Trashing the Competition
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Posted On :
Jun-30-2010
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Article Word Count :
775
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When it comes to waste management, fewer trips mean more profit
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By Raymond Lackner
Raymond Lackner loves to talk trash. That’s understandable, considering that he is a trash compactor manufacturer and has devoted the past eight years of his professional life to the ins and outs of garbage.
Lately, though, his enthusiasm for trash has reached new heights. Raymond Lackner has designed and invented what is called the Wet and Dry Compactor/Receiver, and he’s convinced it will revolutionize the way businesses dispose of waste.
It’s a simple idea, Lackner says as he rests his hand on the 22-foot beige invention that makes its home behind the McCandles Giant Eagle.
The wet-dry concept came from Stan Ruminski, a waste industry consultant based in Chicago, who has worked in the waste industry since 1953, for much of the time with Waste Management Inc.
Standard trash compactors are self-contained, meaning a Dumpster-like container attaches to a power pack, which crushes the trash and dumps it. When it’s time to empty the container, a trash hauler carts the entire compactor off to the landfill. A few hours later, the hauler returns it.
With haulers charging about $100 an hour, the trip to return the compactor struck Ruminski as, well, a waste of customer money and hauler time. A better way, he reasoned, would be for haulers to detach the container from the power pack, cart away just the container, and attach a new empty container for the customer. Then the following week, when the container is full again, make another swap. “What we wanted to do was make it possible for the customer and the hauler to realize some savings,” Ruminski said.
The problem, though, was the container exchange wouldn’t work with the current system because liquid could seep out during the switch. If someone could find a way to contain the liquid in the compactor and separate it from solid trash, Ruminski reasoned, the idea could work.
Nearly two years ago, Ruminski called Raymond Lackner's company, which he calls “a very high-tech niche compactor company,” and discussed the idea. Raymond Lackner came up with the original design for the liquid separation. After developing the prototype, Lackner called Jim Lampl, director of Giant Eagle’s resource conservation department. Lampl agreed to test the system at the McCanddles store, which Giant Eagle was remodeling. Lampl said the store had been satisfied with his trash procedures before, but was willing to try something new. “This is just a better way of doing it,” Lampl said of the system.
Haulers from Waste Management Inc., which handles landfill trips for all the Giant Eagles in the area, report that the new system creates little mess for them to clean.
“It’s a good system. The drivers love it,” said Joseph F. Leonard Jr., the roll-off manager for Waste Management Inc. In North Huntington, Leonard has followed the wet-dry system’s development closely, and believes it’s the wave of the future for trash disposal at grocery stores and other places with a large mix of solid and liquid trash.” It should appeal to just about any industry or business,” he said.
Giant Eagle has used the new compactor for three months–not enough time, Lampl said, to determine exactly how much money they’ll save. But savings aren’t the only advantages. The new box is bigger—40 yards as opposed to 30 yards for the old compactors–so it can hold more trash. Even though the few hours without the compactor weren’t causing a trash backup, Lampl said he prefers to have the compactor on store premises all the time.
The wet-dry compactor will cost $9,000 when it becomes available, and the hauler will own the receiving containers. Self-contained compactors run about $12,000.
Lampl says he plans to stay with the system and eventually implement it in Giant Eagle stores. The system is awaiting patent, and Raymond Lackner’s attorney says he hopes to have one by next month.
The trash compactor business is only about eight years old, but Lackner says it’s a vital part of the company’s sales. With the wet-dry system, Lackner stands to attract more customers. That means many more chances for Raymond Lackner, CPA turned-inventor, to do what he loves so much–pitch trash.
He said there’s interest in the wet-dry system at Walt Disney World, where the company has several compactors, and a Chicago-based grocery store chain is interested. He hopes to pitch the idea to customers in New York City, where long commutes to the landfill rack up sizeable tabs.”It will give us a large advantage over our competition,” Lackner said. “There’s no reason to keep quiet about it.”
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Article Source :
http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Trashing the Competition_23933.aspx
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Author Resource :
Ray Lackner owns and operates Block Shear LLC. a manufacturing company that makes hydraulic tools for splitting masonry block, concrete pavers, brick and natural stone. Mr. Lackner can be reached at www.blockshear.com
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Keywords :
business,
Category :
Business
:
Business
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