When SENNEBOGEN material handlers were initially available in the United States, Bob Childress was one of the first to put a green machine into service on the Ohio River. Now, he is one of the most recent SENNEBOGEN purchasers, too.

“I bought one of the first SENNEBOGEN 825 M units from Brandeis Machinery and Supply Company for Lanham River Terminal,” recalls Childress, who is now the Manager at Yellow Banks River Terminal in Owensboro, Kentucky. “After Yellow Banks purchased the operation at Davis County Sand & Gravel, we needed to increase capacity. I knew where to go, back to SENNEBOGEN and Brandeis.”

Yellow Banks’ facilities include 50,000 square feet of covered storage on a 100-acre property with more than 1,500 linear feet of riverfront. The two-tiered barge facility moves a wide range of materials to and from storage: salt, coal, urea, potash and fertilizer, scrap metal and aluminum.

Until last year, loading and offloading was handled by the SENNEBOGEN 850 M that Yellow Banks purchased in 2008 after seeing a similar model at work at a nearby terminal.

In 2015, Childress decided it was time to upgrade to a higher-volume machine. He traded the 850 for a new SENNEBOGEN, an 860 M model fitted with a five-yard clamshell bucket.

What’s on the machine, however, is not as important to him as what is behind a SENNEBOGEN. Childress says that one of the most important elements of the SENNEBOGEN operation is its people. “Whenever I have a question, a representative is there with the answer. I really appreciate SENNEBOGEN’s attention to detail and the organization’s understanding of our operation.”

Running Every Day

“The uptime is unbelievable, and the parts support from both Brandeis and SENNEBOGEN is unreal,” he says. “We have only one machine here, so it has to run every day, and I know it’s going to run. That’s the main reason I go with SENNEBOGEN.”

Childress has seen numerous design changes in the product line throughout the years. The safety features of the current generation stand out most in his mind. “The sliding door to get into the machine and the catwalk and handrail outside the door provide added safety for operators. The new stairs to reach the cab are better now when it’s wet, or when there’s snow and ice on the machine. Also, the dual-camera system works well for backing around the hopper, and when it has to move around to lift off lids.”

From a performance and productivity standpoint, Childress is satisfied with his choice. “A year into this machine, and it’s done everything we expected it to.”

The Yellow Banks River Terminal uses a SENNEBOGEN 860 M material handler to unload barges on the Ohio River in Owensboro, Kentucky.