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The right tools for the job gives Crispin Auto Wrecking an edge

016by Jon M. Casey
For former excavation contractor Don Boyce, Don has come to realize the value of having the right tool for the job when it comes to profitable salvage operations. Boyce, who has owned Crispin Auto Wrecking since 1977, said that he recently finished upgrading his material handling fleet, having switched over from a fleet of cable cranes to a trio of Terex Fuchs MHL units. He said his oldest and final cable crane, a 50 ton unit, was decommissioned and scrapped with the undercarriage still sitting at the edge of a driveway in the middle of his complex.
The first TEREX Fuchs Material Handler to come on board was in 2005. He said they purchased the second one in 2006. The most recent unit was added in 2008 and since then, they all have been as busy as ever.
“At first, we tried a used CAT unit but it wasn’t suited for our needs. As we worked with Gabe Clark and Company Wrench, they showed us how the TEREX Fuchs handlers were more efficient for the work that we were doing here,” he said. “We have limited space here and the mobility of these handlers is a very nice feature.”
Boyce recalled how for many years, they did things in a more “old fashioned” way. They used cable cranes and relied on workers with cutting torches to do a lot of the dismantling work. Today, they have seen the value of doing as much as possible with machinery. “The faster the processing, the better,” said Boyce. “What used to take us two and one half days to cut up with a torch, today we can do the same job with a shear in a half hour! With the small margins that we have today on metal scrap, we need to be as efficient as possible when dealing with our materials.”
“Most of our business comes from a 20 mile radius of our business,” he said. “Our markets are further away. We bought our own 48-foot trailer so we could haul 22 tons of material at a time. That gives us considerable savings on our freight hauling costs.”
Boyce said he has found his TEREX TXC LC-2 excavator, outfitted with a Labounty BLS 80 Bucket Link Shear to be extremely useful as well, especially in the environment here at Crispin Auto Wrecking. He said that while the shear is smaller in comparative size to some other larger units, by having the quick open and closing of the link operation to do the cutting, he can make three cuts to material in the time that another shear would only make one cut. “I really like how this shear works,” he said.
When Boyce has time to spend away from the daily grind at Crispin’s Auto Wrecking, he said he likes to do whatever needs to be done on his beef farm where he has a 200 head cow/calf herd. He enjoys taking time to work with the cattle and to make hay when the time is right. “I’ve always farmed and had a farm,” he said. “I enjoy farming a lot.”
“We have a good working relationship with Gabe Clark, our Company Wrench representative,” notes Boyce. “Gabe brings company people out here to help train them on how the equipment works. We know the level of dedication that they have to their customers and that’s one of the reasons we like to work with them.”
Boyce recalled an instance from the past when a hose broke on the grapple of one of their MHL340s. He said that it was at 3:45 pm on a Friday afternoon. For whatever reason, Company Wrench did not have that particular one in stock, so they removed one from a new unit that they had in stock at their home office. He said that a representative brought the new hose out later in the afternoon, only to find that that hose did not fit the unit at Crispin’s. So, they repeated their steps, taking yet another one from another unit, after confirming that it would fit, and brought it to Crispin’s to complete the needed repair. Boyce said that it was this kind of dedication to service, that impressed him so favorably over the years. “That’s why they are number one with me,” he said.
For more information on Company Wrench visit their website at www.companywrench.com.

Company Wrench listens to its customers
Company Wrench as a heavy truck, trailer and equipment operation with a 24 hour wrecker and recovery service in 1999. Brad Hutchinson, founder and owner hired a full time mechanic, a co-worker he called “The Company Wrench” soon after the business began to grow. It didn’t take long for that nickname to become the company’s name for which it is known today throughout the Midwest and the east.
In 2001, John White came on board to do more on the mechanical side of the business. As demand for equipment repair and service continued, they expanded their line to include Stanley Hammers, LaBounty Attachments and other lines of attachments, excavators and material handlers. Today, with company locations in ten states, in addition to those already mentioned, their equipment lineup includes Terex Fuchs, Kobelco, LiuGong, SANY, Screen Machine, Gensco, Anvil and Gehl, just to name a few. Those added to the CW Machine Worx and CW Environmental line of products, gives this 13 year old company a diverse offering of equipment to the construction, and recycling industry.
Focused on customer service, the company has grown rapidly since the early days. Today they are an industry leader. The kind of service that Don Boyce at Crispin Auto Wrecking has come to appreciate is the company standard according to Company Wrench president, Cam Gabbard.
“We have always had a ‘listening ear,” said Gabbard. “When customers make requests, CW always endeavors to respond in a helpful way. We are willing to innovate. Company Wrench has built a support staff of design engineers and technical people, that enables us to fabricate new and useful equipment design changes that help make equipment more efficient and at the same time, more profitable as well.”  
“We have a full engineering department,” said Gabbard. “Many of our innovations offer our customers useful options on equipment that they use every day. We are able to offer the equipment, service and after market capabilities that busy recyclers are looking for.” For more information on Company Wrench, visit their website at www.companywrench.com or give them a call at 866-262-4181.

 

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One Response

  1. Sounds like a cool job. It also, from reading, sounds like this man really enjoys his job wrecking cars! It’s important that we run lots like this, to keep salvaged cars in the recycling process, and to also have used car parts for pieces that still function. Thanks for writing this articel! Have a great day. Durandana

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