Capital Equipment News December 2017

CRUSHING & SCREENING

workshop, ready to be shipped before the end of the year,” says Scherf. While South Africa is generally challeng- ing, Scherf has seen a bit of recovery in neighbouring southern African countries, with sales and enquiries from countries such as Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Con- go, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Pilot Crushtec International has also had a few enquiries from further north in Africa. “We have just recently quoted for a plant in Liberia and we have previously shipped into Rwanda as well. We will continue push- ing hard on exports because clearly interna- tional markets are a bit buoyant at this stage. Export sales allow us to subsidise our local sales,” says Scherf. Growing Metso business The developing relationship with its principal, Metso has been a major highlight of the past 12 months for Pilot Crushtec International. According to Scherf, Metso has impressively accounted for a high proportion of the supplier’s spare parts business and new business sales. He highlights some new market trends, especially the big focus on extending the lifecyles of existing equipment, a trend that is pushing the aftermarket side of the busi- ness. “We see customers sweating their existing assets more than investing in new gear. There is now a big focus on increased maintenance and refurbishments as cus- tomers keep their existing assets longer to survive the tide of the slowdown,” reasons Scherf. As a result, there is extra emphasis on the spare parts and components business. The latter has yielded significant growth in what Scherf believes is now a key market. The big push on the aftermarket side of the business has also been necessitated by the fact that Pilot Crushtec International has inherited Metso’s large installed base in southern Africa. “We have initiated an aftermarket team designed specifically to address customers at ground level, offering advice in production optimisation, wear and spare parts benefits, ultimately providing solutions that ensure the lowest cost per tonne. We have increased our production, parts and sales teams, which in the current economic climate, indicates that we are delivering on our customers’ ex- pectations and creating an environment of trust and dependability,” adds Scherf. All these efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Metso is pleased with Pilot Crushtec Interna- tional’s performance as its southern African distributor. Testimony to this is the recent international award bestowed to the suppli- er. Pilot Crushtec International was awarded

The new Metso Nordplant C80 primary crushing station provides an instant modular solution to all crushing requirements with an output capability in excess of 80 tonnes/hour.

Sandro Scherf, CEO Pilot Crushtec International.

Adriaan Wood, vice-president of Distribution, Aggregate Business Line at Metso.

isfaction,” says Adrian Wood, vice-president of Distribution, Aggregate Business Line. “We are exceptionally proud to have been acknowledged by our principal as the Best New Services Distributor after taking on the Metso brand towards the middle of 2016. The achievement has given us inspiration to deliver even more in 2017, and despite a shrinking economy, we seek to further grow our market share,” concludes Scherf. b

the Best New Services Distributor at Metso’s global conference held in Tampere, Finland, in September this year. “We currently have a global network of more than 100 distributors, of which be- tween 20 and 25 have been appointed over the past three years. Having clinched this award after barely 16 months as a Metso distributor speaks volumes to Pilot Crushtec International’s commitment to customer sat-

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS DECEMBER 2017 28