Hudson Brothers Utilises EDGE SCREENPRO S16 to Pre-Screen Material Ahead of Wash Plant

For more than 50 years, Hudson Brothers has been supplying aggregates and construction materials to customers across Ireland's east coast.

The family-run company operates a substantial quarrying and aggregate production operation centred on Philipstown Quarry near Blessington, Co. Wicklow, producing a diverse range of crushed rock products, washed aggregates and specialist sands for the construction and civil engineering sectors.

Today, the company is utilising an EDGE Innovate SCREENPRO S16 tracked screening plant as part of its material processing operation, with the machine positioned ahead of the site's wash plant to pre-screen incoming gravel and sand before it enters the washing process.

Supplied by KM Plant Hire & Sales, EDGE Innovate's official distribution partner for the Republic of Ireland, the S16 provides a practical example of how a tracked screening plant can be integrated into an established quarry operation to prepare material for downstream processing, while also highlighting the versatility of the machine across a much broader range of screening applications.

A second-generation family business with a substantial quarry footprint

The Hudson family's quarrying activity at the site dates back to the 1950s, with the business formally established in 1971 by Paddy, Peter and Sean Hudson. Now a second-generation family operation, with Tom Hudson serving as sales and aggregates manager, the company has developed from its quarrying roots into an established independent supplier of certified materials to the construction industry.

What is less obvious from the outside is the scale of the operation. Philipstown is not a single quarry face: it is a trans-county operation spanning Wicklow and Kildare, with the pit, processing plant and offices at New Paddocks, Blessington, Co. Wicklow, and a further quarry with processing plant to the rear over Philipstown and Redbog in Co. Kildare.

In a Leinster aggregates market dominated by major corporate producers, Hudson Brothers positions itself as the long-standing, family-owned independent competing on service, product range and technical certification rather than scale alone. Its materials are supplied to construction and civil engineering projects across Dublin, North Wicklow and Kildare, sold both through builders' providers and directly to private contracts.

Twelve products from one quarry

The strength of Hudson Brothers' operation lies in the breadth of its product range. The company's product sample board tells the story at a glance: twelve distinct graded products, from coarse classified stone through to fine specialist sands.

Crushed rock products include structural fills, capping materials, crushed chips and quarry dust. The classified stone range spans 6F2/T0 sub-base material through to CL804/T1 and 4/40mm T2 products, materials produced to specific grading envelopes for road construction and structural applications.

The washed aggregate range includes 10mm, 20mm and 40mm pebble alongside 6mm grit, batch gravel and related products. Then there are the sands: Plastering Sand (0/4mm), Sharp Sand (0/4mm), Mortar Sand (0/2mm) and Paving Sand, alongside white sand, thermal sand and pit sand for specialist applications.

The range of end products is significant because it defines what the SCREENPRO S16 is ultimately preparing material for. The jump from 6F2 sub-base stone to fine plastering sand represents a broad spread of grading requirements, and all of it begins with raw quarry material that needs to be screened and separated before it can be processed into finished products.

The S16's role: preparing material before the wash plant

It is within this processing circuit that the EDGE SCREENPRO S16 is being utilised.

Rather than acting as the final screening stage, the tracked screen is positioned ahead of the wash plant, where it pre-screens incoming gravel and sand. The role is straightforward but important: control the material entering the downstream plant by providing a more consistent, correctly sized feed for the washing and grading stages.

For Hudson Brothers, that material ultimately goes on to produce the company's range of washed sand and aggregate products. The consistency of the feed matters because the washing process has to produce sand and aggregate to specification, not simply to visual appearance.

The S16 therefore forms one part of a wider processing sequence in which raw quarry material is screened, washed, graded and processed into certified products for the construction market.

Designed for straightforward operation

For EDGE, machine performance is only part of the equation. The SCREENPRO S16 is also designed around the practical requirements of the operator working with it every day. At Hudson Brothers, operator David Hill describes the machine as straightforward to operate and productive in day-to-day use.

“I find it a fabulous machine. It’s very easy to use.”

David highlights the importance of the routine checks that take place before production starts, including greasing the screenbox and checking coolant and oil levels. Once those checks are complete, he says the machine is simple to bring into operation, allowing production to get underway without unnecessary complexity. That emphasis on accessibility continues when it comes to servicing. David points specifically to the ease of access around the engine, with the air filters, fuel filter and oil filters all readily accessible.

“They’ve made it nice and handy. Great access, absolutely great access to the engine.”

For an operator, those details matter. Straightforward access to service points can make routine maintenance easier to carry out and helps keep daily checks and servicing practical on a working quarry site.

Remote control adds another layer of flexibility

Another feature David singles out is the S16's remote-control system. The remote allows key machine functions to be operated from a safe position, including functions such as raising the hydraulic jack legs and tracking the machine. This gives the operator greater control during setup and repositioning without having to remain beside the machine.

“You can lift your jack legs and track and so all those things from the safety of your cab. So thumbs up for the remote.”

The remote is also designed with practical day-to-day use in mind. The system is supplied with two batteries, with a charging point incorporated into the machine so one battery can be charging while the other is in use. For operators moving between production, setup and maintenance tasks, that type of practical feature can make a difference to how easily the machine fits into the working day.

Built around the application

The EDGE SCREENPRO S16 is the second machine in EDGE Innovate's SCREENPRO range, developed as a more compact companion to the larger SCREENPRO S18. Its 4.9m x 1.5m (16ft x 5ft) two-deck screen box provides approximately 14m² of screening area, with a maximum feed capacity of up to 600 tonnes per hour.

At Hudson Brothers, the machine is configured around the requirements of pre-screening gravel and sand ahead of washing, but the S16 can be set up for considerably different duties depending on the application.

The screening angle is adjustable between 14 and 20 degrees, and operators can select from a range of screening media including woven mesh, punch plate, finger screens and Bofor-style grizzly decks. The top deck uses a modular system that allows different media types to be installed side by side on the same deck, while the machine can be configured for either a two-way or three-way split depending on the number of fractions required.

Powered by a CAT C3.6 Stage V engine, the S16 is also available with dual-power and electric hybrid options for lower-emission operation.

Remote operation allows key functions to be controlled from up to 100 metres away, while hydraulic lift-up screenbox access and folding conveyors are designed to keep setup and maintenance times to a minimum.

More than a wash plant feed screen

While the current application at Philipstown is focused on pre-screening material for the wash plant, the S16 is not limited to this role. The machine has also been used in demanding aggregate applications for the primary screening of blasted rock, a significantly different screening requirement to the sand and gravel application at Hudson Brothers.

At Wilson Plant's recycling facility in Hampshire, for instance, the same SCREENPRO S16 platform is being used to process construction and demolition waste, green waste and soils, where the company reported a 40% increase in screening throughput compared with its previous three-way screener while maintaining similar fuel consumption. That is a very different operating environment to a Co. Wicklow quarry, and that is precisely the point.

The S16 is now operating across Europe, North America, Australia and Scandinavia in applications ranging from primary aggregate screening to recycling and soil processing.

For one operator, it provides pre-screening ahead of a wash plant. For another, it handles primary screening of blasted rock. For another, it processes demolition waste in a recycling yard. That breadth of application is what makes the S16 a flexible screening platform rather than a machine designed around a single task.

Quality infrastructure behind the product

The utilisation of the S16 also fits into Hudson Brothers' wider approach to material quality and certification. The company operates a state-of-the-art onsite laboratory where aggregates are tested through sieve analysis and compaction testing against EN standards for hydraulically bound materials, SR21 Annex E specifications and NRA requirements for road construction.

Its Philipstown Quarry products carry a valid Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) covering rock and gravel aggregate products, independently verified to ISO 14025 and EN 15804 and valid until April 2030.

This technical infrastructure underlines the point that the S16 is not operating in isolation. Pre-screening is one stage in a production process that ultimately delivers certified materials to market. The quality of the finished product depends in part on the consistency of the material preparation at the front end, and that is the role the SCREENPRO S16 is performing.

Supplied locally through KM Plant Hire & Sales

The EDGE SCREENPRO S16 at Hudson Brothers was supplied by KM Plant Hire & Sales, based in Midleton, Co. Cork. As EDGE Innovate's official distribution partner for the Republic of Ireland, KM Plant provides local access to EDGE's full range of equipment, supported by application expertise, commissioning and aftermarket service.

The partnership provides an important local link between EDGE Innovate, its equipment and Irish quarry operators, combining the manufacturer's design and application knowledge with KM Plant's local presence and customer support. For Hudson Brothers, this means the SCREENPRO S16 is supported not only by the manufacturer, but by an established local equipment partner familiar with the requirements of the Irish quarrying sector.

One machine, multiple applications

The application at Hudson Brothers highlights the flexibility of the EDGE SCREENPRO S16.

At Philipstown, the machine is being utilised for a specific role within the processing circuit: pre-screening gravel and sand ahead of the wash plant. From there, the material moves through washing and grading to produce a wide range of finished products, from classified stone and washed pebble through to fine plastering sand, mortar sand and specialist thermal and paving sands.

For David Hill, however, the value of the machine is also evident in the everyday details of operating it. Easy start-up, accessible service points, practical battery charging for the remote and the ability to control key functions remotely all contribute to a machine designed not only to perform the screening task, but to be straightforward to work with day after day.

At Hudson Brothers, that combination of screening capability and operator-focused design makes the S16 a practical part of the quarry's wider processing circuit.

Elsewhere, the same machine can be configured to do something very different. And that is ultimately the value of a genuinely flexible mobile screening solution.