In 2022, McLanahan’s Aggregates Systems Equipment business opened a new facility near Dungannon, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, to support its global plant assembly and distribution network. The site has since expanded to accommodate a broader range of product builds as the family-owned McLanahan Corporation seeks to increase its market share in the global quarrying and mining equipment sector. Aggregates Business dropped by for a first-hand look.
A McLanahan Scalping Screen, a McLanahan Attrition Cell, and a McLanahan Hydrosizer ordered by an Argentinian frac sand customer, and a McLanahan UltraSAND plant destined for a Dominican Republic construction sand customer are being assembled in front of a long stretch of large modern warehousing at McLanahan’s Aggregates Systems Equipment site in Northern Ireland when Aggregates Business drops by in late September 2025.
“The Hydrosizer you can see is the first that our team here have assembled. It’s quite an achievement for the guys, as there’s a lot of big parts to it,” says Darren Morgan, factory lead for McLanahan Aggregates UK, who is showing the magazine around the impressive facility.
Pointing at the partially assembled UltraSAND plant, he says: “We are at the stage where we’re doing PDIs [pre-delivery inspections] on the plant. After that, it will be broken down and prepared for dispatch. If anything is flagged as ‘missed’ during pre-dispatch inspections, it will be added. Then we will do our packing lists, and everything will be sent to the customer.
The McLanahan site covers more than 21,000 ft² (1,951 m²) and is used to assemble McLanahan’s crushing, screening, and wet processing equipment. Units from the site are dispatched to customers worldwide.
“The site has come a long way. We started with a 30ft cabin!” remembers Morgan. “When I started with the company, the plan for here was only to assemble and dispatch pumps and screens. But when we got the space, we quickly realised we could do a lot more with it, and it became a full modular plant assembly and dispatch facility. In my three years here, we’ve fully assembled and dispatched around 20 UltraSAND plants, half of which went to customers in America. We‘ve also assembled and dispatched around 30 screens, with many going to UK customers. We also have one just about to go to a customer in Norway.
“Our standard working hours here are thirty-eight-and-a-half hours, Monday to Friday, but if a container and lorry arrive for a plant dispatch, you have to get the order out the door that day.”
Explaining how the near facility’s impressive warehousing is divided up and operates, Morgan says: “We have six bays. Two have two ten-tonne [overhead] cranes, and another has a 20-tonne [overhead] crane. The plan for bays four, five and six, in effect, is to put two ten-tonne [overhead] cranes in each one. Bay one is a storage area; bays two and three are currently used solely for [plant] assembly.”
How does the facility test its assembled equipment? “In bay three, we have set up testing areas for our dewatering and inclined screens. What we like to do is get the screen onto its structure and test it for eight hours to ensure the structure is sound, as well as the screen. All our tests are dry. We make sure the pulleys and throws are right, nothing is coming loose, and the screen isn’t overheating.”
Asked how long it takes to assemble and dispatch a full McLanahan plant, Morgan replies: “It depends on the size of the plant and whether we have all the plants here. To build it up, do the testing and PDIs, strip it down, and dispatch it, we like to give it three weeks. We do the same with a screen, which we send out for painting during the [assembly] process.
“We work closely with the supply chain to try and make assembly and dispatch as efficient as possible. Sometimes we have to contend with parts delivery delays. Product quality issues are typically addressed early in the assembly process. Around 80% of the parts we use to assemble each plant are manufactured in the UK and Ireland.”
McLanahan’s increased product assembly capacity in Northern Ireland has created new job opportunities to support this ever-expanding area of the company’s business.
With increasing global customer demand for McLanahan’s equipment portfolio, the expansion of the company’s facilities has been crucial to enabling the company to offer quality enhancements, environmental benefits, shorter lead times, and increased productivity, further enhancing customer satisfaction.
Speaking at the Northern Ireland site’s official opening three years ago, McLanahan business line director David Hunter said: “Over the last few years, McLanahan has been deep in the development of its modular washing, crushing and screening equipment line with the launch of the Ultra range. We can now offer both standalone modular units or complete modular plants that allow you to wash, scrub and classify your material. We can also offer a full range of tailings solutions, including water treatment and filter presses, as well as the ability to crush your oversize material to maximise production.”
Back on Aggregates Business’s site tour, Morgan explains that the facility largely takes a ‘just-in-time’ approach to inventory management, receiving parts and products only as needed for assembly, minimising the amount of stock held. “For some of our sub-assemblies, like on the pumps, we like to have a bit of extra stock on the shelves. We are also working on some vibrating screens at the moment, so we’re looking to get a few of their parts in stock, in case of any breakdowns.
“The interesting thing about [McLanahan warehouse] bays four, five and six is that the landlord has extended the height of the bays so that we can assemble more of our plants under cover. It’s given us an extra three metres of height compared to the other three bays. I plan to get all six of our bays here operational. Then it’s up to our salespeople to sell the plants and keep us busy.”
Morgan says McLanahan’s ongoing investment in the Northern Ireland site helps the company attract and retain employees in a highly competitive market for quarrying plant jobs. “We have a good team here who are happy in their work and take pride in the facility, keeping it nice and clean. We get compliments on how neat and clean the place is whenever McLanahan people from the US or other parts of the world visit us.”
