Modern Quarrying April May 2015

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SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT
Babcock is on schedule for the August
2015 completion of a brand new, bespoke
facility for the construction equipment
business unit inMiddelburg, Mpumalanga.
The R100-million development has been
initiated to offer world-class product sup-
port, across Babcock’s entire construction
equipment product range, to customers
throughout the region.
Construction on the 30 000 m2 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 t, dedicated washing bays for
yellow metal 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 fea-
tures aligned with global best practice.
“A substantial portion of our cus-
tomer base is in the coal mining sec-
tor in this region,” says project manager
Michael de Weijer. “We’ve had a presence
in Middelburg for the past ten years and
New Middleburg facility on track
we felt it was the right time to build a
modern facility capable of meeting cur-
rent 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 comple-
ment increases over time, this will cre-
ate employment opportunities for local
people.”
Babcock is the exclusive regional dis-
tributor of Volvo Construction Equipment
and the Volvo A40F dump truck accounts
for the biggest portion of the Volvo con-
struction and mining machines marketed
locally by Babcock.
Artist’s impression of the state-of-the-art Middelburg facility.