Right from the start, service has been the cornerstone on which Pilot Crushtec International’s success has been founded. Its ability to deliver world class customer support throughout Africa as well as farther afield has done much to cement the relationships it values so highly.

The company has invested heavily in people and resources to deliver its customers exceptional service, a process which begins even before a product is sold.

Director of sales Graham Kleinhans says the sales and subsequent service cycle begins by “knocking on doors”.

“We do not cherry pick our customers; we consistently go around knocking on doors to assess potential buyers’ needs and their own clients’ requirements. Our sales engineers are a highly competent team made up of seasoned industry specialists and engineering graduates who are best able to recommend the product solutions to meet a customer’s needs – wherever and whatever they may be,” he explains.

More than one-third of the workforce is either directly or indirectly involved in customer service and support, and they are fully equipped with the tools and communications equipment to provide a high-tech service often
well away from base.

Once a product has begins. InstalLink, Pilot Crushtec International’s dedicated installation team, is responsible for the installation and commissioning of the products on site, often accompanied by highly-trained product specialists from overseas suppliers.

This procedure applies to ebery product sold in both domestic and export markets, including recent product sales to Chile, Russia and Australia.

However, you do not need to travel abroad to clock up impressive distances. An InstalLink team member recently drove more than 10 000 km in just two weeks to monitor customers' new products in operation.

“The one thing that is guaranteed in our industry, is that at some stage something will break,” says Kleinhans. Given the nature of this robust industry this is hardly surprising, but the professionalism of Pilot Crushtec International’s SupportLink crews, which comprise equipped, qualified and experienced personnel to professionally service and repair all Pilot Crushtec’s products, set an industry benchmark.

“It’s a tough market to service and we employ several strong people who thrive on working under extreme African conditions,” he says. Teams are on call 24/7 and have a fleet of specially equipped vehicles that provide service engineers with the ability to rectify problems on site, with minimal delays. Advanced personal communications systems enable SupportLink personnel to have direct contact from site to obtain advice from suppliers’ service and technical support departments as far afield as the UK and Austria.

What really sets the SupportLink team apart is the quality of its personnel; a mixture of hardy veterans with many years of field service experience and a growing team of handpicked engineering graduates who undertook the practical modules of their courses at Pilot Crushtec International.

Even the toughest machines will suffer component failures in a business like crushing and screening, and that is where the parts department comes into play. PartsLink provides a 24/7 service all year round to ensure that a customer receives an urgently needed part as soon as possible, anywhere on the planet.

This is no idle boast. Many customers who have been able to resume operations in a matter of hours as a result
of a member of the PartsLink team driving over night or a flat out, late night, last gasp effort to get urgently needed parts onto a plane.