Crushing plants: tracked or wheel mounted?

Tracked and wheel-mounted crushing plants are designed to meet crushing requirement but under different circumstances. ACE Update analyses what kind of crushing plants offer better economy
Today crushing plants have become technologically advanced; tracked and wheel-mounted crushing plants are the ideal choice for this field. Track-mounted and wheel mounted crushing plants successfully operate across the globe, but the debate is which is more profitable and why? Before jumping to a conclusion, one needs to understand the different attributes of each crushing plant.
UtilityBoth excel in utility applications; but when comparing tracked and wheel-mounted plant, it is important to keep in account the applications and terrain in which these plants are used.
The track-mounted crushing plant is a combined equipment of material receiver, material crusher, and conveyor. With perfected process, good performance in rock crushing, integrated production, and open cut mining crushing can be achieved.
Wheel-mounted crusher is broadly used in fields like road and bridge construction, metallurgy, etc. to crush and screen.
According to Gopi Krishna More, Managing Director, Torsa Machines Ltd., “Track-mounted crusher is designed as a ready-to-use asset. The plant is of self-propelled type and requires no external power source to kick-start the operations. Its capacity ranges start from 150 TPH to 400 TPH and requires a minimum time for site preparation.”
He further added, “Wheel-mounted crusher is light weighted and compact in nature it can be easily mobilised using the aid of tailor horse. Wheel Mounted crushers are economic as the initial cost as compared to a track mounted is far less. The plant range starts from 10 TPH and is available up to 300 TPH capacity.”
V. Senthil Kumar, Managing Director, Propel Industries, said that the tracked plants are best suitable for recycle projects or contaminated sites to cross on-site and use the product for beck filling.  Portable plant with economic dust suppression justifies the environmental norms.
Tracked vs wheeledTracked and wheel-mounted crushers are basically designed for the same purpose but under different circumstances. There are some features that differentiate them. In order to correctly choose between the two, one will have to compare the difference between these crushers.
Rajen Khoda, Director of Sales- South Asia and Middle East, Powerscreen, said, “CAPEX investment is more in tracked plants than wheeled plants. But if we consider total operating and owning cost of a tracked plant, it is much lesser than that of a wheeled plant.”
He also observed, “The tracked plants have higher mobility, higher versatility, and are environment friendly. These plants are safer to run. Return on investment is also better.”
“Servicing and maintenance of the equipment is very easy. Tracked plants have greater residual value,” said Mr Khoda.
Mr Senthil Kumar said, “As far as mobilisation is concerned track mounted plant typically much faster to set up and tear down.  Generally, it takes 30 minutes to setup a tracked plant whereas setting up of a full crushing plant may take 2 to 4 hours. Wheeled plants are usually fed by trucks or dumpers while tracked plants typically use excavators. That is the reason why wheeled plants are more easily customised to suit specific needs.”
While comparing the performance of both categories of crushers, Mr More said, “Difference between the two is that a wheel mounted plant requires an electric transformer or external generator to start it operations whereas the same is not applicable for a track-mounted plant. The operating cost of both the plants is similar as both use same kind of crushing and screening equipment in primary and secondary.”
ProfitabilityThe core objective for any business is profit and evaluation of profitability is an important aspect. Both the crushing plants are efficient and stand out in their own genre, but the question remains which crushing plant equates better profitability?
“Both these (tracked and wheeled crushing) plants have unique features with different advantages and are meant for specific terrains. Thus it becomes very essential to understand the conditions where the asset will be operating and on that basis a choice can be made between the two,” opined Mr More.
However, Mr Senthil Kumar observed, “Tracked plants always have advantage over wheeled plants in terms of net capital costs. Shifting of plants and re-commissioning of tracked plants have a very minimum investment as compared to wheeled plants.”
Therefore, prior procuring a crushing plant, an assessment of situation depending upon the requirement has to be carried out to understand the working economics.
Wheel-mounted crusher is light weighted and compact in nature it can be easily mobilised using the aid of tailor horse. Wheel Mounted crushers are economic as the initial cost as compared to a track mounted is far less- Gopi Krishna More, Managing Director, Torsa Machines
CAPEX investment is more in tracked plants than wheeled plants. But if we consider total operating and owning cost of a tracked plant, it is much lesser than that of a wheeled plant- Rajen Khoda, Director of Sales- South Asia and Middle East, Powerscreen

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