A warehousing facility in Stormill, west of Johannesburg, with an area of 10 500 m² under roof, 1 660 m² under crane and dual lifting capacity of up to 40 t, is said to be well-position to respond quickly to the needs of customers in various regions of Africa and beyond.

FLSmidth states that its stock of slurry pumps, cyclones and valves allows the company to service customers throughout sub-Saharan Africa and into the Middle East.

Strategic stocking is done on a range of KREBS pumps, from the UMD heavy duty, millMAX, split casing slurryMAX, gravelMAX and vMAX range, all of which feature a recessed impeller design allowing the pumps to run dry. Technequip valves are also stocked in a variety of sizes, both flanged and wafer type.

In addition, key customers hold strategic consignment stocks at their sites, currently located in Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania, as well as with an agent in South Africa’s Northern Cape province.

The Stormill facility stocks a range of service exchange units and refurbishes and retrofits equipment, in an effort to assist mines to maintain uptime while keeping costs down.

The pump range can be offered to customers on a trial basis and trial pumps can be run against time or tonnage targets, to assess their performance compared to existing equipment.

A service technician visits the site for checking and fine-tuning during the trial, allowing operational parameters to be closely monitored and refinements made to specific performance requirements, explains the company.

FLSmidth asserts that by providing a range of service support options for all new products supplied, the company is able to add value to mine sites. Within South Africa, service support options include regular visits by service technicians to site, as well as  more intensive levels of service in the form of bespoke maintenance contracts and field service support teams operating in strategic locations.

In addition, if customers request a period of commissioning assistance, the company can provide experts on site for as long as required.

The company also provides customer training on request, which can be delivered in different languages, suited to the region.

The operation is certified with ISO 9001 for quality, ISO 14001 for environmental management and OSHAS 18001 for safety and health.