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CONSTRUCTION WORLD
MAY
2015
Construction on the 30 000 m
2
site began in August last year. The
state-of-the-art facility will comprise 12 large workshop bays with
overhead cranage of up to 40 tons, dedicated washing bays for
yellowmetal vehicles, an industrial spray booth, a steel fabrication section
for dump truck repairs and 900 m of office space. The new buildings
incorporate sustainable, energy efficient design features aligned with
global best practice.
“A substantial portion of our customer base is in the coal mining sector
in this region,” says project manager Michael de Weijer. “We’ve had a pres-
ence in Middelburg for the past ten years and we felt it was the right time
to build a modern facility capable of meeting current customer needs and
accommodating future growth.
“The new facility has been designed specifically to suit our business.
It has built-in operational intelligence in the form of efficient flow between
the parts warehouse, the workshop and the work bays, to ensure safe and
streamlined operations. It has also been designed for regional growth and,
as the staff complement increases over time, this will create employment
opportunities for local people.”
Babcock is the exclusive regional distributor of Volvo Construction
Equipment and the Volvo A40F dump truck accounts for the biggest
portion of the Volvo construction and mining machines marketed locally
by Babcock. This robust six-wheel drive truck is well recognised in the
global market for boosting productivity and it is particularly favoured in
the opencast mining sector for its stability when negotiating steep slopes.
Other popular models are the EC700 excavator, which performs like an
80-ton class machine, and the L350F wheel loader, which is an extremely
productive unit designed for use in the toughest mining environments.
The EC700, powered by a 364 kW Volvo engine, is well matched to the
A40 hauler, which it can load in four to six passes. The L350F, rated at 394
kW, has been described as an “uncompromising machine” which, like all
other units in the Volvo range, offers excellent safety, ease of maintenance
and durability. Among other features, it incorporates an intelligent load-
sending hydraulic system consisting of two variable piston pumps which
provide exactly the flow rate and pressure demanded by the work situation.
Babcock has a proven track record for unparalleled levels of service
and support within the construction equipment industry.
“Our commitment to delivering materials handling solutions for a
diversity of customers focuses on assisting them to achieve the lowest
cost per ton of material moved,” says De Weijer. “This approach ensures
the customer relationship begins, rather than ends, at the point of sale of
the equipment. We work collaboratively with clients to engineer materials
handling solutions that meet specific requirements and which mitigate the
many challenges associated with operating heavy equipment.
“An asset management approach transforms the way customers opti-
mise their asset availability to improve performance and reduce the lifetime
cost of ownership and operation. Through partnerships, we add value to
our customers’ businesses to reduce the hourly ownership and operating
costs of their material handling machines and heighten productivity.”
PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS
FACILITY ON TRACK
Babcock is on schedule for the August 2015
completion of a brand new, bespoke facility for the
construction equipment business unit Middelburg,
Mpumalanga. The R100-million development has
been initiated to offer world-class product support,
across Babcock’s entire construction equipment
product range, to customers throughout the region.
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