SYNETIQ turn green with Sennebogen

When reliability is key, choosing a Sennebogen is a must. SYNETIQ, the largest salvage and dismantling company in the UK invest in a new Sennebogen 830 E scrap handler supplied by Molson Green...

Founded in 1939 as Doncaster Motor Spares on a 4-acre site, SYNETIQ has been on a remarkable growth trajectory ever since. Now arguably the largest salvage and vehicle dismantling company in Europe. SYNETIQ currently operates from 16 sites strategically positioned throughout the UK, including the impressive 31-acre site on Bentley Moor Lane in Doncaster that is home to their new Sennebogen 830E.

Looking back at where it all started, Doncaster Motor Spares quickly grew, opening additional depots in Sheffield and Hull. With this growth spurt making the business name no longer relevant, the company decided to re-brand as MotorHog. The MotorHog name soon became well-recognised as one of the industry leaders, leading to yet more growth, with new depots opened in Leeds, Oldham, Huddersfield and as far north as Scotland.

In recent months, the latest chapter in their meteoric rise has been completed with a merger of two of the biggest brands in the industry - MotorHog and Car Transplants - as well as the market leading industry IT systems provider DH Systems.  With the final addition of FAB Recycling, the market leader in “Green Part” spares, the jigsaw was complete and SYNETIQ was born

We visited the flagship Doncaster depot to meet with SYNETIQ Operations Director, Ray Curry to understand how the business operates and why they have chosen to go with a Sennebogen 830 E supplied by Molson Green.

As with all salvage and dismantling companies, there are several avenues a vehicle can go down once it arrives through the gates at SYNETIQ. After being tagged as soon as it enters the yard, every vehicle is then checked by a trained engineer to identify if there are any parts of value that can be harvested from the vehicle to be sold (Green Parts), or if it is only viable to be crushed and sold as scrap. Once the vehicle has been de-polluted and harvested of any Green Parts, the remainder of the vehicle is transported to the baling plant to be processed and sold as scrap for export and domestic consumption.

Ray describes the baling plant at the flagship Doncaster site as the “beating heart of the business”. With approximately 80% of the vehicles being handled by the Sennebogen as they are put into the bailer and subsequently loaded into articulated waggons. Ray went on to say; “On a busy week the bailing plant can process around 700 vehicles. With that sort of throughput, the reliability of our plant and machinery is key. With lorries constantly delivering new stock and taking away processed vehicles, a breakdown can easily cause our operation significant problems”.

“Although we had previously been purchasing scrap handlers manufactured by another brand, we have had experience of the Sennebogen products in the Car Transplants business prior to the merger. The big green machines had proven to be a dependable member of the team, so after looking at the huge range available we decided to speak to Molson Green about a potential new machine”.

“I have to say that the team at Molson Green where very knowledgeable and easy to deal with. Following a few conversations and a visit to our facility, we established which machine would best suit our requirements and a demo machine was on its way for our operators to put it to the test… a test that it passed with flying colours. The Sennebogen delivered on all the things we knew it would from the spec sheet; such as reach, capacity and power, but it was the operator feedback on comfort of the cab, visibility and smoothness of control that made it an easy choice to make. Our operators where such a fan of the machine it never left the yard”.

The Sennebogen 830E that SYNETIQ decided to go with, offers an impressive 17m reach (measured from centre of slew ring to stick pin) from the K17 boom and stick. Using the four stabilisers to raise the wheeled undercarriage off the ground, the operator can remain in one location and take the stripped vehicles, load them into the bailer, stockpile them once processed and even load incomming waggons without having to move.

To assist operators in completing tasks more efficiently, this 830E has a high-rise cab, with additional screen and roof protection allowing the operator’s eye level to raise up to approx.5.65m.  The operator can then see clearly into trailers when loading ensuring the load is filled to maximum capacity and with a greater degree of accuracy.

Inside the cab, the operator has an uninterrupted forward view thanks to the Sennebogen’s joystick steering. The benefit with joystick steering is there is no bulky steering column blocking the operators view to the ground where the majority of sorting is completed in this application.

Machine access and operator daily checks are also very straightforward. The factory fitted 3 point access steps and ladders along with the upper carriage “boxing ring” giving the operator a safe and secure area to work in. The daily checks can be done from ground level and the centrally mounted grease points for the undercarriage, autolube on upper carriage mean there is no requirement to crawl under the machine.

Molson Green Sales Manager, Dave Peacock said; “Ray and his team where very clear from the outset on what the machine had to do and made it very clear to me how we had to support them as a dealer. Any concerns about the after-sales backup support from Molson where quickly addressed when we discussed our 10 service locations, significant stock holding of spare parts and the network of over 75 service engineers.

Dave went on to say; “When you are dealing with machinery, a problem at some point down the line is inevitable, but it is the way you deal with it that counts. The Sennebogen product is well known in all of their key industries as one of high quality and reliability, and Molson have backed this up with recent investments in our back-end IT structure and additional service locations.   We are now a true nationwide service provider which means that we are incredibly well placed to support all customers from a one site operation, through to a business on the scale of SYNETIQ”.

Ray continued this point by saying; “As you would expect we haven’t had a problem with the Sennebogen yet and I have faith in the machines build quality to think that we won’t for some time to come, but having the support of a business like Molson means that we can be sure that our business won’t grind to a halt in the event of a breakdown. The fact that Molson continued to support their customers working in key industries such as waste and recycling throughout lockdown shows me that they are as committed as we are”.

Like many businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic, SYNETIQ put a proportion of their workforce on furlough to reflect the initial downturn in demand at the start of lockdown, as well as to ensure a safe (socially distant) working environment could be provided for those workers who remained. This period of time offered opportunity for SYNETIQ to consolidate some of their satellite sites’ operations and make major improvements to their facilities, as well as having a good clear out of older stock.

Ray went on to say; “The biggest change to our business driven by the COVID crisis has been in our Green Parts operation. We took the decision to close our customer counters, reducing the risk for our colleagues and walk in customers alike. This left us with our eBay shop and our website to generate all the sales of Green Parts. With a reduction in staff in our call centre, we turned to technology to help us meet customer demand. We have introduced webchat and been able to increase the sales from our website, whilst operating with approximately 50% staff dealing with enquiries”.