Features Education Event Reports
KPI-JCI, Astec host National Dealer Conference

September 25, 2015 – Yankton, South Dakota played host to KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens’ annual National Dealer Conference, bringing together distributors from Canada and the U.S. to learn about the newest technologies and innovations added to the company’s extensive lineup of aggregate equipment.

Yankton is home to the Kolberg-Pioneer Inc. manufacturing facility, which builds an extensive lineup of equipment, including: portable, stationary and track-mounted plants, conveyors, washing and classifying systems and jaw and impact crushers. The company has two other production facilities in the United States: Johnson Crushers International Inc. in Eugene, Oregon and Astec Mobile Screens in Sterling, Illinois.

The Yankton facility is home to 445 employees (in a town of 14,500) with the expansive 310,000 sq. ft. of production space. The company also owns several acres of land to the west of the current facility, which provides them with plenty of room for any future expansion plans.

New and improved

At the heart of the event is the release of new and improved products. This year, the company launched a number of new and improved pieces of equipment, including:

• 2056 Vanguard Jaw Crusher;
• GT104 track-mounted screening plant;
• GT205 track-mounted multi-frequency screening plant;
• 6204QF screen;
• K300/6203CC portable crushing and screening plant;
• SuperStacker with improved Wizard Touch automation system and Track Tugger; portable hopper feeder;
• FT4250 with tow-behind conveyor;
• and the GT125 track-mounted jaw crusher.

The company also launched its new S-Series parts line, an exclusive brand of cone liners and jaw dies developed by Astec Industries foundry experts who specialize in metallurgy and manufacturing engineering.

Behind the scenes

While the 65 dealers learned about the new innovations introduced to the products released as part of the dealer event, members of the industry media were treated to a full tour of the KPI facility.

Inside the facility, we were given the opportunity to see crushing, conveying, washing and screening components manufactured from start to finish. That included each phase of the construction of the company’s 190ft. stacker, which in peak conditions, can be manufactured from start to finish in just three full days.

The factory houses several welding stations for customized welding points throughout each machine, as well as tens of millions of dollars worth of automated equipment used in steel fabrication.

The investment in equipment and personnel, on display throughout the manufacturing facility, has paid dividends for KPI-JCI and Astec Mobile Screens, which continues its successful expansion into several global markets, including Africa, South American and the Middle East.

Check out rocktoroad.com over the next few weeks for detailed releases of all of the new and improved products released at the National Dealer Conference.