The year 2011 is a very festive one for ALLU, according to the Finnish-based manufacturer, because it celebrates two different anniversaries. It’s been 25 years since the company was founded, and the ALLU Screener Crusher bucket turns 20 this year.
ALLU Group was founded in June, 1986 (previously known as Ideachip Oy Insinööritoimisto) by Mr. Markku Jonninen, who began by importing shredders and grinders to Finland. At the end of 1980 he started to develop a product program of his own. The first product he invented was an AS 24 Windrow Turner pulled by a tractor.
In 1991 ALLU introduced an attachment for excavators and wheel loaders to the market that was called: Screener Crusher, the first of its kind in the entire world. With this new attachment one could screen, crush, mix, aerate and load different materials in just one step. By the year 1998, Ideachip had established an active dealer network for its ALLU products in over 15 countries and had its own sales office in the USA.
In 1999 Mr. Jonninen decided to step down from the role as the Managing Director and hired Mr. Kauko Pylväs to the task. Mr. Jonninen continued his work as Chairman of the Board and was in charge of the product development.
In 2003 ALLU introduced a new product range for mass stabilization which allowed soft soils to be transformed into solid and usable building ground, or it could encapsulate and clean contaminated grounds.
In 2007, the company changed its name from Ideachip to ALLU and changed the company structure. The whole ALLU concern is controlled by ALLU Group Oy, but in active work and in all ALLU business, the partner is ALLU Finland Ltd, with subsidiaries in Germany, France, Great Britain and USA. In addition ALLU Finland has sales offices in China and Argentina. Ideachip Machine, on the other hand, imports shredders and grinders to Finland. Also in 2007, ALLU moved from Hollola to a new location in Orimattila, Finland. In 2011 ALLU is a rapidly growing as an international company with over 40 active dealers around the world.
20 years of the Screener Crusher
Just over 20 years ago, a contractor talked about a vague idea; an attachment with disc screens that could be attached to an excavator or wheel loader. ALLU started to develop this idea further at the end of 1980 and the first prototypes were screening buckets with overlapping discs. Due to hard innovation and product development work, the first ALLU Screener Crusher, which could screen and crush different kinds of materials, materialized in 1991.
The first bucket was sold to an eager customer, Mr. Valto Tikkanen, who at that time worked as a Managing Director in a Finnish company called Hyvinkään Tieluiska. This was the starting point of the ALLU Screener Crusher success story. At the same time, it was the beginning of a fruitful co-operation between ALLU, Hyvinkään Tieluiska and Biomaa.
Through the years, ALLU says they have been listening their customer’s wishes and have further developed their product and educated the industry on its cost-effective operation. Now ALLU has their 4th generation of ALLU buckets on the market that are being used for crushing, fine screening, mixing and aerating. The technical features are internationally patented, and in some countries, ALLU says, the working method has achieved such a strong foothold that they use a special term describing working with the ALLU: "Alluizing."
ALLU at ConExpo 2011
At ConExpo which took place this past spring (March 22-26) and which saw over 120,000 visitors, ALLU introduced their D-Series Screener Crusher, which is available in over 70 different models for 8,000 – 100,000 lbs. base machines, and with a wide selection to choose from, including machines with changeable blades for screening and crushing to machines for fine screening.
At this year's show, ALLU presented its D-series for exhibition attendees with demos which had all three ALLU attachments working: ALLU DNS 3-12 fine screening attachment, the ALLU DH 4-17 for screening and crushing with changeable blades; and the ALLU DNS 2-09 fine screening attachment mounted on a small skid steer loader.
“The exhibition was a huge success and there is an obvious change towards better times in sight. In some countries the movement is faster and in some the start is a little bit slower, but the direction is right,” says the Managing Director of ALLU Finland Mr. Kauko Pylväs.
ALLU says material that was used in their Conexpo demonstrations was very harsh and made many exhibition attendees returning to watch again how they were able to screen the huge rocks from the gravel "without a blink of an eye."
Conexpo attendees were also first to see the new ALLU PMX Power Mixer which was officially launched at the show. The new mixer is a part of the ALLU Mass Stabilisation System meant for various tasks, including for stabilising soft soils or contaminated soils and processing dredged sludge. The new PMX mixer has many new innovations, including inclined drums that minimize the “dead area” of the bottom frame, which ensures easy penetration through hard crust soil layers.
Mass stabilization was developed during the 90’s, in Finland, according to ALLU. It is a method for strengthening soft soils and sludge. In addition to this it can also be used for processing contaminated material by encapsulating the contaminated soil in situ and thus preventing the contaminant from spreading into the surrounding area. The most popular use of mass stabilization technology is road construction projects and harbours; however more clients globally are exploring the technique as an alternative than the expensive methods currently being used.
The NEW ALLU PMX Power Mixer is a hydraulic mixing unit for 55,000 – 88,000 lbs excavators designed to penetrate easily through hard crust layers and mixing difficult soils. The strong, lightweight frame made of wear resistant steel ensures easy penetration to the material without any stress concentration. The PMX provides high mixing capacity with a max power of 160 kW and a max torque of 17,000 ft/lb for 2 drums. The conical binder nozzle spreads material efficiently at the mixing drums and streamlined Y-frame design prevents soil build up.
