Konecranes South Africa now has two members on an elite team, Marius Naude (Global Technical Support Specialist) and Niekie Erasmus (Senior Service Technician).

“Being part of the Global Technical Support group is an honour and an achievement, but also comes with huge responsibility and dedication to Konecranes,” says John MacDonald, Service, Sales, and Marketing Director for Konecranes South Africa. “We are very proud of our two home grown experts playing such a vital role in supporting crane projects across the globe.”

Konecranes’ Global Technical Support is responsible for providing 24/7 international support for Konecranes technicians and regional specialists all over the world as well as troubleshooting and special crane commissioning services. Customers often call directly for support when serious problems are encountered that could cause costly delays in the production process.

To become part of the Konecranes Global Specialist Team, the person is nominated either by someone from Global Technical Support, Technical Training Group or the Country/Regional Support Specialist. An assessment by the Specialist Trainer will follow to ensure that the candidate has the necessary skills level to participate in this elite group. Only ten candidates are accepted per year and the current group brings the total candidates trained since the start of this program to 110. Unfortunately quite a few are lost with promotions, job role changes, resignations and retirements.

 “After successful completion of this training, I was tasked with Regional Specialist Support which covered Southern Africa and sub-Saharan Africa”, said Naude “Over time, some countries were added when other members were not available or were restricted to travel there. These countries include Panama, Turkey and Iraq.

Due to the expanding Konecranes footprint on the African continent, the workload also increased. “We therefore decided to nominate a second Country Specialist. Mr. Niekie Erasmus from our Amanzimtoti Branch was nominated and assessed by the current Global Technical Support Team at the end of 2018. He was successful with the assessment and started his Specialist Training in March 2019. This should be completed by the end of October 2019”, said Naude.

“With Niekie and I covering sub-Saharan Africa, we can keep our technicians as well as the customers happy with quick, accurate and productive support.”

Contact Marius Naudé for further information on +27 72 604 2766 or email marius.naude@konecranes.com