by Jon M. Casey

It is hard to believe that a portable grinder that is not quite two months old already has more than 300 hours of operation on it, but that certainly is the case of the new Diamond Z DZH4000TKT unit that was recently purchased by Eric Park of Park Enterprise Construction Company of Marion, OH. Following the U.S. Composting Council Annual Conference and Trade Show that ended Wednesday January 29, 2014, Park took delivery of the new unit on February 5, 2014. Helping him setup of the new grinder, Ed Urbanek of Ed’s Equipment, Cuyahoga Heights, OH, coordinated the delivery and training provided by a Diamond Z representative who spent several days working with Park Enterprise equipment operator Vern Fisher. Vern is Park’s crew member who routinely oversees the daily custom grinding that Park Enterprise contracts.

“We were very impressed with the early company support that Diamond Z gave us in setting up and learning how to operate the new grinder,” said Eric as we visited one of his northern Ohio jobsites where he contracts to do custom grinding on a regular basis. “Another thing that impressed me was that in the early days of our ownership of the new grinder, customer service representatives from the home office called us four or five times to find out how we were doing with the new equipment. That was after their factory representative had spent three or four days training Vern here in Ohio.”

Park explained that his older grinder had virtually worn out and that he was looking for a new model that would help him to grow the custom grinding side of his recycling operation, and at the same time, could possibly save him time, money and manpower in the process. The Diamond Z DZH4000TKT was just the ideal unit for the task.

“Our old grinder was a V-12 and this is a six-cylinder model. It still produces more than 750 horsepower, which is the right amount to do the kind of grinding that we contract to do. At the same time, because it’s a smaller engine, our fuel savings is considerable. We can easily average a fuel savings of five gallons per hour and in some cases, it can go as high as ten gallons per hour. That adds up quickly. Not only that, we got 250 hours on our first set of inserts,” said Park. “That’s unheard of!”

More importantly, by going with the remote-controlled tracked unit with the optional Tri-Axle transporting system, Fisher said that it makes working in tight places like the one at Nied Garden Center, faster, easier, safer and more productive. “With a conventional unit, we would not have been able to work this jobsite at this time of year, because of the damp, muddy conditions. We would have had to wait until the weather cleared before we moved in. Now, we just unload the grinder out front and I walk behind it, guiding it to where we plan to set up to do the grinding.”

“Since we have several other clients in nearby communities, we can move from job to job more easily and get more work done per week with this new tracked unit,” added Park. “We have customers all over Ohio and in Indiana, so we like to be able to move from place to place quickly as we get each job completed. In the case of Nied’s, we will be re-grinding this first stockpile of material, and then move on to the next location. We will follow in behind with our mulch coloring equipment, to give them the colored mulch they need for their customers. We use a Doppstadt trommel to color the mulch, using Earth Shades mulch colorant in that process.”

Park said that his custom grinding capabilities comprises about 60-70 percent of his overall mulch/compost recycling operation. This is a segment of the business that has been growing since they began recycling in 2007.

“We do a good bit of grinding at our facility in Marion,” he said. “We take in yard waste to do grinding and composting there and we sell mulch, composted mulch and soil products as well. We recently received a permit to accept food waste from a local government facility, so we are in the process of producing a much higher quality composted material for our garden and landscaping customers.”

“We primarily do our custom grinding away from our recycling center for landscapers and garden centers like Nied’s,” he said. “We sell the mulch and compost that we make in Marion to both wholesale and retail customers, depending on the amounts they need. It has become a balancing act since we have custom grinding customers all around the state, so we need to carefully schedule our local and distance grinding in a way to stay efficient and profitable.”

“Our primary business is still heavy contracting for highways and site prep work,” he adds, “but our recycling business is growing and much of the activities take place during the slower times of construction. Right now, we are ramping up for the summer mulch sales, at a time when construction work is still not started because of the winter and early spring conditions.”

Park, who has been in the heavy equipment contracting business since 1989, noted that the reason for his company’s success is the quality of his workers, especially Vern Fisher. “Vern has been in business for himself in the past and he knows what goes into operating and maintaining equipment on a daily basis,” said Park. “Most of the time, he is out here on his own, because he can operate the excavator and grinder (by remote control) and he does an excellent job in the process. He treats the equipment as if it is his own. Our other employees are much the same. It’s because of them that we have been able to grow our business over the past several years, despite the economic downturn.” Park said he employs five on the recycling side of his business and approximately 35 on the construction side.

“We see a bright future in the recycling business,” said Eric as we concluded our time together. “We will be making more products for our customers in the Marion area, and we have just recently built a canvas, hoop building as part of our expansion process. With the addition of quality compost, we will be able to service an increasing clientele, something our landscaping customers have been wanting for some time.” For more information about Park Enterprise Construction, give them a call at 740-223-7275 or visit their website at parkenterpriseconstruction.com.

New Diamond Z dealer off to a good start

For Ed Urbanek, owner of Ed’s Equipment, Cuyahoga Heights, OH, the taking on of a Diamond Z dealership in 2014, was the high point of his career thus far. Having been in the grinder and chipper repair business for more than a decade, Urbanek says that he in honored to be asked to represent Diamond Z in Ohio. Just as exciting, Urbanek demonstrated his desire for customer service and attention to detail by working with Eric Park, owner of Park Enterprise Construction of Marion, OH to sell him a new Diamond Z DHZ4000TKT grinder, early this year.

“My entire career has been working with grinders and grinder repair, ever since I got out of high school,” says Urbanek. “Over time, I’ve built a customer base on quality repair service for owners of grinders and chippers. Several companies have offered me a dealership, but it wasn’t until Diamond Z asked me to come onboard that I decided to do it. I think they are the best in the industry.”

Urbanek explains that he had sold Eric a used grinder when Park started recycling yard waste back in 2007. Since then, they have established a relationship of customer service and trust. When that grinder began to wear out, Eric went to Ed for a new one.

“Eric was returning to Marion from an event in New York State and as he was driving past our location in northern Ohio, he gave me a call and I happened to be in the shop working on equipment,” says Urbanek. “He turned around and came back to the shop and we started talking about a new grinder. Thing was, that was at 10:30 at night! We agreed to go see a grinder in use down in Tennessee, so the next morning we headed out, drove straight through, saw the unit and headed back to Marion, all in the span of about 36 hours!”

It’s service like this that Park finds reassuring with the purchase of his new DHZ4000TKT. “I know that when I pick up the phone, Ed’s Equipment is there to help me. I was equally impressed with the attention and customer service that Diamond Z gave us as well.” For more information on Diamond Z Grinders visit their website at diamondz.com or give them a call at 800-949-2383. Contact Ed’s Equipment at 4567 east 71st Cuyahoga Heights OH 44105. Phone 330-620-9993 or email Ed Urbanek at edsequipment@gmail.com.