South African crushing and screening experts Pilot Crushtec International has reached a major milestone with the sale of more than 50 Sandvik mobile construction products less than 18 months after the announcement of its distribution agreement with the company.
Almost 40% of these have been bought by mining operations looking to increase the scale of their operations. The range of crushers, scalpers and screens are some of the most powerful Pilot Crushtec International has ever supplied. The variety of applications in which these products are employed goes to emphasise the inherent suitability of the range for meeting rugged African conditions.
These include the extraction and processing of coal, iron ore, diamonds, manganese and copper as well as a host of base metals.
A further 30% are engaged in the quarrying and construction industries, as the durable, high output machinery is perfect for these conditions.
The agreement, which established the Jet Park-based company as sole distributor of Sandvik’s mobile range of equipment, was the precursor to a campaign devised to gain substantial market share in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
Pilot Crushtec International director sales Graham Kleinhans believes that the association is certain to go from strength to strength.
World Class
“There is no doubt that one gains massive confidence from working with a supplier that has produced world class engineering products for more than 150 years,” he says.
Kleinhans believes this excellence begins in the design process with Sandvik’s meticulous attention to detail, and extends to build and finish. However, it is the results that these attributes deliver to customers in Rand, Dollar and Euro terms that count most. “Simply put, they are highly productive and cost effective to operate.”
Technical excellence and innovation
He cites a number of instances over the past 12 months in which the brand is making a positive contribution to customer operations in local and sub-Saharan Africa projects.
“A typical example is a customer now operating a UH440i mobile jaw crusher to produce hard material in greater volumes and at a significantly lower cost than with his previous brand of equipment.
“Another case is that of a provincial roads authority that is now handling a fleet of Sandvik QJ241 jaw crushers in its programme to build and maintain gravel roads. This has not only resulted in a better than fourfold increase in productivity, but a vast improvement in the integrity of the finished product,” says Kleinhans.
The ingenuity of Sandvik’s engineering is apparent in the design of its UD211 multi product system currently in use at a Zambian copper mine.
“The customer has the use of a grizzly feeder, jaw crusher, cone crusher and multislope screen in a single towable unit, a turnkey solution on wheels.”
The right products at the right time
Kleinhans goes on to make a telling point. “Our partnership with Sandvik coincided with the beginning of the current economic downturn, but the fact remains that our sales of products in these categories have actually increased during this period.”
He attributes this to three significant factors: Firstly, Pilot Crushtec International read the market correctly in perceiving a large-scale pent up demand for high capacity machinery and, secondly, the historical strength and acceptance of the Sandvik brand in African markets.
Finally, the implementation of a distribution strategy which ensured that the key elements were in place from the very beginning, underpinned by comprehensive stocks of finished products and spares, backed by fully trained service and installation teams.
