Paul Doran, Business Development Manager for the Metso Outotec product line at Tutt Bryant Equipment, sits down with Quarry to discuss news and highlights from the company.
How did Tutt Bryant Equipment (TBE) perform in 2022?
It was a record year for us in terms of equipment sales. We experienced unprecedented demand, not just from the quarrying industry, but also from infrastructure, mining and waste industries. Part of the reason, I believe, was that we were bullish and had placed ample stock orders well in advance, so we had good stock inventory across the country to meet the demands of existing and new customers.
In your view, how did the quarrying industry perform during the year?
Quarrying, as an industry, was not as seriously impacted by Covid as other industries, given that we were fortunate enough to be classified as an essential industry. If anything, we saw a ramp up of activities as governments increased their infrastructure spending to fuel a Covid recovery. Like all industries, however, we and our customers had to adapt to keep our staff safe to enable us to continue to work.
What has TBE done to adapt?
With many new customers coming to our business, we’ve had to increase our interactions, both with the customers and with Metso Outotec and supply chain to make sure that we can get the equipment that our customers need here on time. We required more vigilance on reporting shipping delays and we’ve tried very hard to do everything that we possibly could to meet customers’ expectations; which I believe is proven by the fact that we had such an outstanding year.
We are trying to grow our service team so with the current shortage of skilled labour, we have and continue to recruit from overseas. We also have a training academy being developed internally to enable us to train people and develop our own capability to service/support the machinery.
Which of TBE’s products are most popular in the quarrying industry?
Metso Outotec’s crushers have been around for about four decades, so a lot of serious practitioners prefer a Metso Outotec jaw crusher. The LT106 or the LT120 jaw crushers are the primary crusher options for many customers as these crushers are rated to crush very high compressive strength materials.
In our portfolio, we also have a combination machine called the LT220D, which has a cone crusher and a triple deck screen mounted on one chassis. We’ve sold many of these machines lately as they suit smaller contracting companies or people that move regularly and want low fuel usage machinery.
But our biggest seller is probably the LT1213S impact crusher. They are in a class of their own as far as productivity and reliability are concerned and customers are very happy with their performance.
Have you observed any change in appetite for new technologies in the industry and how is TBE addressing those?
In general, a lot of the operators are looking at the introduction of diesel-electric machines so they can become more cost effective and reduce their emissions/ energy usage. This is something that Metso Outotec has identified globally and is developing an entire line of diesel-electric products, to be gradually rolled out in the next few years. I see that as a real growth opportunity, not just for our company, but also for customers to differentiate themselves from their competitors by having low-cost, high-production equipment capability.
Smart and remote fleet management is another thing that allows customers to reduce their cost per tonne of crushing. Metso Outotec has a fleet management system called Metrics, which is standard on all our units in Australia. Metrics is a cloud-based fleet management tool that customers can use to monitor the performance of their machine from anywhere in the world. That’s currently being updated and will be rolled out in the new year as a more user-friendly system with more information for analysis.
Do you foresee any challenges for the industry in the next three years?
Shortage of skilled workforce remains a challenge for most industries, and one that I believe will take time to correct. From our end, with our recruitment drive and training academy, we are doing all we can to ensure our staff are adequately trained so that when our customers have a service issue or a breakdown, then we can help them get back to operational status as quickly as possible.
What are TBE’s key goals in 2023?
In addition to rolling out the updated Metrics system, we have recently received a new line of products from a Swedish subsidiary of Metso Outotec called Jonsson. They only make diesel-electric equipment, and their version of Metrics goes into more detail and incorporates live belt weighing, even allowing the operator to monitor the performance and the temperature of some components of the crusher with live data. Jonsson’s mobile crushers are for the bigger end of town, from 140 tonnes and upward, so it’s not going to suit every application. But if you wanted large mobile crushers in your quarry pit, well these things will certainly do the job. Obviously, our goal is to deliver some units into Australia in 2023.
For more information about Tutt Bryant Equipment’s Metso Outotec mobile range and services, visit: www.tuttbryant.com.au
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