SKF South Africa is taking engineering knowledge, core technologies and capabilities to customers through technology days hosted in partnership with SKF authorised distributors. “For SKF it’s all about our customers and our distributors,” says Marchant Taylor, Sales Manager – Industrial OEM and Aftermarket and Kobus Archer, Aftermarket Sales Manager - Southern Africa. “It’s about maintaining the customer’s rotating equipment to minimise operational costs and maximise machinery life, plant availability and ultimately productivity. For us these are not just buzz words to which we pay lip service. We walk the talk; it is our responsibility to deliver to our customers SKF’s value proposition ‘to offer our customers leading edge technology products and integrated solutions for reduced TCO and enhanced asset performance’.”

“And SKF technology days present the ideal platform to do this; we can showcase our six global core technologies – bearings & units, power transmission, seals, mechatronics, lubrication systems and, mechanical and reliability engineering services, as well as our industry knowledge and capabilities (engineering, asset management programmes etc).” Taylor and Archer point out that technology days are certainly not new to SKF. “In addition to visiting customers, we also host customers and distributors at our Johannesburg-based Solutions Factory. But these are presented on a bigger, more product-lined and customer focused scale. Listening to our customers, we realised that it is sometimes difficult for them to leave a plant site to travel to Johannesburg, especially those customers in outlying areas.”

“So we adopted a new strategy to bring our entire company portfolio to our customers in select regions through our authorised industrial distributor network which we established in 2008 to bring us closer to our customers. We know that we cannot be everywhere but our distributors provide us with the best route to market so that we can place SKF resources, skills and capabilities where customers require them. Our distributors are an extension of our product and service delivery and our face to our customers throughout Southern Africa.”

“It therefore makes perfect business sense to host our technology days at our distributors’ premises. Our distributors are located in close proximity to the customers and are familiar with their needs. Together with our small but powerful team of SKF specialists representing different product groups and customer segments, we have the combined capabilities to address customers’ requirements face-to-face. Through one-on-one interaction customers can ask questions to which we can respond with researched solutions. It also gives our distributors the opportunity to re-affirm their partnerships with their customers. It is truly a win-win-win situation in every sense.”

SKF technology days are adapted to customer requirements, “to make it as convenient as possible for customers to attend,” explains Archer. “Following a presentation from SKF Solutions Factory Manager, Sarel Froneman, who explains the global concept behind the Solutions Factory and how SKF is equipped to share engineering knowledge, it is ‘hands-on’ time. This is where our true value add lies; customers have the opportunity to walk between our product displays showcasing each SKF core technology. Customers are given the opportunity to handle and even test certain products. There are also product demonstrations. The respective SKF engineers and managers are on hand to address all technical questions,” says Archer. “No SKF technology day is complete without some refreshments,” he adds.

The SKF Solutions Factory, established in July 2009, integrates SKF’s knowledge, capabilities and core technologies under one roof. Customers have the opportunity to walk through the Bearing Remanufacturing Service Centre, Lubrication Application Centre, Maintenance Products Repair Centre, the Seals, Power Transmission and Mechatronics Customisation Centre and the Machine Tool Spindle Refurbish Centre. SKF will be hosting one of its leading authorised distributors at the Solutions Factory on 9th July 2014.                                                                            3/…SKF technology days
“SKF technology days are an extension to the Solutions Factory; we have made mobile so that we can take our capabilities to our customers,” explain Taylor and Archer.                                                                         

SKF’s first technology day kicked off in Pretoria in August 2013 and was followed by a further five successful days during the year. The 2014 program kicked off in George in April, followed by Port Elizabeth in August. In September it will be the turn of the Witbank/Middelburg region, followed by Rustenburg in October and finally Vereeniging in November. “The results have been overwhelmingly positive and we are receiving requests from distributors to host technology days,” notes Archer. SKF technology days address a wide industry segment which includes mining, minerals processing, sugar, paper & pulp, petrochemical, materials handling, cement and marine, to mention a few. “But we, together with our distributor, select strategic (high potential) areas to ensure that we go prepared, armed with full knowledge of the particular segments so that we can add maximum value to the ultimate benefit of our customers,” concludes Archer. SKF technology days form part of other SKF initiatives with its commercial vehicle and agricultural distributors.