RECLAIMERS
Linear makes innovation in real time Linear Engineering is pioneering a new collaborative design method with a Queensland-based bulk handling client.
Images: Linear Engineering
It is Linear Engineering’s first fully detail-designed reclaimer.
WHEN OPPORTUNITY STRIKES, fortune favours the bold, so the saying goes. Linear Engineering noticed one such opportunity when conventional original equipment manufacturers (OEM) exited the Australian market for reclaimers and balance machines. The Brisbane-based engineering consultancy had previously designed an array of bulk-handling equipment but had yet to deliver a fully detaildesigned reclaimer. Geoff Hargreaves, managing director, Lee Williams, principal engineer, and Dr Peter Wilson, senior mechanical engineer at Linear
Engineering, spoke to ABHR about the project and its methods. “Recently, in the OEM market, there has been a bit of a pullback from supplying this equipment to Australia,” Williams said. Customers noted the change, too. Last year, a Queensland-based bulk-handling client approached Linear Engineering to design a reclaimer. It had a different design in mind and, due to its extensive experience, was prepared to take on the reclaimer’s fabrication, construction, and installation. “It created an opportunity for Linear, as a design house, to step into
48 І Australian Bulk Handling Review: September/October 2024
that market, whereas traditionally, the role of a design house in this market would be as a design checker or an auditor,” Williams said. “This gave us the opportunity to design the machine from scratch and then support the client during the construction phase rather than just the auditing.” Linear Engineering collaborated with sub-consultants and partnered with an electrical firm to deliver its “holistic” reclaimer design. Since its establishment in 2014, Linear Engineering has adhered to its motto of ‘client-first engineering’. With this in mind, Linear Engineering