Plant Equipment and Hire August 2018 | Page 6

AFRICA NEWS
Ford Motor Company has appointed Neale Hill as managing director of South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, effective 1 July.
Dr Casper Kruger, a seasoned automotive professional with over 20 years’ experience in the market, is
stepping down to take on a new personal endeavour.“ We thank Casper for his commitment to Ford and wish him the very best in his new role,” said Mark Ovenden, president MEA.
In his new role, Hill will be responsible for growth in the company
operations across the region as Ford South Africa continues to grow its customer-centric product offerings, improve operational fitness, and further develop its customer base.
“ Neale has a wealth of experience in the market and we are thrilled and
fortunate to be able to draw on his talent and experience in this role. Neale’ s customer focus, combined with his deep brand and product experience in South Africa and across sub-Sahara, will be an incredible asset as we move the business forward,” Ovenden added.
Tough enough for chrome mining
Indian exploration firm APC sent its geologists to scout for suitable mining opportunities on Madagascar and found, north of the capital of Antananarivo, a mining concession over a vast 59 000 hectares of chromite-rich land.
Managing director Pari Appusamy explains that the company invested in six Volvo EC480D excavators, saying,“ They are the soul of the whole project,” as they are needed to strip the overburden, then expose and extract the chrome body. They then load haulers to transport the ore the 1.5km to the beneficiation plant for crushing and processing.
“ It’ s crucial that the excavators deliver high uptime over their 12-hour workday, and that is why we invested in the Volvo EC480D excavators,” he adds, opting for many smaller machines in favour of fewer,“ but larger generalpurpose production machines, who we believe are more suitable for the task,” he explains.“ We chose Volvo’ s 50-tonne class excavators because I am a fan of the brand, the machine quality is high and the support we get from Materauto, the local customer support and sub-dealer, is consistently excellent.”
The excavators are currently working on an ore body that is 25m wide, 600m long, and 80
Volvo
Volvo EC480D on site in Madagascar.
metres deep. The Volvo EC480D is well suited to the task, as it is a heavy-duty crawler excavator whose productivity lowers operating costs through reduced fuel consumption and simple
maintenance requirements. Powered by a proven D13 Volvo engine, the EC480D delivers high digging and breakout forces, alongside reduced emissions and good fuel efficiency.
DAF: Truck of the Year 2018
Amid stiff competition, DAF Trucks was awarded the prestigious International Truck of the Year 2018 accolade for its new XF and CF series. Cited as making the greatest contribution to road transport efficiency, the DAF XF and CF trucks set new standards of driveline effectiveness and overall performance.
Babcock is the sole distributor of DAF Trucks in southern Africa and has successfully grown the brand in the country over the past eight years.
The annual International Truck of the Year award is presented to an individual vehicle or model range introduced into the market in the previous 12 months, with the winner chosen by an independent jury of leading road-transport journalists from 23 European countries. The award is considered the most prestigious honour in the European truck industry and is judged on several criteria, including technological innovation, driver comfort, road safety, drivability, fuel economy, environmental‘ footprint’, and total cost of ownership.
Innovations in DAF Trucks’ new XF and CF series, such as entirely new powertrains with highly efficient transmissions and rear axles, compact after-treatment systems, and sophisticated software and aerodynamic optimisations, resulted in reduced CO 2 emissions and a fuel consumption improvement of 7 %, compelling the jury to announce the new DAF XF and CF trucks as leading the way in transport efficiency.
The new XF and CF innovative drivelines deliver improved drivability, greater fuel efficiency, and seamless gear changing. Energy efficiency features include improved combustion, reduction of internal engine friction losses, engine down-speeding, intelligent auxiliaries, driveline component integration, different gear-shifting strategies, enhanced predictive features, and weight reduction in selected components.
The outstanding fuel consumption of the DAF XF 105.460 earned the truck a first place in the Tridem flatdeck category at Truck Test 2017, a local event.
As the brand gains popularity in the country, Babcock is forging strong and lasting relationships with customers, reinforced by its tailor-made aftersales service and support programmes, a strong dealership network, flexible repair and maintenance contracts, and competitive pricing.
DAF
Cited as making the greatest contribution to road transport efficiency, the DAF XF and CF trucks set new standards of driveline effectiveness and overall performance.
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AUGUST 2018