Kwatani, previously known as Joest Kwatani, has made the final transition to position itself as a company with a proud African history. Kim Schoepflin, managing director of Kwatani, says this has been a natural progression and better reflects the company’s operating philosophy, its African heritage and overall commitment to transformation in South Africa.

Significantly, KWA TANI means engineered for tonnage in African Swahili, and underpins the company’s commitment to producing quality vibrating equipment for the continent’s mining industry. The ability to respond rapidly to market demands has always been one of Kwatani’s strengths, and it is this reputation of supplying robust vibrating equipment, capable of withstanding the tough African mining conditions, that has seen the South African-based Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) grow from strength to strength.

The company began in 1976 as a small operation called JOEST that used to import motors from Germany and assemble small vibrating equipment. Purchased in 1989 by Gunter Vogel, the fledgling company, under his skilled leadership, successfully integrated home grown South African technology into the original German designs.

Schoepflin, who is also the daughter of founder Gunter Vogel, says the incorporation of new generation proven South African technology was essential.

“This strategy allows the company to produce robust heavy duty equipment that offers end-users the required throughputs as well as the efficiencies and longevity needed for such capital equipment. We can truly say that Kwatani vibrating equipment is specifically engineered for tonnage,” she says.

Celebrating forty years of successful operation on the African continent is no mean feat, and Schoepflin is quick to point out that Kwatani’s custom engineered vibrating equipment can be found across all commodities through the mining sector in Africa.

This extensive experience as an OEM on the continent has allowed Kwatani to maintain close relationships with its customers. As a result ongoing product improvement is a given with the company’s skilled engineers integrating design improvements in its equipment.

Schoepflin says that as a truly South African and indeed African company, its team has a solid understanding of the operating conditions in the various mining sectors.

“Our experienced in-house design and technology teams are able to accurately interpret customer requirements and translate this information into solutions that are engineered for optimum throughput tonnages, and most importantly, this is achieved without sacrificing reliability or quality,” she says.

Not only does Kwatani engineer and manufacture vibrating equipment, the company leverages its proprietary advanced testing and measuring technology for condition monitoring of customers’ assets. This approach has already begun paying dividends for mines that have contracted with the company to assist in reducing the total cost of ownership.

Another feather in Kwatani’s cap is that the company is a level 3 BBBEE empowering contributor and is 30% black owned, making it the first in its class to exceed the mining charter requirements in South Africa.

But, as Schoepflin explains, Kwatani’s sights on not set only on the South African mining industry, but on the larger African and global mining industries where it is apparent that that there is a demand for reliable vibrating equipment engineered for tonnage.