The service from the parts supplier is as critical as the quality of the products they supply. This includes factors such as response time to inquiries, delivery time of orders, product knowledge and after sales support.
Historically, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have been the first choice for maintenance superintendents for spares and wearparts. They expect the OEM to supply the correct parts for their machine, support their products and honour warranties.
However, there are Australian-owned companies that offer an alternative to OEM spare parts and wearparts. They manufacture and supply generic spare parts and wearparts to the same design and material specifications as those of the OEMs. These include wear liners, bushes, head and shaft assemblies, step plates, dust seals, head nuts, filters and wear rings, among others, for crushers, conveyors, screens and feeders.
Daniel Ritchie, managing director for South Australia-based Crusher Parts International, said it was not unusual to receive inquiries from customers unhappy with their OEM supplier’s current service and support.
“We can offer operators a high quality alternative for both products and service,” he said.
Off the record experience
There are horror stories of people buying the cheapest products on the market to save money without doing their research into the quality and background of the company.
Ritchie said there was nothing wrong with buying generic parts, provided they complied with the worldwide industry standard ISO9001:2008. This ensures the parts will have been subjected to the correct quality and testing procedures.
Ritchie added generic parts also should not be overpriced. “We want to crush the myth that high quality spare parts and wearparts have to be expensively priced,” he said.
According to Ritchie, the feedback from some of Crusher Parts International’s customers to date has been positive. However, many were reluctant to speak on the record, largely because they still require service from their OEMs, eg for electrical and hydraulic work. An OEM may void the warranty on a crushing plant if generic parts are used within the warranty period.
One mine maintenance manager reportedly said his company had purchased a new jaw crusher and cone crusher from an OEM, and was happy with the operation of both.
“However, when we needed replacement parts, our inquiries took several days to be answered and delivery time on parts could be several months, which was very frustrating,” the manager said. “Any time our plant is down, it costs us money, so we needed to find a back-up to the OEM in case we were caught out with delivery issues.
“We found Crusher Parts International through its website and saw that it provided the parts and services we needed.”
The mine maintenance manager said that on establishing contact with Crusher Parts International, he realised its “product knowledge was extensive, and I had a detailed quote within hours”. He was wary of the “significantly lower pricing to that of the OEM”, so he placed a sample order for common parts.
“I was surprised when our order arrived because I couldn’t even tell the difference in the appearance of the parts to that of the OEM ones,” the manager claimed.
“The packaging was professional and everything was clearly labelled. The performance far exceeded our expectations and the cost saving was considerable.”
Even with six months left on its OEM warranty, this customer changed its complete spare parts and wearparts requirements to Crusher Parts International. A new supply of wear liners lengthened the time between liner changes. Over the course of a year, the mine maintenance manager claimed his operation had one less maintenance shutdown, saving time and money without stopping production.
“We had an instance where our machine broke down on a Saturday morning and we needed a part urgently to get it up and running again,” the manager said. “We called Daniel in a pretty desperate situation and he went to work, packaged up what we needed and took it to the airport to send it over to us on the next available flight. We received the parts and had the machine back up and running that evening. You don’t get that sort of service very often. It saved us hours of downtime and thousands of dollars in lost production.”
Older makes, models
Crusher Parts International specialises in parts and components for static and mobile crushers, conveyors, screens and feeders. It supplies all its spare parts and wearparts direct from the manufacturers to reduce costs that would be added to the price charged for individual items, eg multiple transportation, warehouse stocking and administration costs.
Furthermore, the company’s staff have had extensive experience working within several large OEMs over many years, and therefore understand the strict tolerances and superior quality control processes required for the manufacture and supply of high quality finished components.
The makes and models of machines that Crusher Parts International supports include Metso, Sandvik, Terex (including Jaques, Pegson and Finlay), Striker, Parker, Maximus, McCloskey, Tesab, Hazemag and Cedarapids, to name a few. Its inventory can also support older makes and models, including Extec and Fintec machines (pre-Sandvik) and Symons Nordberg (pre-Metso).
Source: Crusher Parts International