Modern Mining February 2016

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COMPANIES
A Scania tipper working in a
demanding mining applica-
tion (photo: Scania).
that can be calculated per kilometre, per hour
or per tonne of material being transported.
Scania builds its vehicles according to a
70-year tradition of modular design – which
makes for tremendous flexibility and also con-
tributes to shorter lead times for delivery. “We
import the knocked-down chassis kits from our
production plants overseas and, together with
the bodies, they are assembled here in South
Africa to the customer’s specification,” Smith
explains. “This means that we can also supply
specialist vehicles such as lubrication trucks,
water tankers, staff transporters, stemming
units and service vehicles.”
Smith, a Canadian who started her career
with Lafarge Canada, has been in South Africa
for 12 years. Based at Scania South Africa’s
headquarters in Aeroton, Johannesburg, she
reports to Steve Wager, the Managing Director
of Scania South Africa. She is assisted by
two newly appointed key account managers,
Reuben Govender and Charnie-Lee Kruger, who
will focus on clients in the mining and quarry-
ing industries. The mining team is still building
up with the next key appointment being a ser-
vices manager dedicated to mining.
Scania South Africa was established in 1995
as a wholly owned subsidiary of Scania CV
AB in Sweden. It initially assembled vehicles
in Elandsfontein but – following increased
demand – opened a new purpose-built plant
in 2003 alongside the head office complex in
Aeroton. The South African assembly plant is
Scania’s largest knocked-down kit assembly
operation outside Brazil and is seen as a model
for all future facilities of this type within the
worldwide Scania organisation. 