When it’s time to invest in new industrial screening equipment, it’s tempting to focus on upfront costs. But the reality is that the cheapest screen isn’t always the most cost-effective when you consider the total cost of ownership. Over the lifespan of your operation, higher-quality screens can deliver significantly better performance — and that translates into real savings.
This article will go over the different ways that better screens can help save money over time.
Lower Maintenance Costs and Fewer Downtime Events
Few things eat into profit margins faster than unplanned downtime. Every hour your screening system is offline means lost production, idle workers, and delayed schedules. The most common operational failures in conventional screening are:
- Blinding: fine, sticky, or moist particles adhere to the screen mesh, progressively blocking the apertures
- Pegging: near-size particles become wedged in the openings
- Carryover: undersized material fails to pass through the blocked deck and contaminates the oversized product stream
Higher-quality screens are engineered to minimize these costly interruptions. For example, AEI’s BIVITEC® flip-flow screen is designed to keep material moving without clogging and blinding, even when handling difficult, high-moisture materials. That reduces the need for frequent cleaning and maintenance.
Increased Throughput and Screening Efficiency
A screen’s performance directly affects how much material your operation can process. Better screening technology can increase throughput by processing more tons per hour and improving screening accuracy. That efficiency boost reduces cost per ton and helps deliver more product in less time.
The Freedom Disc Screen – which was designed to eliminate wrapping and plugging – ensures continuous, high-capacity screening with minimal need for operator intervention.
Additionally, efficient screening reduces the amount of material that must be reprocessed or discarded, saving time and energy while improving the overall quality of the final product.
Optimized Energy and Water Efficiency
Inefficient screening equipment acts as a constant drain on an operation’s resources, silently inflating utility costs. When a screen deck becomes blinded or pegged, the effective load on the screen increases. The vibrating motors must work harder to move the accumulated mass of material, leading to a significant increase in energy consumption.
Similarly, in wet processing applications, such as sand washing and classifying, conventional equipment is often inefficient in its use of water. Traditional screw washers require massive volumes of water to wash and transport material. Meanwhile, the Ortner® sand classifier uses only one-third of the water and one-third of the power required by other sand dewatering and classifying machines.
Plus, the large volume of wastewater that’s produced by screw washers must be managed (often in settling ponds) and may require costly treatment before it can be discharged or recycled, representing a major and growing operational expense.
Minimized Maintenance and Maximized Safety
Underperforming screens demand constant human intervention, which carries both direct labor costs and severe safety risks. The most frequent and labor-intensive task associated with conventional screens is the replacement of worn-out screen media.
More important than the financial cost is the human one. In the mining and aggregate industries, each time a crew is sent to repair or replace a component, they are exposed to significant risks, including falls, entanglement in machinery, and unexpected equipment movement.
Buying the right screening equipment isn’t just about meeting today’s production targets — it’s about setting your operation up for long-term success. High-performance screens help you minimize costs, maximize output, and extend the life of your entire processing system.
At AEI, we design screening solutions that deliver long-lasting performance and measurable ROI. Contact us today to learn how our innovative screening technology can reduce costs and boost your bottom line.
