Crane and hoist manufacturer Condra has expanded its maintenance programme to include hands-on training for customers’ own service personnel.
The company is also to introduce remote diagnostics for on-screen assistance at isolated sites, rolling out these improvements at installations across Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Bulgaria, Peru and Chile, and in all African countries where Condra has a presence.
Over time, the diagnostics will combine with remote specialist oversight to aid repairs by the customer’s own technicians. Electricians at Condra’s factories already add diagnostic chips to frequency drives during crane manufacture. The plan is to extend this capability to other crane components, delivering on-screen assistance to any site with an internet signal.
Until now, Condra’s maintenance programme has incorporated only selected agents and technical teams from its own factories. In future, where customers have their own maintenance crews, it will be these personnel who will execute this type of work, helped either by visiting teams, or remotely by specialists at Condra’s technical centre in Johannesburg.
On-demand emergency repairs will continue to be managed by Condra technicians sent to site.
Managing director Marc Kleiner explained that the goal is to lower the customer’s service costs, and to further improve his machine uptime and productivity.
“We want to expand the capabilities of our customers’ maintenance personnel, who sometimes have difficulty repairing to OEM standard,” said Kleiner.
“We will work with them to identify the wrinkles, then let them get on with fixing those while our own people identify potential wear and take steps to correct it.”
Kleiner said that Condra teams would execute repairs only after quoting. Once accepted, support staff at Condra’s head office would then assemble spare parts and arrange all export documentation for shipping. Spares lists would normally include parts needed for the long term, based on predictions of likely wear.
“The idea is that a Condra team will oversee the mine’s own service personnel wherever possible, helping them carry out the repair themselves,” Kleiner said. “This will allow hands-on training under specialist direction.
“What we’re trying to overcome is the too-common practice of working a machine until it fails, then buying a new one, something often seen in mining applications.
“What we’re saying is this: If you buy the correct machine in the first place and look after it by carrying out scheduled maintenance, the life expectancy of your machine will increase along with your financial return. But if you wait until that machine breaks down, production will have to stop while you wait for the spares to arrive. This is not clever. With a little bit of support from our side, your machine will run more reliably and for much longer, and production can continue uninterrupted.”
Outlining the improved schedule, Kleiner said that Condra will re-visit Ivory Coast and Angola during July and August, followed by Zambia and Namibia. After that will come Sierra Leone. Other countries appearing on the schedule include Liberia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana, DRC, Mauritania, Ghana, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Senegal.
Twelve service teams will carry out these visits (up from two teams five years ago), each one comprising either an electrical specialist accompanied by mechanical assistant, or vice versa.
Expanding on Condra’s plans for remote diagnostics, Kleiner said that the company would work in conjunction with specialists in England and Australia to allow customers to receive prompt assistance in most of the world’s time zones, combining a phone call with on-screen visuals presented to the customer’s technicians at the installation site.
“We want to develop a library of repair videos to complement this diagnostic service,” Kleiner said.
“The idea is that, long term, Condra teams will be present for critical support only. We will achieve this through proactive maintenance schedules supported by remote fault diagnosis, and complemented by instructional repair videos.”