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Servicing is a very important aspect of
equipment lifecycle. A well-maintained
piece of equipment means less downtime,
higher productivity and lower costs for the
equipment owner.
Based on the continued understanding
of these fundamental principles, several
OEMs and their local dealers have recently
invested substantial amounts of money into
their local support structures.
Babcock, the exclusive southern African
dealer for Volvo Construction Equipment;
Wirtgen South Africa, a subsidiary of the
Wirtgen Group; Burgers Equipment &
Spares, LiuGong’s dealer for South Africa
and Namibia; the Volvo Group Southern
Africa; as well as Caterpillar and its
southern Africa dealer, Barloworld, are
some of the companies that have recently
ploughed astronomic investments into new
local facilities that significantly improve
their capabilities to support their customers.
As a service-centric company that
continues to invest in improving its
service delivery, Babcock recently made
a mammoth R100 million investment in
an ultramodern sales, parts and service
dealership in Middelburg, Mpumalanga.
This is to offer improved regional support
and service across Babcock’s construction
and mining equipment customers operating
in the coalfields of Mpumalanga, according
to Ben Buys, technical director at Babcock’s
Equipment division.
Meanwhile, the Wirtgen Group also
recently invested in excess of R50 million
into a new facility for its Wirtgen South
Africa subsidiary in Pomona, Gauteng. At
the time of the official launch, Heinrich
Schulenburg, MD of Wirtgen SA, reiterated
that the investment gives the company
the much needed infrastructure to support
its southern African customers. “We now
have a facility that suits the needs of this
market and gives us the opportunity to
address those demands in a professional
and competitive way,” said Schulenburg.
Burgers Equipment & Spares’ recent
move to a larger, own facility in Pomona,
Gauteng, is part of its overall strategy to
elevate customer service through off-the-
shelf spare parts availability, according to
Nico Thompson, branch manager of the
company’s recently opened Rustenburg
branch. Burgers Equipment & Spares’
Pomona facility is further complemented
by a recent footprint expansion with new
branches in Cape Town, Rustenburg and
Polokwane.
Meanwhile, theVolvoGroupSouthernAfrica
also inaugurated an upgraded R60 million
integrated regional parts distribution centre
in Boksburg, Johannesburg, South Africa in
recent years. The 13 000 m² facility, formerly
a 4 500 m² warehouse, now serves Volvo’s
African markets south of the equator,
including the whole of southern Africa,
excluding Angola, as well as countries such
as Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Kenya.
Elsewhere, BarloworldEquipment recently
announced an agreement with its principal,
Caterpillar, to establish a Barloworld
Equipment Cat retail parts operation in the
newly-built Caterpillar Parts Distribution
Centre in Kempton Park near Johannesburg.
Barloworld Equipment, the official dealer
of Caterpillar products and services in 11
southern African countries, will consolidate
over-the-counter aftermarket parts activities
from Linbro Park and Isando into the new
location. The pioneering collaboration is
said to be a demonstration of Caterpillar’s
and Barloworld Equipment’s combined
commitment
to
provide
unmatched
aftermarket service to customers in the
region.
Trusted to deliver
According to Buys, aftermarket is
conceivably the most important part of
Babcock’s business. “We believe that we
have to earn the right to sell the machine
by offering a high standard of support,
hence our ‘trusted to deliver’ strapline,”
says Buys.
Babcock was crowned Volvo CE’s Dealer
of the Year 2016 in Region EMEA Hub
South (Continental Africa and Middle
East & Turkey). The accolade is reflective
of Babcock’s capabilities as a force to be
reckoned with among Volvo CE’s global
dealers. The award is based on 2016
achievements in market share growth;
parts sales growth; and Customer Support
Babcock recently
invested R100 million in an
ultramodern sales, parts
and service dealership in
Middelburg, Mpumalanga.