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MODERN MINING
May 2017
feature
CRUSHING, SCREENING
AND MILLING
A
ccording toRossDott, FLSmidth’s
Business Development Manager
for Meshcape
®
Screen Media
products, the market has become
increasingly globalised and com-
petitive, making long term relationships with
customers even more vital.
“With our global footprint, we are able to
offer the market a total package and this is a
major differentiator,” says Dott. “In addition to
our wide range of screen panel solutions, we
provide that unique mix of capabilities with
skilled technical staff all over the world in our
Supercenters and Technology Centers.”
FLSmidth Meshcape
®
Screen Media, with its
extensive engineering expertise and high qual-
ity manufacturing capacity in South Africa and
Australia, is the largest supplier of woven wire
product in the southern hemisphere.
“Unlike many of our smaller competitors,
we cater for the entire range of screening prod-
ucts so we can provide solutions to any market
that has a processing operation that needs to
screen, sieve, sort, size, filter, protect, support,
freeze, dry, dewater and
reinforce,” he says.
FLSmidth, through its
global network, is able to
leverage technical skills
as well as a logistical
supply chain that ensures
optimum responsiveness
to customers, and this
is particularly relevant
to its screen media cus-
tomer base.
“Our primary objec-
t i ve i s t o he l p ou r
customers achieve the
lowest cost per ton in
their production pro-
cess,” says Dott. “You
can only do that if you
specify the right wire
for the application; this
requires experience in both the manufacturing
and the application of screen media, which we
have in abundance.”
He emphasises the importance of under-
standing the customer’s operation, as the
business is no longer about just selling wire
screens – rather, it is about adding value to the
customer’s business. Understanding the density
of the material being processed, for instance,
is a key aspect of specifying correctly; this
allows wire thicknesses to be reduced as far as
possible.
“It is a fallacy that thicker wire is better,”
he says. “In the production process, the wire’s
tensile strength rises the more it is drawn. It is
also more difficult to properly tension thicker
screens, and if they are not tensioned correctly
they may be prone to breakage and could fail
prematurely.”
Wire strands that are optimally specified
will also give the screen greater open area and
will reduce costs as thinner wires are used.
This will also lighten the mass of the screen,
making the machine lighter and more efficient.
He highlights the fact that a vibrating
screen is perhaps one of the best fatigue testers
available.
“For a strand of wire to withstand the forces
of a screen moving up to 10 000 times a minute,
it requires highly specialised engineering and
Screen media brand
builds
on FLSmidth’s global footprint
With a South African heritage going back over 110 years,
the FLSmidth Meshcape® Screen Media product brand
offers the mining sector not only a full range of wire screens
and screen media but the footprint of global FLSmidth.
“Our primary
objective is
to help our
customers
achieve the
lowest cost
per ton in their
production
process.”