Komatsu and GE have announced a 10-year partnership agreement to provide electrical remanufacturing services for mining equipment and vehicles in Australia.
GE experts will work together with Komatsu at the latter’s production facility at Welshpool, WA, to remanufacture wheel motors, alternators and grid blowers for Komatsu mining trucks through Komatsu Reman.
Komatsu Reman is Komatsu’s factory rebuild division and remanufactures components to exact Komatsu specifications. The Welshpool facility is one of two Komatsu Reman centres in Australia, and part of a network covering the UK, US, Japan, South Africa, Chile and Indonesia.
“Our expanded partnership with GE will ensure quality and efficiency improvements under our Kaizen continuous improvement process for Reman operations,” Komatsu Australia managing director and CEO Sean Taylor says.
“This creates added value for our customers by helping them extend component life and reduce unplanned downtime.”
The Welshpool facility will be custom fit for purpose to accommodate specialised tooling and machinery for electrical testing, varnishing, machining and balancing functions. Recruitment, tooling and pre-production are already underway, with production set to start this month.
GE says it’s confident the partnership will deliver the levels of quality, responsiveness and innovation that today’s customer expects.
“At this point in our industry’s cycle when efficiency and productivity are paramount, this partnership makes so much sense,” GE Mining senior regional services manager Chris Duhamel says.
“We are excited to work together with Komatsu and look forward to the positive outcomes it delivers for our mining customers.”