Powerhand is well known in the vehicle recycling industry across UK and Europe for their range of vehicle recycling grabs and attachments, particularly their VRS car dismantling machine. The VRS dismantles cars and extracts valuable materials such as copper wiring loom, aluminium radiators, heavy steel components and catalytic convertors in a fraction of the time it can be done manually.
After experiencing continued growth in the UK and Europe, in 2020, Powerhand entered the North American market with VRS. This opportunity came about through a cooperation between Murray Clark, Managing Director at Powerhand, and Craig Sickler, Vice President of Operations at Boston Freightliner/ New England Road Equipment.
New England Road Equipment, located in Brockton, Massachusetts, is the Liebherr dealer for the New England region of the USA. Discussions between Powerhand and New England Road Equipment began in 2019 when Craig reached out to Murray as he had a customer who wanted a VRS for his scrapyard in Rhode Island.
It took over one year of work between Murray and Craig to get the first Powerhand VRS200 to the USA, which was fitted to a Liebherr R922. During this time, a strong working relationship between Powerhand and New England Road Equipment was developed, and Craig was able to gain extensive knowledge about Powerhand products.
Full Circle Recycling took delivery of the VRS and became the first Powerhand VRS customer in the USA. The owner, Vinagro, explained that with the VRS “each automobile entering Full Circle’s facility has all valuable items removed in only 15-20 minutes, with items being removed from each automobile that were never being recycled before”. As a result, Vinagro, states that this improved process has allowed him to achieve up to $100 extra income per automobile, not including the savings he has made in labour. Vinagro has also found that the VRS is extremely tactile at separating ferrous and non-ferrous metals. Vinagro said that “the Liebherr excavator working with the Powerhand attachment is saving us a significant amount of money each day which, means that the system will pay for itself in short order”.
Murray explained that “the Liebherr R922 Craig supplied to Vinagro is a factory configured machine from Liebherr’s Colmar factory in France and, since Craig has access to these machines, the Liebherr R922 is a good solution for customers in the USA. However, Craig’s extensive knowledge in plant and equipment means that he is also able to sell Powerhand VRS on other base machines to suit customer preference etc”.
The team at Powerhand are extremely proud to have VRS operating in North American and are very happy that the customer is reaping the reward that VRS offers its customers. Murray is delighted at how the partnership between Powerhand and New England Road Equipment is progressing; and, as a result of this fantastic synergy, New England Road Equipment has since been appointed as the Powerhand distributor for the whole of the USA.
Powerhand is hugely optimistic and excited for the future of its products in the USA; it is confident in the quality, design and build of its products as well as the company’s strong relationship with Craig at New England Road Equipment. Craig states that they “are very proud to be a partner with Powerhand in the USA and, it is refreshing to deal with a company that upholds the same values as us here at New England Road Equipment. We also truly believe that the quality of Powerhand products are second to none; the units currently in action in the USA have had no major issues at all and are performing excellently”.
Powerhand is looking forward to visiting Craig, current VRS customers and potential VRS customers soon.
To find out more about Powerhand, visit www.powerhand.com/sectors/recycling
