Construction Plant News visits Benfleet-based aggregates supplier PR Bates to find out why its three FS100 Anaconda machines have become its screen stars
Building a successful hire business is, like any other, about finding that certain something that your customers want but can’t easily access from another supplier. That’s exactly the ambition for PR Bates, and it has inspired a significant investment in the last three years in Anaconda Screeners, through UK Distributor, Red Knight 6.
The eponymous Paul Bates is already well versed in unearthing new opportunities. More than 25 years ago he could be found operating as a sole trader digging driveways out in the Essex area, but, like many a contractor of that less environmentally sensitive time, found it difficult to find anyone who would take the material away. Fast forward two and a half decades and Paul is in command of a successful recycling and aggregate supply business, providing a whole range of services for his clients.
“In addition to aggregate we’ll supply top soil, crushed concrete and type 1,” he declares, “whilst we also own a RubbleMasterGo, also supplied by Red Knight 6, that provides a mobile crushing service. Our first Anaconda FS100 Scalping Screener purchase was in 2016, and it has now completed over 1,400 hours, both on hire and in service at our own yard, and the only thing we’ve had to change in that time is the battery.” That tells you all you need to know about the durability of the machine. It can be set up in five minutes from loading off a truck, and is very easy to operate, which is a crucial factor for the hire business.”
Paul has since purchased a further two FS100 models, as well as a TR6036 Tracked Conveyor, and has recognised an opportunity in the rental market, as Paul Donnelly, Director of Red Knight 6 explains: “Whilst there are a number of three-way split screeners on the market, there is a shortage of two way, and it’s the latter the FS100 offers. The three Anacondas that PR Bates owns are more compact, easier to transport, and can operate on much tighter sites. A lot of contractors don’t actually need a larger machine, because they’re often just looking to remove hardcore from dirt, and that makes the two-way split screener a more viable option.”
Moreover, the Anaconda is a very versatile machine, and whether it is cleaning topsoil, site clearance, sizing material, working alongside a crusher, or quarry overboarding it will get the job done with minimal downtime, as Paul reveals: “Other makes of screener that we’ve had are equipped with one continuous belt, which can be problematic. If you put a load on the hopper, it can easily choke it and you’ll be digging the material out by hand. The Anaconda design has two separate belts, the first of which constantly feeds the other at a steady pace onto the main conveyor, and it’s that which eradicates any issues with blockages.”
As well as that, the FS100 has the longest stockpiling conveyor available, and is equipped with a double deck vibrating screen, the angle of which is adjustable. If you’re working with ferrous metal then a magnet is available as an option, and there’s a quick change mesh system.
In the time that PR Bates has been trading the sector in which it operates has been transformed. Legislation is driving the industry to recycle and reuse wherever possible and it is generating significant business opportunities for the manufacturers and companies with the confidence to grasp them, and that’s exactly what PR Bates and Anaconda are doing.
