Capital Equipment News August 2017

improves our industry-leading aftermarket parts distribution network across the region. The initiative is another example of our close collaboration and partnership with Barloworld Equipment by leveraging our parts inventory data to significantly improve the Caterpillar customer experience,” says Chris Monge, manager of Caterpillar’s southern African office in Johannesburg, South Africa. According to Bonnie Fetch, Cat Parts Dis- tribution director, the increased collaboration between Barloworld Equipment and Caterpil- lar gets replacement parts to customers in the region as quickly as possible. “This is ex- tremely important as it allows our customers to reduce idle time and save money. When our customers win, we all win.” Caterpillar’s operations were planned to open doors in the second quarter of 2017. At the time of writing, Barloworld Equipment’s operations were due to commence early in the third quarter of 2017. Barloworld Equipment will occupy a surface of 3 500 m² of the 60 000 m² Caterpillar Distribution facility. Further investments Officially opened in February last year, Wirtgen SA’s R50 million new facility in Pomona was part of the Wirtgen Group’s

on-going investments into several capital projects in the global market, driven by the group’s “Closer to our customers” motto. Speaking at the official opening, Jürgen Wirtgen, president of theWirtgen Group, said the group recently invested billions of Euros into the expansion of its various facilities and factories internationally to improve service to customers. “For us, it’s not only important to sell machines, but to be able to provide first-class service and training as well.” Wirtgen SA previously occupied a 2 500 m² piece of land and the new facility occupies a massive 20 000 m². Office space has been increased from 860 m² to 2 500 m². Overall, the new facility represents a massive 300% increase in space. “It’s a step forward for us. It’s a new chapter in our history. We have essentially tripled warehousing and storage space and dramatically increased the maintenance workshop capacity. That allows us to better service our customers,” says Schulenburg. “We have also created more space in the yard to be able to stock more relevant products and maybe even products that have never been available for this market before. We have set ourselves some ambitious targets. Even though the market is in a declining phase, we believe we can

increase our market share.” Meanwhile, the Volvo Group South- ern Africa’s investment into an upgraded R60 million integrated regional parts distri- bution centre in Boksburg, Johannesburg, South Africa in 2015 was meant to facili- tate speedy parts deliveries, more stream- lined and efficient operations, as well as increased warehousing capacity for Volvo’s brands, according to Torbjörn Christensson, president of the Volvo Group SA. “As Volvo Group SA, we believe that the merger of our warehouse facilities under one roof will enable us to better support the company’s future growth within southern and East Africa,” said Christensson, at the time of the launch. “It is therefore a strategic investment in our future and will enable us to support our customers more efficiently and timely, especially in light of the significant volume growth our brands have experienced over the last couple of years.” The integrated parts centre is an upgrade of the old facility. Storage area was increased from 4 500 m² to 13 000 m². Height of the building was also increased from 7 m to 8,5 m. The Volvo Group SA’s new regional parts centre consolidates previously three different facilities, and has significantly reduced logistical costs. b