Knopik Crushing Portable Concrete Recycling Plant

Case Study

Knopik Crushing Boosts Efficiency with a Portable Concrete Recycling Plant

Location Farmington, Minnesota

Industry Aggregates: Recycle Concrete

The Challenge

For this small, family-owned operation, success depends on the ability to operate a portable concrete recycling plant across multiple job sites each year. With equipment moving between 10 to 15 locations annually, minimizing downtime during transport and setup is essential.

Their previous setup required extensive teardown to meet road restrictions, slowing production and increasing labor demands. At the same time, they needed a high-capacity HSI crusher and portable screening plant capable of processing a wide variety of recycled materials—from returned ready-mix concrete to oversized slabs and curbing.

The challenge was clear: implement a mobile crushing and screening system that delivers consistent, spec-grade material while maximizing portability, efficiency, and ease of maintenance.

Equipment

Sentry® HSI
Portable Plants
Guardian® Screen
Radial Stacking Conveyors

Horizontal Shaft Impactor Portable Plant

The Solution

The producer upgraded to a fully integrated portable crushing and screening plant from Superior Industries, featuring:

Portable Sentry® HSI Plant
(SR5165 Horizontal Shaft Impactor) — delivering high-performance impact crushing for recycled concrete applications
Portable Guardian® Screen Plant
(6' x 20' GuardianΩ® Horizontal Screen) — ensuring accurate sizing and efficient material separation
Pinnacle® Stacking Conveyor
(22° incline, 36" x 100') — optimizing stockpile capacity in a compact footprint

This portable HSI crusher plant was engineered with a reverse-pull design, allowing the operation to meet road weight requirements without major disassembly. The result is a true road-portable crushing solution—simply hook up and move between job sites with minimal downtime.

Material flows through a closed-circuit crushing and screening system, where oversized material is recirculated back into the impact crusher for additional reduction. The system efficiently handles feed material up to approximately 2 feet, producing a consistent ~4-inch minus recycled aggregate (Class 6).

Operational efficiency is further enhanced with run-on jacks, easy-fold access ladders, and expanded catwalk systems, making setup, teardown, and maintenance faster and safer.

Meanwhile, the Pinnacle® stacking conveyor allows operators to stack more material in less space, improving stockpile management and maximizing productivity on tight job sites.

All the options—from the run-on jacks to the easy fold-up ladders—make it really quick. When you're moving this often, you can tear down fast, set up fast, and it just makes everything more efficient for us.

Joe Knopik Plant Operator

The Results

By upgrading to a modern portable crushing and screening system, the operation achieved measurable improvements across every job:

Faster setup and teardown for improved job-to-job mobility
Reduced transport complexity with a true road-portable plant design
Consistent production of Class 6 recycled aggregate
Improved efficiency in concrete recycling operations
Lower labor requirements through simplified maintenance and access
Increased stockpiling efficiency with a high-capacity stacking conveyor

Today, the company operates a streamlined mobile crushing plant that allows them to process recycled concrete faster, move more efficiently, and maximize profitability across multiple job sites.

OptimizeU

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