the company’s presence in key European and Middle Eastern markets.

Mr Patterson has over two decades of experience developing businesses in international markets such as Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe according to Whitham Mills.

On his appointment, Mr Patterson said: “Whitham Mills is already a remarkable business in the sector and is deeply embedded within the UK’s waste management, retail and warehousing sectors. There remain very good opportunities here but overseas markets are crying out for the expertise, ingenuity and service levels our customers are receiving.

“We have completed a number of export contracts already but we feel there is much, much more we can do. We will look at a range of overseas opportunities whether they be direct sales or via a distributor model, we have no prejudices as to how we’ll make the company grow.”

Whitham Mills’ managing director, Ben Smart, added: “On behalf of the directors, I’d like to formally welcome Noel to the company.
“Noel has an excellent track record and a clear strategic focus on how he wants to develop the export side of the business. We have a strong business with customer service at its centre and it is that service, coupled with our engineering knowhow, which sets us apart from others and enables us to deliver for our customers.”

In recent years, Whitham Mills has secured export sales to Norway, France, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

original article LetsRecycle.com
http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/appointments-round-up-21092016/

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Whitham Mills in the UAE

We are pleased to announce another export sales into the Middle East.

The Government of Ras al Khamaih procured a new GB1108 cardboard baler and medium duty chain conveyor to increase the payback from their recyclate collections.

This photo is GRAK having their new cardboard baler installed through the night by Whitham Mills. The installation had to stop during the day time because it was over 40+ degrees.

Well done Whitham Mills engineers. A really great job

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High street retailer JD Sports Fashion plc has appointed Whitham Mills to design, install and maintain a new waste management system at its national distribution centre in Rochdale.

The six-figure contract will see Whitham Mills install a 1700mm conveyor, transporting waste cardboard to a 20 tonnes-per-hour GB1111FS baler outside of the main building.

Waste streams in distribution centres are identified as a potential fire risk, leading Whitham Mills to design an enclosed baler feed conveyor system which includes an automatic fire door and fire-suppressing sprinkler system.

If activated, the system automatically closes the fire door at the conveyor’s exit point, isolating the fire and allowing the sprinkler system to take control.

Whitham Mills managing director, Ben Smart, said: “At Whitham Mills we take the challenges set by our customers and identify efficient and imaginative systems which respond to their needs. There is rarely an off-the-shelf system which is suitable which is why our engineering know-how is so important to our customers.

“In this instance we’ve designed a system which will supress any fire in a way which will protect stock and allow the distribution centre to return to operations as quickly as possible.”

Whitham Mills secured the contract following a recommendation from JD Sports’ waste management company, Wheeldon Brothers, and will also be providing a service contract.

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Latest Whitham Mills Balers - Pre-pressed 100kg bales, pressed into 750kg cardboard bales to increase payloads. This is one of the 2x, 10 tonnes per hour, fully automatic cardboard baling systems Whitham Mills Engineering Limited have installed for our newest retail client.

The challenge was to increase the tonnage of their exported cardboard containers to maximise returns and to reduce down time. The old balers were replaced with new GB1108 fully auto balers and Whitham Mills feed conveyors.

Well done to everyone in the Project Team.

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Waste management machinery designer and manufacturer Whitham Mills has installed a conveyor system and baling plant for a tier 1 waste management company at the company’s materials recycling facility and transfer station at Armoury Road, Birmingham.

The 25 metre conveyor and Godswill baling system is the fourth installation Whitham Mills has carried out for Veolia in recent years, and the company’s tenth installation for Veolia to date.

The baler installed along with a conveyor system at the company's Armoury Road site in Birmingham

The new system will be used to separate and bale mixed recyclable municipal waste collected at the kerbside. The system can process 20 tonnes of material per hour.

“WME have provided balers for us on a number of projects including Canada Dock, Basildon, Cambridge and Armoury Road, and we have been very happy with their performance so far.”

Experience

Managing director at Whitham Mills, Ben Smart added: “This is a testament to our experience and understanding of the requirements that companies such as this have. Our continued work with them demonstrates the skilled workforce and high quality engineering we have at Whitham Mills. We take great pride in our work and help our customers deliver on the promises they make to their customers.”

In what is described as “a comprehensive end-to-end approach”, Whitham Mills has designed, installed and commissioned the system and will provide rolling service cover along with consumables supply and fitting. The conveyor system is heavy duty with a 1500mm wide chain and a 6 inch pitch. The overall length is approximately 24.5m which includes a 14m horizontal length.

Auto lubrication is provided and power comes via 7.5km motor gearbox. Safety provision includes a safety pull wire system.

The baler is a 20 tonnes per hour GB-1111FS – 120HP ( 2 x 45kw) and produces one tonne bales.

Whitham Mills Engineering Ltd is based in Todmorden on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border.

source www.letsrecycle.com

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Whitham Mills is pleased to have installed a new automatic waste separation and 1175 TR twin ram baling system. The system will automatically separate paper, card, plastics, aluminium and steel before baling in the Godswill 1175 Twin Ram Baler.

Happy client and a great looking recycling system. Good job Team Whitham Mills. Well done.

Contact us: sales@whithammills.com 01706 811 880

Estimated material tonnes per annum for the system were:
- Paper 1,976
- Glass 1,304
- Card 1112
- Mixed Plastic 773
- Aluminium Cans 152
- Steel Cans 302

Equipment supplied:
One: Baler Feed Conveyor. 1200mm Wide x 7.5m long
One: GB-1175TR-40Hp Twin Ram Baler
One: Bottle Perforator & Moving Hopper
One: Heavy Duty steel loading hopper 4.2mtrs x 3.2mtrs x 3.8mtr
One: Heavy Duty Chain & Belt Conveyor 4” pitch x 900mm Wide x approx. 7.5m long
One: Access Platform and stairs for Pickling Line & Service.
One: Picking Line Conveyor – Feed Hopper
One: Picking Line Conveyor - 900mm Wide x 6.75m long with stainless steel section and Magnetic Head Roller.
One: Stainless Steel discharge chute
Three: Drop chutes
Three: Steel Bunker Walls to make bays 6m long x 3.5m wide x 3 m high
One: Overband Magnet – OCP2310E & Support frame
One: Eddie Current Feed Conveyor – 900mm wide x approx. 5.5mtrs long

Contact us: sales@whithammills.com 01706 811 880

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Waste baling systems designer and manufacturer Whitham Mills Engineering, has won repeat business from one of Northern Ireland’s leading waste management companies following a decade-long service for one of its early drinks can balers.

contact us: sales@whithammills.com 01706 811 880

Installed in 2005, the 7.5 kw can baler is now being replaced like-for-like with a new model which is used exclusively for the company’s operations for drinks manufacturer Diageo, specifically for surplus and waste Guinness cans.

Based at Mullusk, approximately 15 minutes outside Belfast, ISL Waste Management delivers a range of services to Northern Irish businesses including confidential document destruction, mixed waste collection and recycling and food waste segregation.

Managing director at Whitham Mills, Ben Smart commented, “It is of course hugely satisfying when we receive repeat business as it is real tangible evidence that we are right on the money with our service to customers.”

Whitham Mills currently has six waste management systems in operation with Diageo in a range of markets including Ireland, the UK and in Nigeria, West Africa.

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By now supplying baling consumables, steel wire and peripheral baling products, Whitham Mills takes a significant step closer to its goal of becoming a Waste and Recycling “One Stop Shop”.

With key additions to its sales and marketing team and to its already extensive range of products and services.

With over 15 years of Sales and Operational industry experience, Michael Barker will be heading up the newly formed consumables division. Michael has been tasked with growing both the customer base and product range in line with client needs and expectations.
Please contact Michael anytime at michael@whithammills.com on (01706) 811880 or (07539) 033189 or visit www.whithammills.com

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Managing director of Whitham Mills Engineering, Ben Smart, explores approaches to capital expenditure in the waste and resources sector.

Shaped as we are by the forces of policy makers, there are few absolute long-term certainties in our sector. You will be as familiar as I am about how we are required to bend to the will of the latest thinking, new rules or, for many, the lack of a clear long term strategic policy framework which would allow us to all operate with certainty.

One of the few certainties for resource managers is the inevitability of capital expenditure taking a significant slice off the bottom line. It might not be in the plan for the next quarter, or the next financial year, but it is on its way: the consequence of growth.

Ben Smart, managing director, Whitham Mills Engineering
Ben Smart, managing director, Whitham Mills Engineering

I’m constantly reminded of the old axiom that you get what you pay for. It’s a truth that should shape decision making for all investments large or small but too often does not. It is the system and the engineering support.

Design

Our bread and butter is supplying conveyors and balers for MRF systems and it is a market with expensive pitfalls for clients. I’ve lost count of the amount of times that we have been brought in to redesign systems to replace unsuitable off-the-shelf systems which don’t do the job.

If you invest in a piece of kit without the supplier wanting to understand its context, feedstock and operating parameters, an alarm bell should go off in your mind. I’d argue that your supplier should have intimate knowledge of their products and understand what is and, critically, what isn’t appropriate.

You’d be amazed at the cachet that being British designed and British manufactured has. Our design engineers in the UK talk face-to-face with our engineers in the factory and the installation engineers on site. They touch the steel which makes up our systems, they design, measure and mark the welds, and agonise over every angle. It resonates with people and they understand that ‘British designed’ remains a byword for quality.

Service

To understand the real return of capex, your accountant will explain to you that you need to factor in the ’Three Ds’ of depreciation, downtime and diminishing value. These can be offset with making informed decisions at the outset and understanding what level of support you will get from your supplier.

This often comes down to a question of confidence. Confidence both in terms of how much you believe in the sales patter of suppliers and how much confidence the supplier has in their product.

Like everybody’s, our systems break down from time to time. They do hard, mechanical graft under enormous pressing forces. But faced with a repair which necessitates a downtime of days while experience engineers are called on from abroad and one of hours while an engineers are despatched locally, I know which gives my customers and my bottom line confidence.

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Waste management machinery designer and manufacturer Whitham Mills, has been appointed by confidential document destruction and waste management company Green Plan-it to provide waste processing machinery, including one of the Whitham Mills’ specially-designed balers, at the company’s new purpose-built Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at Bardon Hill, Coalville, Leicestershire.

Established in 2007, Green Plan-it provides destruction of confidential materials and full waste management solutions to its nationwide customer base which are drawn from a range of sectors.

Its new £1.5 million MRF includes an investment in Whitham Mills machinery with a list price of around £300,000.

The new Whitham Mills designed system has a document shredding capacity of four tonnes per hour and consists of two Series 600 shredders and a GB 1108FX model (up to 7 tons per hour) fully automated baler connected by an 18.5 metre chain-driven conveyor.

Russell Ward, Managing Director at Green Plan-it said: “This new facility at Bardon incorporating the Whitham Mills system signifies a key investment for the company which will allow us to deliver more and improved services to our growing number of customers.

“The vast majority of organisations have document security requirements and need to be able to trust the entire process we put in place. This begins at collection and ends with the final destruction.

“The new system significantly increases our waste management capacity and provides us with a system which we and our customers can be confident in.”

Managing Director at Whitham Mills, Ben Smart added: “Our systems are designed and manufactured right here in the UK by engineers who have dedicated their professional lives to solving problems faced by organisations with varied and challenging waste streams.
“We take great pride in our work and help our customers deliver on their promises to their customers. The system we have installed here is robust and in-keeping with the requirements of modern waste management companies.”
In a comprehensive end-to-end approach,

Whitham Mills has designed, installed and commissioned system and will provide rolling 12 month service cover along with consumables supply and fitting.

Green Plan-it’s new MRF opened for business in mid-April 2015.

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Whitham Mills Engineering has been shortlisted in the prestigious National Recycling Awards 2015 becoming the only North West SME to make the final reckoning.

The company, based in the historic town on the Lancashire – Yorkshire border, has been shortlisted for its work with retail giant Tesco and paper-based packaging company DS Smith.

Whitham Mills’ engineers have designed and developed a labour-saving system to process waste card and paper from Tesco’s national distribution centres.

The patented roll-cage tipping system allows cages to be safely emptied in a fraction of the time compared to manual empting as waste material begins its recycling journey.
Shortlisted in the Best Partnership category, Whitham Mills’ expertise will be judged against some of the biggest companies in the sector such as Waitrose, Kuehne & Nagel, Unipart and Biffa.

The awards winners will be revealed at the London Hilton, Park Lane on July 1st 2015.

For further media information please contact:
Steve Sanders on 0151 239 5000 / 07827 892 673 / sanders@thisisinfluential.com
Annie Murray on 0151 239 5000 / 07807 646 390 / murray@thisisinfluential.com

Whitham Mills Engineering Ltd is based in Todmorden on the Lancashire / Yorkshire border. It designs, manufactures, installs and maintains waste processing equipment to customers in the retail, logistics, warehousing and waste management sectors.
It is ISO quality assured and develops proprietary systems to meet the needs of its customers.
Established in 1999, Whitham Mills employs around 60 people nationwide including those at its UK manufacturing plant in Todmorden.

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Baler and picking line specialists Whitham Mills have scored a record 99.6% for qualitative marks in the recent Mid Devin District Council (MDDC) local authority tender for a new mini-MRF.

The 99.6% score represents the highest qualitative tender mark in Whitham Mills’ history and sets a new benchmark for all future tender work.

MDDC has been running an in house recycling service which needed to be relocated in July 2014 to new premises. The existing baler system was deemed to be no longer fit for purpose and required replacing with a modern, future-proofed mini-MRF system. Whitham Mills were one of ten companies to tender for the new baling system.

Whitham Mills have installed a mini-MRF for MDDC that allows for some automated material separation with an eddy current and over band magnet. Together with three balers, a picking line and a perforator for plastic bottles, the new system will allow greater throughput and material diversity for MDDC. The new MDDC depot in Tiverton can now automatically sort some co-mingled material and also have a sorting platform to enable manual sorting that meets the district’s recycling needs.

Whitham Mills successfully completed the installation in July, allowing MDDC to now be able to collect and process:
• HDPE
• Steel cans
• Aluminium cans
• Cardboard
• Mixed plastics
• Tetra Paks
• Foil
• Carrier bags

With a record time for install of 2 month turnaround time, Whitham Mills were delighted with the achievement.

Managing Director Ben Smart commented, “the new management team at Whitham Mills are proud to see the advances the company has made over the last 12 months. The quality of our tender work, service back up and baling system quality are getting more and more recognition all the time”.

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Whitham Mills has a semi-automatic baler for sale capable of delivering up to 1.75 tph.

Email - ben@whithammills.com

Ex-Demonstration GB-1575CSS semi-automatic horizontal baler
• 1500 x 750 x 1050mm bale size
• Bale Weight 500~600kg
• 22k motor
• 65 tonnes ram force
• 900mm x 1470mm feed opening
• Hydraulic Door (lift type)
• Vertical Wire Tie
• Throughput: 2-3 bales per hour
• Baler Length 5.445m
• Baler Width 2.280m

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Watch the latest RDF baler installation from Whitham Mills. The GB1111 baler supplied into a high profile Manchester site is set to achieve 50 tons per hour of RDF bales.

Have a look at this RDF baler at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E3ppzIH9MI

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UK retail giant Tesco, with Whitham Mills, have completed the 12 month order and installation of 20x Whitham Mills roll cage tippers.

Whitham Mills have designed, manufactured and patented a set of roll cage tipping devices for Tesco to divert food waste from the supermarket stores to anaerobic digestion. The tippers work automatically and reduce operator numbers from 18 per day to 6; cycle times from 5 minutes to 1:25 minutes; and, reduce the health and safety risk of manual tipping or hand emptying cages.

The tippers lift the roll cages and cause a near vertical tip, before automatically opening the front cage door and emptying the food waste onto conveyors. Those conveyors then take packaged food waste up into a waiting walking floor container for transport to the AD plant.

Tesco are achieving payloads of up to 26 tons. They have seen food disposal costs plummet and the number of compactor lifts significantly reduced.

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Whitham Mills is establishing itself as the UK’s leading supplier of RDF balers and conveyors. Over the past 5 years, RDF baling has become a significant part of the Zero to Landfill waste effort. Whitham Mills has worked to develop the market leading RDF baler range both in terms of price point, quality, reduced downtime and flexibility.

The Whitham Mills range of RDF balers are able to switch between RDF tying and steel tying for recycling in 30 minutes. This allows our clients to bale RDF, paper, card, and plastics, all from the same baler.

Reduce downtime, reduce production cost and use a truly flexible baling system.

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Whitham Mills are able to offer 2 year warranties on balers and conveyors.

Whitham Mills lead the market in the quality of recycling balers and RDF balers. That market leading quality is now backed up with the option of full 2 year warranties on the capital machinery. Quality, price and support.

The high quality of Whitham Mills balers reduces faults and downtime and ultimately saves money for our clients. The highest quality balers are able to deliver high level throughput across every material category with the reassurance of the longest parts warranties in the marketplace.

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