Sandvik has upgraded its Mackay facility from a service hub to a ‘Productivity Centre’, meaning it now has the capability to carry out major mining machine rebuilds and repairs to full original as-new condition.
This makes it the fourth productivity centre operated by Sandvik, joining those in Orange on the New South Wales Central West, in Heatherbrae in the NSW Hunter Region, and in Perth, Western Australia.
It incorporates a modern, high-tech repair and rebuild facility, including a paint booth, and serves as the regional warehouse for the entire Central Queensland region.
Sandvik Area Manager North — Service Tony McDonald says the facility upgrade’s primary purpose is to boost its customers’ productivity.
“What are we really concentrating on in this transition is all about time and waste,” McDonald says. “We are looking to driving out waste all through the aftermarket process, from how we quote, how we handle things, to we do on the shop floor and delivery and commissioning back with the customer — with the aim of significantly reducing the amount of time a piece of equipment is in our workshop and out of action.
“We recognise that the longer a customer’s asset sits in a supplier’s premises, the longer they don’t have access to it; our ambition is to reduce this to a minimum.”
McDonald adds that Sandvik is “very much aware” that the mining industry is focused on cost-reduction and productivity.
“Our ability to refurbish and rebuild existing equipment with several thousand hours on the clock, back to full as-new condition, at substantially less than the cost of new equipment, allows Sandvik to play an important role in reducing owning and operating costs, while maintaining productivity levels,” he says.
The Mackay centre also provides field services, including repairs and breakdown services, servicing assistance, fault diagnosis, machine condition audits, scheduled maintenance, service maintenance agreements and machine tune-ups.
