Company Profile
BM&M Screening Solutions

Reprinted from Grain Journal September/October 2018 Issue

BM&M Screening Solutions was founded by innovator and engineer Tom Humphrey in the town of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Humphrey designed and patented the original high-speed gyratory screen drive, the heart of the company’s machines originally used in the forest industry.

Humphrey started the company in 1968. "He designed a machine that had never been built before," says President Collin Jackson. "He had very, very tough years to start with, but here we are.”

Humphrey’s sons, Peter and Dave, joined the company in 1975 and designed a grain cleaner to serve export terminals in western Canada, where BM&M is located.

According to Jackson, BM&M met with leaders in the grain industry who asked if the company had any solutions for cleaning grain. The result of those meetings was the development of the company’s Multi-Deck grain cleaner, which is still in operation in many locations today, and launched the company into the grain industry.

“We had a tremendous start in the grain industry, and then we grew all the way across Canada very quickly. Now we’ve really grown throughout the United States and internationally,” Jackson explains. “The grain side of the businesses has blossomed for us. It’s our largest market segment.”

Today, BM&M is based in Surrey, British Columbia and remains proudly owned by the Humphrey family, with three generations of Humphreys working for the company.

“Now we’re up to 50 employees, and we’re celebrating our 50th year of being operated by the Humphrey family,” Jackson says.

When it comes to summarizing BM&M’s business philosophy and what has made it such as success, Jackson refers to the company’s motto: “Win-win screening solutions with integrity guaranteed.”

In the early days, that meant Tom Humphrey would convince potential new customers to try out new drives he had developed. If they worked, they paid for them, but if customers didn't like them, they didn't have to pay, according to Jackson. “He was very focused on integrity, and that reputation really got around. It really set the company up to succeed,” he says.

Additionally, Jackson points out that BM&M has a mechanical advantage, boasting a drive that can run faster and produce more G-loads than any other grain cleaner on the market. “We’re able to optimize an application to get to its requirements; we’re not limited by mechanical constraints like most other designs are,” he says.

Further, the company’s commitment to R&D at its fully operational test lab enables BM&M to identify customers’ problems and create solutions for them. c

Jackson says “Our Multi-Deck grain cleaner is very popular in the grain industry right now.”

The Multi-Deck is designed to provide a higher speed and higher efficiency alternative to conventional 200-rpm gyratory screens on the market, he explains.

"The Multi-Deck specializes in finer element openings of 1-1/2 inches to 150 mesh, dust control, and machines smaller than 300 square feet. The Multi-Deck also allows engineers to vary the stroke, speed, and slope of the machine, optimizing it for any specific process requirements, even out in the field.

“Also, our Super Deck machine – the industrial version of the smaller Super Screen – is being used in oilseed markets. That’s another area of large growth for us internationally,” Jackson says.

"The Super Deck provides a higher speed option for traditional 200-rpm gyratory machines that process large capacities of product.

"This model specializes in higher capacities, with finer element openings, and dust control. Our unique in-feed flow distribution box eliminates screen efficiency variability caused by the infeed flow distribution to each parallel element deck," he adds.