Modern Mining January 2016

PRODUCT News

Sandvik’s Zambian support centre growing same modern facilities that are found else- where in the world.

also been vastly improved and are steadily becoming comparable with Sandvik’s international standards. Simultaneously, the company has extended its safety record to an incredible 4,24 million hours without any lost time injuries. Mutale Chilufya, Sandvik Mining Zambia, tel (+260) 212 241-000

Sandvik’s new support facilities in Zambia are enabling faster and more efficient turnaround times for the maintenance and repair of mining fleets throughout the central African region. In the year since moving into the new facility from Sandvik’s old premises and opening its doors in Kitwe, the operation has significantly improved throughput of repairs and rebuilds and has slashed deliv- ery lead times for parts to ensuremaximum uptime of Sandvik fleets in the region. Sandvik invested in state-of-the-art support offices that include administrative offices, workshops, parts distribution and logistics centres. Up-to-date equipment and tooling, along with globally accepted management systems, are also in place to ensure services and support that are com- parable to other Sandvik centres across the globe. Steve Chambers, Sandvik Technical and Workshop Manager for central Africa, says burgeoning fleets in the area require the

“Within a year after opening our new facility, it is clear to see that the move has paid off andmines operating our machines are starting to make full use of our ser- vices,” Chambers says. “With a significant amount of stock and spares parts and a complement of specially trained staff able to maintain and support our full range of machines, there is no need to look elsewhere.” Since opening, the Kitwe office has been a major success with a significant increase in the num- ber of jobs completed and parts distributed. This includes a 60 per cent increase in rebuilds received from customers, combined with the reduction of rebuild lead times by a massive margin of 45 per cent to just 12 weeks for a complete machine rebuild. Component rebuild times have

Two technicians assembling a DANA 6000 series transmission used in a Sandvik TH320 dump truck for a customer.

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