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are manufactured to suit the specific
application; the size of cone crushers can be
altered; modifying machinery to suit mining
clients which are forced by circumstances to
overload their system (usually elsewhere in
Africa) by bolstering its strength; and a host
of special screen sizes.
This also forms a relevant input to
Osborn’s R&D process. “Sometimes,
where we find a modification has wider
applicability, it gets incorporated into other
general designs,” says McKenzie.
Preventative maintenance
When a machine is brought in for
maintenance it is returned to original
state – with the future life span of a new
machine. “You don’t want to compromise
on the integrity of the equipment because,
for instance, a flywheel coming off a crusher
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can cause massive damage and fatalities. It
weighs a ton and rotates at 400rpm, with a
lot of kinetic energy.”
Although Osborn feeders and other
equipment have a reputation for the
durability to exceed 30 years, there are cases
when five-year-old equipment comes in in
need of major repair, says McKenzie. “That is
either poor maintenance, poor operating or
just the nature of the site. But typically apron
feeders rarely come back for repair – and
jaw crushers only after 30 years. Where a
problem often does arise is when equipment
is repaired outside of Osborn, and that takes
it out of spec, creating multiple complexities
for the mining operations.”
Osborn is currently driving the concept
of service level agreements (SLAs) with
clients. The intention is to shift the market
from sporadic servicing towards preventative
maintenance checking, explains Vinesh
Surajlall, Director of Sales and Marketing.
Only when servicing requires special
machinery is it brought to an Osborn centre
– otherwise it is done on site. The client
itself typically does day-to-day maintenance,
especially in the case of a large mining or
quarry company with multiple sites. “We
do the more technical maintenance where
settings have to be recalibrated. We are
driving SLAs because the skills to service
our equipment are becoming harder to find
for our customers, so we offer it as an added
service and to improve their productivity
by eliminating downtime. We send our
technicians wherever the equipment is, as far
afield as Russia and South America.
“We are finding our product is being
accepted much more around the world,
because we are known for robustness and
reliability, and the fact that our product is not
just about price but maximising efficiency
QUARRY SA | JULY/AUGUST 2019_13