Samson Materials Handling LTD

SAMSON MATERIALS HANDLING LTD

LOADING UP A STORM

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SAMSON MATERIALS HANDLING

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PROFILE

SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd designs and manufactures an extensive range of mobile loading and unloading systems for handling bulk materials in various applications globally.

Petar Karaivanov, Marketing & Communication Manager, related the company’s history, strengths and future plans to Phil Nicholls.

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gantry with a variable angle decline conveyor which formed the basis of the Samson Material Feeder, featuring an intake hopper that received the crop directly from the farm’s tipping trailers. In turn, this fed to the link conveyors and along to a radial boom elevator which was later developed into the Stormajor.

Through the 1980s, the company diversified extensively into the current range of industries. A fully mobile shiploader was built for the Kings Lynn port, featuring twin feeder conveyors which could receive cereals from two trucks simultaneously.

B&W diversified into multiple industrial sectors including agriculture, mining, metallurgy, cement and power. The company developed solutions to effectively handle a huge variety of materials for different applications worldwide.

In 2002, B&W Mechanical Handling Ltd was acquired by the AUMUND Group, a German-based machinery and equipment specialist. This union gave AUMUND access to complementary technologies and products, along with greatly expanding B&W’s global reach. In 2013, B&W Mechanical Handling Ltd rebranded as SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd, named after the iconic Samson material feeder that launched the company’s success.

Local materials

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AMSON Materials Handling grew from the rich fields of the Fens in East Anglia in the UK to reaching out into multiple industries around the world.

The company began in 1966 when Tom Brown and Raymond Woodbine formed a partnership called B&W Engineering. Initially repairing agricultural machinery,

the partners spotted a gap in the market and applied their engineering skills to build a Potato Bulker, featuring a belt discharge system. Registering as a limited company in 1975, Tom and Ray rebranded as B&W Mechanical Handling Ltd. Further development in collaboration with a local farmer in 1976 lead to an overhead

Even as a global company, SAMSON Materials Handling Ltd has a strong sense of its origins. “While we strive to be a global company,” explained Petar Karaivanov, Marketing and Communication Manager, “it’s extremely important to have a local presence and local footprint.”

SAMSON’s headquarters are in Ely, in Cambridgeshire, still in the heart of the Fens where its story began. The company has about 30 employees designing and producing an extensive portfolio of machinery.

Since its beginning, SAMSON has sold over 700 material feeders, over 100 Stormajor units, ,140 shiploaders and more than 50 eco hoppers.

Mr Karaivanov explained how the small team at SAMSON works closely with the Inside Industry

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SAMSON MATERIALS HANDLING

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PROFILE

customer: “We liaise with our clients to understand their specific needs, offering our own extensive knowledge and experience in bulk materials handling to ensure we accommodate their requirements both technically and commercially.

“Our equipment is tailor-made to match the clients demands for functionality and where they want to deploy the machine. Also, we are dedicated to providing the most comprehensive range of mobile solutions for bulk materials handling in several industries including ports and terminals, mining, cement, foodstuffs, as well as agriculture and power.”

Mr Karaivanov is clear on the benefits of working within the small, dedicated team at SAMSON: “The team is great, with lots of positive energy. Everyone’s extremely keen on improving the business; you can definitely sense the very positive and high standard of energy in the office.”

Alongside the provision of bespoke machinery to customers, SAMSON offers

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an after-sales service running 24/7, with the support of field services. This is another aspect of SAMSON’s dedication towards customers.

“We maintain a solid relationship with clients,” said Mr Karaivanov. “Each of our Sales Managers is a specialist in their field, and at the end of the day, they are people’s people, because they’re salespeople, so they form strong connections. It’s not only a sales relationship, but also a personal relationship.

“We focus on our customers technical and commercial needs, providing high quality and reliable solutions that give our customers peace of mind. Those customers who experience this go from ‘new customer’ to a ‘returning customer’, which is an important aspect of our business in both the capital and after-sales arena.”

The strength of Samson The Samson Material Feeder that gave its name to the company remains SAMSON’s most popular machine, especially for use

in ports when combined with the company’s shiploaders.

“Our machines are really specialised in delivering flexibility,” Mr Karaivanov explained. “Operating on different quay layouts, narrow or wide, the shiploader delivers independent performance. What highlights our shiploader’s flexibility is its mobility.

The equipment can be stored away from the quayside, until it is needed for operation.

This means the quayside can be kept clear, free from obstruction to allow other operations to take place on the same quay space.

“The shiploader has state-of-the-art mobility options included, which improves the machine’s manoeuvrability, thereby reducing the overall loading times of a vessel.”

This increase in performance is due to a fully mobile chassis with different design options to match every type of vessel from barges to Post-Panamax size. Loading reaches up to 3,000 tonnes per hour, depending on the material being handled.

As a company with engineering expertise at its heart, SAMSON is especially proud of the Eco Hopper.

“The fundamentals of flexibility, adaptability and lower environmental impact apply to the Eco Hopper as well,” Mr Karaivanov said. The Eco Hopper is an ecologically sensitive solution for the efficient import of dry bulk cargoes. The hoppers are designed to accommodate the characteristics and flow properties of virtually any bulk material.

Rates of up to 5,000 tonnes per hour may be achieved, subject to grab crane performance.

SAMSON is also equipped to deal with larger projects, such as the recent refit of the Hanson cement capital works plant in nearby Leicestershire, UK. “The scope of the project was substantial,” Mr Karaivanov explained. “We helped Hanson replace the complete chain, lower rollers, drive units and a full set of trails.”

engineering teams, including the group’s focus on innovation.”

The Stormajor opens up new possibilities for stockpiling, barge loading and rail car loading. As well as featuring a radial outloading boom on a single chassis, it has the unique benefit of total mobility, providing universal applications and ultra-high performance. It has the flexibility to receive a wide range of materials directly from tipping trucks, shovels, articulated dump trucks or even crane grabs.

The upgrade to the SAMSON Stormajor won the 2021 Project of the Year Award from the Materials Handling Engineering Association. At the same MHEA event, the Harold Wright Award was given to Barry Woodbine, co-founder of B&W Engineering and current consultant at SAMSON.

An eco-paper A storm of awards The SAMSON Stormajor, which featured in the development of the company, has recently been upgraded to a new version.

“Together with AUMUND Group we engineered a Stormajor 2.0, which is a more robust machine, offering up-to-date technology and the ability to handle more material. This is something SAMSON and AUMUND are proud of as it highlights the engineering capabilities and vision of our

As a company with deep roots in an agricultural setting, SAMSON has a strong sense of environmental responsibility.

A member of the Port Equipment Manufacturers Association (PEMA), SAMSON was invited to share its expertise by leading the writing of the paper Dry Bulk Cargoes and the Impact on Air Pollution in Ports.

This paper was led by Dan Birkett, SAMSON Materials Handling Sales Manager for Asia, Middle East, and Southern Africa.

The PEMA paper explored the issues associated with the handling of dry bulk materials in port environments in terms of the pollution generated and what technologies and solutions are available to port operators to improve the situation.

“In order to make sure that we provide sustainability for the client,” said Mr Karaivanov, “we have a research and development team that constantly reviews project specifications and tries to tailor our equipment to be even more effective in various industries for different clients.” The sheer flexibility of SAMSON machines allows customers to save on capital costs and maximise the efficiency of their operations.

As a global company, SAMSON has been impacted by supply issues, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, confirmed Mr Karaivanov.

“We observe global phenomenon such as the current problems with the global supply chain. Sometimes, yes, issues arise, but thankfully, nothing too major has happened to us as our team always manages to solve any problem.”

The future looks promising at SAMSON Materials Handling. Mr Karaivanov sees “the prospect of continuous growth, because SAMSON is such an innovative company.

We began in the Fens serving potato growers and now we work with diamond mines, and everything in between.” n

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