In 2015 , SEMO Stone started the process of major plant improvements to increase productivity and decrease operating costs . The 2015 major improvements included a new primary crusher plant , phase I of secondary plant improvements , and the decommissioning of the “ old ” secondary plant .

December 2015 , Semo Stone hired Hayden Wrecking , a St Louis demolition company , to disassemble the old decommissioned secondary plant and old primary plant . Hayden Wrecking used an excavator with metal shears to cut apart the old structures , bins , and metal work . The demolished metal was sent to a metal recyclers in St Louis .

Hayden Wrecking performs demolition of old secondary processing plant .

New SEMO Stone processing plant triple chute

February 2016 , the SEMO Stone crew started phase II of the secondary plant improvements . Terry Everly , SEMO Stone Quarry Manager , said “ Planning was everything with so many projects going on at once , everything had to be planned out and worked within the planned time frame in order to be completed for the 2016 production start-up .” Going into the projects , Everly knew that he could rely on the SEMO Stone work force to come together as a team accomplishing the multiple winter maintenance projects . A portion of the crew was divided up into three teams . Each team was given projects to complete , with the daily guidance of Quarry Lead Man , Cory Trentham . Below is a partial list of the projects .

Semo Stone installed a new ceramic lined head pulley on the large surge conveyor that can be seen from Interstate I-55 . The ceramic pulley was installed to provide extra grip on the conveyor belting to eliminate belt slippage during rainy or wet conditions for dust control . Everly states “ The new ceramic pulley is working great . SEMO has not seen any down time from belt stalling or slipping .”

All finish sizing screens were removed from their base and set on flatbed trailers provided by our Delta Construction Shop partners . This allowed the SEMO team access to the screens for bearing rebuilds and maintenance . SEMO also installed new self-cleaning screens to eliminate blinding issues . This has allowed SEMO to get away from the constant blinding issues that caused product gradation inconsistency and frequent downtime to clean the screen decks . The SEMO guys could not be happier . SUCCESS ! No more downtime due to screen cleaning multiple times a day !

Screen # 9 was also removed and the under chute was completely reworked to prevent fines built up under the screen . The Semo crew also redesigned and refabricated the old chute system to improve material blending .

The processing plant ’ s triple chute flume system was replaced with a new system . The existing triple chute was a bottle neck in the plant that caused lower plant productivity as well as blending difficulties . SEMO Stone hired Process Machinery Inc .( PMI ), Shelbyville , KY , to design , fabricate and install a new triple chute system . According to Mike Martin , Area Manager , “ The new triple chute system by PMI is working great and has eliminated the productivity bottleneck .”

4 | Delta Companies Inc . 2016 Newsletter | ISSUE 3