Last year was a period of transition which saw us become the regional, exclusive distributor of the tried and trusted Metso brand and at the same time, give extra emphasis to our spare parts and components business. The latter has yielded significant growth in what is now a key market as well as providing the energy to drive a significant improvement in service levels.

The developing relationship between ourselves and Metso has undoubtedly been a highlight of the past 12 months and the brand has impressively accounted for a high proportion of spare parts business and new business sales.

Metso has already indicated that as our principal supplier, it is equally pleased with our performance as southern African distributor and has expressed its satisfaction at the success we have achieved, especially in the sale of static machinery.

Their support both technical and sales, is excellent, which has encouraged several highly-experienced operators to replace aging crushers in their plants with new Metso products. These have integrated perfectly with equipment supplied by a variety of OEMs, resulting in increased up time and significant gains in plant productivity.

Feedback from customers tells us that they regard Metso technology partnered with the Pilot Crushtec service as the ideal solution to customer’s requirements for efficient aggregate production, an opinion that is demonstrated in recent multiple sales of cone and jaw crushers and steady growth in the sale of Metso mobile scalpers and screens.

Service has always been a major priority, and in the capital equipment business, it has become an individual science that requires customer specific solutions.

This is a concept that we have been quick to embrace, and on page 4 you can see that we have invested a great deal of time and money in putting into place effective structures and strategies to provide our customers with a 21^st century, world-class aftermarket experience.

Prior to the decline in world mineral and capital markets we invested heavily in the development of our own products for use in specialist markets. These efforts have ultimately been rewarded as signs of at least a partial return to economic normality, have reopened the doors to export markets.

Our TwisterTrac VS350 tracked vertical shaft impact crusher had already achieved significant sales in Australia prior to the downturn. Times are showing signs of change as – following a hiatus in sales activity – our local distributor has already reacted to an upswing in road developments by taking delivery of three of these advanced models for use in aggregate production – with strong potential for more to come.

Heading even further south, customers in New Zealand (essentially a new market for us) recently bought of RubbleBuster SR500s and Pilot Modular BR0605 horizontal impact crushers which will also be used in road construction and material recycling projects.

This would not be a Crushtec Chronicle issue without the introduction of a new product. In this case, it is the all new static scalper. The MaxiScalp 600 has been designed with operating costs in mind and will yield high volume productivity without the diesel transmission-related maintenance costs associated with mobile equipment.

This represents yet another industry first to have been conceived and built in the Jet Park facility, and customers are welcome to view our display model from August.