Booyco Engineering, which designs and builds specialised heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems for robust applications, asserts that maintenance or service programmes help ensure that a machine’s total cost of ownership (TCO) is kept as low as possible.

Company MD Brenton Spies says that regular, planned maintenance conducted by skilled technicians helps customers achieve the lowest TCO from HVAC units. He notes that health and safety regulations state that an operator’s cab must be kept at a comfortable temperature, and if an HVAC system is faulty, especially in areas of extreme temperatures, the operator can stop work, which means productivity is slowed. 

To avoid such circumstances, Booyco Engineering not only supplies custom-engineered HVAC solutions for mining and earthmoving trucks, but also offers a maintenance agreement – known as a ‘man on site’ – which dedicates the necessary skills and experience to the customer’s equipment.

The company has been known to offer five year warranties for HVAC equipment in mining vehicles if there is a Booyco Engineering maintenance programme in place, noting that its units can last 20 years or more when correctly maintained.

When the company designs its products, it develops the optimal schedules for replacement of certain components and service interventions, according to Booyco Engineering executive director Grant Miller.

Booyco Engineering has started a learnership scheme for field technicians to expand its pool of skilled technicians to implement maintenance contracts on HVAC installations. Its compliance with health and safety regulations means that staff can be quickly deployed onto a site, ensuring continuous operations. 

The company says it has recently rationalised its product offering so that HVAC units can be deployed over multiple vehicle types, allowing streamlining of stockholding and reduced lead times.

“All in all, our maintenance contracts ensure that customers can achieve the lowest TCO on their high value mining trucks by planning and budgeting in advance for servicing HVAC units,” says Miller. “In this way, the TCO can be driven down by ensuring a longer operating life, while also avoiding costly downtime which undermines the trucks’ ability to generate value.”