Capital Equipment News October 2017

Recently invested in excess of R1,7 million in new high-tech equipment

WearCheck recently bought out Transformer Chemistry Services

WearCheck is listed as the preferred supplier to some major OEMs

monitoring saves our customers money every single day. In many cases, the component that is about to fail could have then damaged other components, causing even more repair costs. By planning downtime, an operation can then pre-order the necessary components so that the parts are ready when the faulty machine is taken out of service for maintenance and there is no waiting period. Another way in which oil analysis saves our customers money – if the oil is found to be of good enough quality to continue using it – we advise that the oil replacement pe- riod be extended based on scientific facts. In this way, the oil, which can be very expensive to replace, can be reliably used for longer. MS: How is the uptake of your services by local fleet owners, especially in earthmoving and transport sectors? NR: We do provide monitoring services for many large fleets of vehicles, and we are able to maintain these vehicles operating at their optimum performance and to avoid unscheduled mechanical breakdowns, which would cause untold havoc for load deliveries. In South Africa, our service is well-used by transport companies as well as those with vehicles operating in mining and quarrying. MS: I understand WearCheck has some strategic partnerships with several OEMs as a preferred supplier, in line with global trends of outsourcing specialist services. Tell me more about these strategic partnerships and how significant are they to your business? NR: Yes. WearCheck is listed as the preferred supplier to OEMs such as Bell Equipment, Volvo and Gamesa, to mention a few. The partnerships are very significant to our business on several levels – firstly the

actual number of samples that we process as a result of the alliance, but more importantly, it is the vote of confidence from the OEMs, that our service quality is sufficiently outstanding that they trust us to maintain their products. That is very significant. The vote of confidence from recognised industry leaders in their own fields lends assurance to other potential (and existing) customers of ours, knowing that our service excellence and high standards are recognised. MS: WearCheck recently invested in excess of R1,7 million in new high-tech equipment in both the transformer and fuel sections of its Johannesburg-based Speciality Laboratory. What is driving these investments? NR: We are very much a technology-based business, and we are constantly looking to maintain our position as an industry leader in terms of our service level, turnaround time, accuracy and customer satisfaction. Therefore, the technology which helps us to achieve and maintain these goals is a very worthwhile investment for us. Also, we are members of a global network, the International WearCheck Group (IWCG), which has representation in many countries. The group is committed to ongoing investment in new technology that makes sound economic sense, and we are proud to subscribe to this ethos for the benefit of our customers. MS: You recently bought out Transformer Chemistry Services (TCS), adding an already-established transformer analysis and maintenance division to the company’s condition monitoring portfolio. How crucial is the acquisition to your service capacity? NR: Through the acquisition, we added two additional laboratories to our portfolio, as

well as some extra transformer maintenance tests being added to our range. So, through the acquisition, we were able to boost our capacity in terms of quantity of samples processed, as well as increasing our test offering and eliminating the need to outsource those specialised transformer tests. MS: What is the state of your business at this stage, especially considering that many fleet owners understand the importance of preventative maintenance in the quest to prolong the lifecycles of their equipment? NR: Over the last decade, WearCheck has enjoyed steady growth in terms of the number of samples processed. This can be attributed partly to organic growth within the company, as well as an increased demand from a growing customer base as our clients realise the value of condition monitoring, and how it can save them time and money. Added to this, our portfolio of tests has increased substantially during this period through the addition of the reliability services division and the accompanying battery tests, as well as the additional transformer tests. In some cases, where we acquired new laboratories, such as those of TCS and that of WearCheck Zimbabwe, we also took over their customer base, which boosted our customer numbers. We attribute our growth to increased de- mand from our customers as they seek to ensure that their machinery is operating at optimum capacity with reduced maintenance costs. We all know that “time is money”, and our goal is to predict and prevent unscheduled downtime, thereby saving our customers mon- ey. We have found that more industrial opera- tions, mines, fleet owners, electrical and other industries are becoming aware of this over time, hence our positive growth rate. b

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