Industry Best Lead Times
An enormous difficulty for those involved within mine site maintenance are the extensively long waiting periods involved in the acquisition of conveyor rollers. Unreliable lead times are among the most challenging and costly problems experienced in mining operations. In the current economic climate, mining companies want to augment productivity and induce more cost effective practices. The simple fact remains, down time as a result of the failure to have the right gear delivered on time, hinders the core principles behind achieving that cost efficiency. Many maintenance professionals are forced to wait an average of 8-16 weeks for supply and delivery of conveyor rollers. Identifying the true cost behind roller replacement is important in achieving cost efficiency, especially when waiting unreasonably long to receive supply.
Currently, there are many distinguished conveyor roller manufacturers supplying the market, some manufacturing abroad, but only a handful manufacture locally. Even those that manufacture within Australia often force those at the receiving end to wait longer than 8 weeks and in some cases charge extra for the benefit of skipping a few places within the queue. These practices and poor lead times are one of the motivational factors that has led to the advancement and refinement in Megaroller’s business strategy and practice.
Under its new ownership, Megaroller Australia, identified a need for quicker service delivery and implemented a strategy in establishing of the best lead times in Australia. JA Kotze, Director of Megaroller Australia added: “We’ve managed to reduce our lead times down to an average of 14-18 business days. This was a major challenge for us, but we’re willing to go the extra distance to ensure we offer the best possible service delivery. Our highly skilled staff, streamlined production process and the fact that we manufacture locally in Perth has played a big part in realising this success. We’ll continue to improve where we can”.
Due to high demand for their rollers within the Australian Bulk Material Handling Industry as a whole, Megaroller, the World’s original and one of the largest producers of High Density Polyethylene conveyor rollers, set up an Australian manufacturing arm in New South Wales in 2010. It’s only recently that ownership changed hands and the decision was made to manufacture closer to Australia’s largest mining geography, which subsequently saw the relocation of the entire business and staff to Western Australia. “Our fast production time doesn’t mean we’ve sacrificed quality either. It’s the same roller, achieving the same market leading lifespan, manufactured from the same materials at the same cost. Instead we’ve created an incentive and reward structure for hard work. We bear the cost for the overtime work involved, and staff are happy to put in the extra hours. It’s a no brainer. When there’s a specific demand in the market, we’ll do whatever it takes to satisfy that demand”, Kotze added.
