Modern Mining March 2021

OPENCAST MINING

Undercarriage sets and components direct to the end user

With a dedicated team of over 1 300 professionals located around the world, Italtractor ITM supplies components directly to capital equipment OEMs, as well as to a global network of dealers and distributors, enabling end users to obtain the parts they need timeously and efficiently. By Mark Botha .

I talian company Italtractor ITM, the tracked under- carriage division of Titan International, is a global engineering group specialising in the design, development, manufacture and distribution of tracked undercarriage components, as well as com- plete undercarriage sets. “In terms of our market strategy,” says Erik Stols, sales director Africa Mining at Johannesburg-based ITM Africa, “by far the majority of our business was originally done with the OEMs until around eight years ago, when we changed the strategy to also supply our parts, components and full undercarriage sets directly to corporate accounts throughout the continent. “As an OEM-approved manufacturer, components manufactured by Italtractor ITM are lab-tested for up to 2 000 hours, installed and then tested in the field to ensure enhanced performance and increased durability.” Stols joined the company in 2017 to focus on the African market: “We introduced a new, dealer- based distribution strategy and, at present, we have a network of seven dealers throughout the conti- nent – three of them based in South Africa, with an additional four based in Mozambique, Namibia, East Africa and the West African region, respectively.” These dealerships, he says, are focused on owner miners as well as contract miners.

Erik Stols, sales director Africa Mining at ITM Africa.

“ITM Africa provides dealers with technical sup- port, as well as with support in terms of planning and forecasting. We have access to a technical team on standby in Italy, who travel to South Africa to provide assistance and training to dealers from all over the continent.” TrackAdvice The company has developed TrackAdvice, a pat- ented tracked undercarriage condition monitoring system. Initially a simple measuring tool based on an ultrasonic thickness tester using a smartphone app to store data in the cloud, the innovation is currently in its second phase of development, with sensors fitted to individual undercarriage parts and components. “The operational cost for tracked machine

Below: TrackAdvice is a patented, tracked undercarriage condition monitoring system.

Right: ITM Africa’s dealers pay regular visits to client sites.

32  MODERN MINING  March 2021