It keeps making money!

Metro Waste Paper Recovery Inc. is a Toronto-based company that installed a Macpresse Mac 110 baler at its Scarborough facility in Toronto in 1988. Metro moved the baler to the Rochester, N.Y., transfer station that it operates in 2003. The company's Tony Metauro says the baler has more than 83,000 production hours, which translates to more than 40 years in terms of equipment life.

The equipment initially baled more than 400 metric tons per day until its relocation to Rochester. Now it is used to handle 80 to 100 tons of corrugated per day.

The company also recently installed a Macpresse 108 baler that it purchased to replace an existing baler by another manufacturer at its Shorncliffe facility in Toronto, bringing the total number of Macpresse balers it has in operation company-wide to six. Metauro says the Macpresse 108 baler allowed Metro to eliminate labor while also doubling production. The baler processes 325 metric tons daily, 50 percent of which is high grades and 50 percent of which is corrugated.

"We had to run one-and-a-half to two shifts to bale the same amount of paper we are baling now," he says of the Toronto installation. "Now, we do it in one shift and with fewer people, because we don't need the dedicated operator. Before, we needed double the staff because we had to run more shifts," he adds.

"From an operator standpoint, they definitely prefer the Macpresse. It is a lot simpler to operate." Metauro adds that while two-ram balers are also available with automatic operation, they are not as simple to run as the horizontal Macpresse because jamming and wire-tying problems occur more frequently.

Not only does the Macpresse baler cut down on the number of shifts Metro needs to run and the amount of labor needed per shift, it enables Metro to handle more business, Metauro says. "We were kind of bottlenecked with the old baler."

He also says the denser bales (650 kilos on the old baler compared to nearly 1,000 kilos on the Macpresse) allow Metro to have a more organized warehouse and reduce forklift wear and fuel consumption. "We have cut the number of bales in half and are maximizing trailer and container weights."

According to Metro's calculations, the new Macpresse baler will be paid off in 17 to 18 months from the installation date through labor and wire savings alone, Metauro says.

Metro has seen its cost per ton reduced since the new Macpresse was installed, thanks to electrical savings from the more efficient motor and the increased production capacity. "The cost per ton is definitely cheaper," he says.