First Mining Drc-Zambia March -April 2020 digital edition First Mining Drc-Zambia March - April 2020 digital | Page 8

NEWS
NEWS
Cummins Zambia successfully
commissions new coolant plant in Kitwe
C
ummins Zambia has completed
a coolant plant project in Kitwe
on the Copperbelt that received
approval from the Zambia Environmental
Management Agency (ZEMA) in 2019.
The ‘plug-and-play’ plant will produce
two types of coolant, namely ES
compleat Hybrid (Blue) and ES compleat
OAT (Red). PLC-driven and automated,
the plant has the capability to carry
out batch correction. It has a blending
capacity of around 1 600 litres over two
hours, including quality testing. The
system has two 2 500 litre product tanks
for product storage.
Originally planned to be completed
within six months in 2018, delivery
and manufacturing logistics ultimately
resulted in the project taking about a year
to complete, in addition to the stringent
ZEMA approval, John Kambing’a,
Cummins Aftermarket Leader (Zambia)
reports. The main contractor was CP
Engineering, with a Cummins Filtration
team overseeing the project from start
to finish.
Cummins Filtration built the plant and
shipped it to Zambia, where it was
installed by a local contractor under
the supervision of the project team.
The Cummins Filtration team from
South Africa also played a key role in
commissioning the plant.
“It is a requirement in Zambia to conduct
an impact assessment for any project
being undertaken. Therefore, the ZEMA
approval was necessary to ensure
that the coolant plant had no impact
on the environment or the surrounding
community,” Kambing’a explains. This is
also in line with Cummins Inc.’s PLANET
2050 strategy, focused on addressing
climate change and air emissions, using
natural resources in the most sustainable
way, and improving communities. To
date, Cummins Zambia’s main coolant
customer has been First Quantum
Minerals (FQM), a major copper
producer in the region. The new plant
will allow Cummins Zambia to supply
coolant to other customers in different
packages.
“This will grow our filtration sales in
Zambia, and allow us to serve other
customers. It will also take care of
our counter-sales customers. Other
Cummins distributors and dealers
wanting to take advantage of our cost-
competitiveness will also be welcomed,”
Kambing’a
highlights.
The
main
benefits of the new coolant plant are
that customers will not be restricted to
obtain the products only in totes, but can
request different packages according to
their specific requirements.
Customers will also have the option of
bulk supply, which will drastically reduce
their storage challenges in having
access to sufficient product as and when
required, and eliminate long lead times.
Switching to in-house coolant production
at Cummins Zambia will reduce import
costs significantly, allowing it to pass
these savings onto customers.
Meshach Kwegyir-Aggrey, GM Cummins
Zambia, elaborates that, in order to be
more competitive and supply product at a
preferential rate to the market, a business
case was raised to the leadership team
of Cummins Africa. Approval followed
quickly, and the coolant plant was
subsequently purchased and installed in
the last quarter of 2019.
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“With the new coolant plant at Cummins
Zambia, what we have succeeded in
doing is to basically halt the importation
of water, which forms more than 90% of
the coolant product, from South Africa
into Zambia. This will also assist us to
serve diverse markets, with volumes
ranging from five litres to 1 000 litres.
We will also increase our footprint in the
Zambian coolant market and offer more
value to customers.”
Kwegyir-Aggrey adds: “The Zambian
market is key to the strategic growth
of Cummins in Africa. Cummins is a
provider of power to the mining industry,
and this new plant will allow us to deliver
on our brand promise of powering our
customers through innovation and
dependability.
We have invested almost half a million
dollars in this project, and that will add
value to our customers and stakeholders
in Zambia. Adding value is what Cummins
stands for, and we are determined to
ensure our customers get absolute value
when using Cummins products.”
Looking to the future, Kwegyir-Aggrey
points out that the new coolant plant will
assist Cummins Zambia in penetrating
the key automotive market. “It will help
us leverage out other filtration products
as a single package. Coolant is key
in the operation of any machine, and
the quality of the coolant matters. We
offer superior-quality coolant that will
help customers get real value out of
their machines. Using the Cummins
Fleetguard product range will guarantee
world-class performance by unleashing
the power of Cummins,” he concludes.
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