Capital Equipment News November 2020

COVER STORY

The newly-launched Austin Ultima truck body continues to break lifecycle costs and production records.

Caterpillar’s corporate representative. Commenting on the changing dynamics in the equipment market, Mc Duling says because of the increasing need for machines to be safer and the rapid move towards autonomy, there are more and more electronics installed on big machines. It’s, therefore, important for engineering companies to work closely with OEMs when modifying these machines to make sure that their systems integrate seamlessly with the OEMs’ systems in order to maintain the performance, and more importantly, the safety of the products. ETT has established a strong integration function within the organisation, which makes sure that all adaptations meet OEM standards. Global expansion Traditionally, ETT’s business has been concentrated in its home market of South Africa. However, in the past five years, the company has embarked on a global expansion programme, which has already yielded massive success. To provide context, between 2011 and 2012, 85% of ETT’s business was locally based, but today 75% of its business is export. “It has been a priority for us to expand out footprint into the global market. For a small company that comes out of an area that traditionally doesn’t make a lot of specialised equipment for export markets, we are very proud of the progress we have made thus far in our global strategy,” explains Mc Duling.

The company intensified its export strategy some five years ago with an OEM aligned push into Africa anchored by the appointment of key accounts operations executive, Andrew Stainland, who with more than 20 years' experience in OEM engineering, manufacturing and service, is focused on ensuring world class client experience in a challenging region. Key to the success in Africa is ETT’s strong support structures across the major mining regions on the continent. The company has placed a major focus on four major regions – West Africa, Central, Southern and Eastern Regions. West Africa, says Mc Duling, offers the biggest opportunity to date, with ETT currently involved in a major project in Ghana and southern Mali. The company has successfully completed several projects in Gabon and Liberia. The Central Region, anchored by the DRC, offers great opportunity through an array of mining projects. In the Southern Region, Zambia and South Africa remain the two major markets, while the Eastern Region is predominantly Mozambique. To maximise opportunities in these markets, ETT has set up local support structures, in line with the host governments’ push for indigenisation. The company has a local, established company in Botswana, which allows it to manufacture in the country. This is complemented by two entities in

focusing on the traditional mining interests. “We are also currently setting up shop in Zambia, with Ghana following later this year,” says Mc Duling. Elsewhere, ETT has just established local representation in the United States to support its products in that market. The United States is one of the most important markets in ETT’s global strategy, and the company has just delivered its first equipment, designed and manufactured in South Africa, to the US market. Key partnerships Equipped with well-engineered, state-of- the-art products, ETT has in recent years prioritised strategic partnerships as part of the global expansion strategy. “Evidence of the world-class nature of our offering is that it has been easy to find good partners in the world,” says Mc Duling. One such partnership is with ASX- listed supplier of customised equipment to the global mining industry, Austin Engineering. The two companies entered into a joint venture (JV) in January this year, which allows them to manufacture each other’s products in their factories. "Three years ago we appointed Donald Paynter, an internationally experienced business development executive with broad knowhow of the yellow metal industry to find the best global partners that trade in the same segments as we do, mainly mining and aluminium. We also identified several key global markets of interest, mainly the Americas (Canada, North and South America),

Mozambique, one supporting the aluminium business and the other

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CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS NOVEMBER 2020