Lokotrack mobile plants help Southern Land Company build quality communities

Southern Land is using the two Metso mobile plants for on-site processing at its extensive Westhaven community in Franklin, Tennessee, approximately 20 miles south of Nashville. Operating the two Lokotrack plants in a multistage application enhances throughput and productivity, helping Southern Land to build a quality community like Westhaven with optimal efficiency.

Southern Land Company was founded in 1986 on the premise of building neighborhoods with a sense of community, and that real estate could, and should, be beautiful. The company’s primary focus is in single-family and multifamily communities, while also undertaking select retail, office, and recreational projects. Following successful completion of the private, gated LaurelBrooke community in 2003, Southern Land set its sights on creating the Westhaven neighborhood. That project began with the purchase of several adjacent family farms in Franklin totaling around 1500 acres. This large land acquisition allowed Southern Land to realize founder and CEO Tim Downey’s vision of maximizing green space, while also building a friendly, livable, and sustainable community at Westhaven.

Crushing their own stone

From the beginning, attention was paid to details like plot development, home design, landscaping, road design, sidewalks, lighting, and parks. As Westhaven grew, shopping, community events and even festivals were added. As fast as the land was being developed, demand also grew for more crushed stone and gravel for road base and infrastructure needs. Future mass grading with an abundance of rock, and how to make the rock useable, spurred a cost-benefit analysis to determine if purchasing a crusher was feasible. Angelo Fish, Director, Infrastructure Construction, commented on Southern Land’s decision to do their own rock crushing and screening, noting that “we have great relationships and there are a lot of great quarries in the area, but when you own and are developing as much as we are, it was a smart thing to do. Not only for our needs at Westhaven,” he added, “but for what we need for future projects as well.”

Southern Land carefully considered which crushing and screening equipment would be right for them. As part of this process, they sought the advice of Tom Sewell, Metso Distribution Manager, Southeast USA, as well as their local Metso distributor, Scott Construction Equipment Company. “We needed not only the right equipment, but also the right customer service,” says Angelo Fish. He had experienced the corrosive effects of poor customer service while working for several years as an estimator in Washington, DC. “Nobody cared about anyone else,” he says, “customer service was non-existent, and you can quickly fall into the same mold if you don’t walk away.” He did, and takes the approach that “everyone is a customer to someone,” a philosophy he brings to his current position at Southern Land

Metso also fit in well with the Southern Land vision of investing not only in properties, but in people, and building relationships, and a sense of community. Cliff Smith, PE. Senior VP Community Service says that, “It’s important to us to continue to build all our relationships. It’s truly who we are as a company.”

Multistage process

The Lokotrack LT1110 and ST3.5 mobile processing plant began operation at Westhaven in January of 2015. According to Angelo Fish, “Since we installed our Lokotrack LT1110 and ST3.5, we have processed 200,000 tons of rock at our Westhaven community site. What our Metso Lokotrack system has done so far is unbelievable and we are just getting started.”

Operator Todd Martin had previous experience working with Metso equipment at a former job and commented that, when he was offered a position at Southern Land, “one of the important things to me taking the job was that they were getting a Metso. To me, working with various systems in my career, the Lokotrack system is the only system to run and matches the demands of all our processing needs.”

The Lokotrack LT1110 is built around the Nordberg^® NP1110M™ impact crusher. The crusher is specially designed for mobile applications, and features sturdy construction for reliable performance. The Lokotrack ST3.5 is a compact, double-deck mobile screen designed to achieve the lowest sustainable cost per ton, with high screening efficiency and capacity. “The plants are interlinked with an intelligent control system,” says Tom Sewell, “which ensures steady and constant operation between the units at all times.

Manney Azevedo, loader operator, commented “I came from working for companies like Lafarge and saw firsthand how Metso’s large crushers and screens worked in big stationary installations. The Metso Lokotrack is great. What it does is really impressive. It is so compact, efficient and keeps us moving.”

Although much has already been accomplished at Westhaven, the community is nowhere near completion. Westhaven is a part of Southern Land Company’s 25-year vision, and the company is committed to continuing to create sustainable projects with long-term viability. According to Cliff Smith, “the Southern Land story is just beginning and so is the Metso relationship.” Smith notes that, depending on the rate of growth, it will take another 12 years to complete development of the Westhaven community.