Middelburg build on track

Multi million rand facility on track for August 2015 completion

Babcock is on schedule for the August 2015 completion of a brand new, bespoke facility for the construction equipment sector in Middelburg, Mpumalanga. The R100-million development has been initiated to offer world class product support, across Babcock’s entire construction equipment product range, to customers throughout the region.

Construction on the 30 000 square metre site began in August last year. The state-of-the-art facility will comprise 12 large workshop bays with overhead cranage of up to 40 tons, dedicated washing bays for yellow metal vehicles, an industrial spray booth, a steel fabrication section for dump truck repairs and 900 m of office space. The new buildings incorporate sustainable, energy efficient design features aligned with global best practice.

“A substantial portion of our customer base is in the coal mining sector in this region,” says Project manager Michael de Weijer. “We’ve had a presence in Middelburg for the past ten years and we felt it was the right time to build a modern facility capable of meeting current customer needs and accommodating future growth.

“The new facility has been designed specifically to suit our business. It has built-in operational intelligence in the form of efficient flow between the parts warehouse, the workshop and the work bays, to ensure safe and streamlined operations. It has also been designed for regional growth and, as the staff complement increases over time, this will create employment opportunities for local people.”

Babcock is the exclusive regional distributor of Volvo Construction Equipment and the Volvo A40F dumper truck accounts for the biggest portion of the Volvo construction and mining machines marketed locally by Babcock. This robust six-wheel drive truck is well recognised in the global market for boosting productivity and it is particularly favoured in the opencast mining sector for its stability when negotiating steep slopes.

Other popular models are the EC700 excavator, which performs like an 80-ton class machine, and the L350F wheel loader, which is an extremely productive unit designed for use in the toughest mining environments. The EC700, powered by a 364 kW Volvo engine, is well matched to the A40 hauler, which it can load in four to six passes. The L350F, rated at 394 kW, has been described as an “uncompromising machine” which, like all other units in the Volvo range, offers excellent safety, ease of maintenance and durability. Among other features, it incorporates an intelligent load-sending hydraulic system consisting of two variable piston pumps which provide exactly the flow rate and pressure demanded by the work situation.

Babcock has a proven track record for unparalleled levels of service and support within the construction equipment industry.

“Our commitment to delivering materials handling solutions for a diversity of customers focuses on assisting them to achieve the lowest cost per ton of material moved,” says de Weijer. “This approach ensures the customer relationship begins, rather than ends, at the point of sale of the equipment. We work collaboratively with clients to engineer materials handling solutions that meet specific requirements and which mitigate the many challenges associated with operating heavy equipment.

“An asset management approach transforms the way customers optimise their asset availability to improve performance and reduce the lifetime cost of ownership and operation. Through partnerships, we add value to our customers’ businesses to reduce the hourly ownership and operating costs of their material handling machines and heighten productivity.”