“The purchase of the first machine 18 years ago was the start of a customer partnership between peers.
If traffic isn’t too heavy, the 70 km between Frohnleiten and St. Margarethen an der Raab are a matter of three quarters of an hour. So it was in early February as Alexander Höllweger, a new Komptech sales rep, drove to the Müllex site. As the “newbie” he was immediately confronted with an “oldie.” Founded in 1980, Müllex-Umwelt-Säuberung-GmbH has over 40 years of experience in the collection, treatment and processing of waste, and its relationship with Komptech has stood for 18 of those years.
When Müllex bought its first Terminator in 2003, it wasn’t just the “right machine” but also the “proximity to the manufacturer” that sealed the deal, since the company’s philosophy has focused on regional value-creation from the outset. As Müllex CEO Manfred Fritz explains. “we work in the region for the region. So the regionality of the machine was an important factor, as was the proximity to Komptech with regard to service and spare parts availability,” says Fritz.
Pretty much besties
Komptech also benefits from the short distance between the two companies. “With Müllex we’ve done many tests in actual use, which have been a tremendous help to us in the further development of our machines,” says Höllweger. The collaboration is also about give and take for Manfred Fritz. He emphasizes that Komptech technicians are always on the scene right away if there’s a problem, including “Friday evening or Saturday.” Both agree that regular communication is important. Höllweger: “In maintenance it’s important to listen to the people who work with the machines day in and day out. We need to know in good time where the problem zones are,” he says.
Right now a problem zone for Müllex is the steadily worsening quality of the waste it gets. Given the higher recycling quotas mandated starting in 2025, waste treatment will only be more challenging in future. “The amount of things thrown into the wrong bins keeps increasing,” says Fritz.
Time for the terminator
For CEO Fritz, high machine availability is of the essence. And, he says with satisfaction, Komptech has always made it happen. Müllex uses two Crambos for shredding waste wood and two Terminators – one stationary and one mobile – for processing waste. As a tough preshredder, the stationary Terminator in the splitting line sizes mixed waste down to an even chip size to prepare it for further recycling steps. The mobile Terminator is used at the site as an all-purpose shredder. It preshreds high-caloric plastic bales, which go through a dosing hopper to the RDF processing line. It’s also used to prep difficult materials like tarps, pipes and box-spring mattresses. “We’ve run easily more than a million tonnes of mixed waste through the two Terminators over the years,” says Fritz.”
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