Construction World August 2018

Markus Geyer – Managing Director, MAN Automotive South Africa Proprietary Limited.

Adding to this, MAN Automotive has seen an significant increase in sales and market share and as a consequence to this announced plans which enable the expansion of assembly operations by approximately 50% compared to 2016. As of 1 April, the Assembly Plant caters for end-of-line PDI checks (Pre-Delivery inspection), which are normally done at the various dealer points around the country. By definition this means that MAN as an automotive supplier of commercial vehicles is now able to offer ready-to-go solutions, from a centralised point – enabling improved consistency in quality and uniformity of standards. Having such a central point also enables the MAN customer to make collections of their transport solutions from the assembly plant, in alignment with MAN globally, similar to how the brand operates globally. MAN’s ProfiDrive driver training is then provided as a standard service to such collecting customers. An enabler to this move is the use of the MAN Branch facility adjacent to the Pinetown plant. Supporting the network optimisation strategy which is taking place simultaneously, the normal MAN Retail operations ceased from this site, effective 1 of April 2018. MAN is confident that the remaining six dealers within KwaZulu-Natal will continue to offer customers with a variety of options to support their operations without any compromise to service levels.  support to MAN clients. Previously operated as a Private Capital location, MAN decided that it was the right time to reinforce its footprint by setting up this wholly owned location. Expanding operations MAN’s Retail operations will open a wholly owned operation in Port Elizabeth. One of SA’s largest cities, Port Elizabeth has always been an important location on the Garden Route to offer

The calibration of a Delphi smart pump being done at RFI.

at the different settings, and then generates an electronic trim code.” The trim code is essentially a calibration code that is fed back into the engine control unit when the injectors are re-fitted, so that each injector is accurately trimmed to deliv- er the same quantities of fuel. “This critical step is often overlooked, as many aftermarket suppliers do not have the capability to produce and install the

trim codes,” he says. “So, while the repaired vehicle will run, it will not deliver the optimal performance that the owner should expect from these advanced engines, and the efficiency benefits will be lost.” Another important contribution RFI makes to raising the uptime of construc- tion vehicles is through its stock of service exchange units for those fastmoving part numbers of injectors and fuel pumps. “For an operator with a truck that is stranded on the side of the road or in a quarry pit, time is of the essence and a re- manufactured service exchange unit is the fastest way of getting them up and running again,” he says. “This cuts out the time they would have to wait to get their injectors remanufac- tured. We also carry a large range of spare parts – many of which are common within injector ranges – so we can also build up injectors from this stock if we need to without taking more valuable time to order from the OEM.” Yorke emphasises that RFI understands how critical it is to reduce downtime, hence the company’s combined focus on diagnos- tics, correct OEM calibration equipment, service exchange units and a comprehen- sive stockholding of spare parts. 

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CONSTRUCTION WORLD AUGUST 2018