Y
ellow metal equipment is costly, but only
some of that cost lies in the purchase of
the machines. A significant portion of the
costs associated with heavy equipment lies in
servicing and maintenance. Proper maintenance
is essential for any jobsite, and not just because
it helps to prevent breakdowns. Measuring the
true cost of machine breakdowns is difficult, as it
goes beyond the direct costs of labour and parts
to also encompass lost production.
In recognition of this fact, OEMs are
increasingly offering maintenance and
refurbishing of their machines at specialised
facilities. And the introduction of telematics
is helping owners, dealers, and OEMs
manage and maintain equipment more easily
than ever before, minimising downtime and
maximising productivity.
But the importance of proper equipment
maintenance goes far beyond simply
preventing breakdowns and minimising
downtime — it is also essential to site safety.
Lack of proper equipment maintenance can
be a major contributor to avoidable on-site
accidents and injuries.
“Not only is reliable equipment essential to
the enhancement of safety, it is also guaranteed
to hold tolerances better, which helps raise
consistency and quality,” says Bongani Thobela,
quality manager at portable compressed air and
power generation rental company Rand-Air.
“It seems obvious, but the best way to improve
maintenance safety is to use safer equipment.”
Babcock, Volvo & Terex Trucks
One OEM that is dedicated to providing
service and maintenance to its customers is
Babcock, the official sole regional distributor of
Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) in
southern Africa and official distributor in South
Africa of Terex Trucks’ off-highway rigid and
articulated trucks.
As an established equipment supplier,
Babcock has an extensive history in sales and
servicing of construction and mining equipment,
working with customers to engineer materials
handling solutions at the lowest cost per tonne
of material moved. The company also provides
comprehensive technical support for some of
the world’s leading heavy-duty machinery brands,
including Volvo CE and Terex Trucks.
A major portion of Babcock’s turnover
is generated by customer service contracts,
and customers have access to the company’s
comprehensive aftermarket support capabilities.
Babcock’s state-of-the-art facility in Middelburg,
which opened in early 2016, includes a workshop
of nearly 2 000m 2 and a 1 615m 2 parts
warehouse. It also serves as the headquarters for
Terex Trucks in southern Africa and is equipped
with 12 purpose-built workshop bays that can
accommodate the largest of the Terex Trucks, as
well as specialised components and tools.
According to Dave Vaughan, managing
director of Babcock’s equipment business,
Babcock’s reputation is built on its
commitment to delivering the best aftermarket
service, including maintenance and repair of
its equipment. The company’s Middelburg
facility is positioned in the heart of the coal
fields, as many of its customers operate in the
mining sector.
To minimise downtime, Babcock makes use of
telematics solutions, such as Volvo’s CareTrack,
to monitor customers’ machines for preventive
maintenance and service scheduling purposes.
Vaughan adds that skilled personnel are a vital
element of Babcock’s support services, and
the company maintains a firm commitment to
ongoing training.
“We have a lot of customers on service
contract with us, and telematics systems
are a good way to ensure that servicing and
maintenance are done on time,” Vaughan
explains. CareTrack can be used to set service
reminders in advance and serve as an early
warning system for potential component
breakdown. Using this system, Babcock
technicians can identify when components need
to be replaced or repaired.
“So when a machine is due for a service, the
system flags us a week or so beforehand and
we can then contact the customer and arrange
for them to bring the machine in for a service,
or for our technicians to go out to their site
and service the machine there, depending on
what is required,” explains Vaughan. “Using
this system also ensures that we have stock
of the parts needed for specific services, and
that we take the correct parts with us if we are
doing an on-site service.”
Vaughan adds that Babcock’s service and
maintenance contracts can be tailor-made to suit
customers’ needs, and offerings such as long-
term replacement strategies, fleet maintenance,
and associated technologically advanced services
are proving to be increasingly attractive options
to customers.
Roger O’Callaghan, CEO of Babcock’s
African operations, adds that stock availability is
extremely important when it comes to machine
maintenance. “Whenever we introduce a new
Volvo product into the market, for example, they
send us a recommended parts list for the initial
phases. Now this list is for general worldwide
conditions, not for specific local conditions. So,
our technical guys get involved and they take the
parts list and add on what we believe we’re going
to need to maintain our service levels, given local
conditions and requirements.”
JULY 2017
11