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PRODUCT News
January 2016
MODERN MINING
75
Sandvik’s new support facilities in Zambia
are enabling faster and more efficient
turnaround times for the maintenance
and repair of mining fleets throughout the
central African region.
In the year since moving into the new
facility from Sandvik’s old premises and
opening its doors in Kitwe, the operation
has significantly improved throughput of
repairs and rebuilds and has slashed deliv-
ery lead times for parts to ensuremaximum
uptime of Sandvik fleets in the region.
Sandvik invested in state-of-the-art
support offices that include administrative
offices, workshops, parts distribution and
logistics centres. Up-to-date equipment
and tooling, along with globally accepted
management systems, are also in place to
ensure services and support that are com-
parable to other Sandvik centres across the
globe.
Steve Chambers, Sandvik Technical and
Workshop Manager for central Africa, says
burgeoning fleets in the area require the
Sandvik’s Zambian support centre growing
same modern facilities that are found else-
where in the world.
“Within a year after opening our new
facility, it is clear to see that the move has
paid off andmines operating our machines
are starting to make full use of our ser-
vices,” Chambers says. “With a significant
amount of stock and spares parts and a
complement of specially trained staff able
to maintain and support our full
range of machines, there is no need
to look elsewhere.”
Since opening, the Kitwe office
has been a major success with a
significant increase in the num-
ber of jobs completed and parts
distributed. This includes a 60 per
cent increase in rebuilds received
from customers, combined with
the reduction of rebuild lead times
by a massive margin of 45 per cent
to just 12 weeks for a complete
machine rebuild.
Component rebuild times have
also been vastly improved and are steadily
becoming comparable with Sandvik’s
international standards.
Simultaneously, the company has
extended its safety record to an incredible
4,24 million hours without any lost time
injuries.
Mutale Chilufya, Sandvik Mining Zambia,
tel (+260) 212 241-000
Two technicians assembling a DANA 6000 series transmission
used in a Sandvik TH320 dump truck for a customer.