Home > Mining > View from the Top

Finding Efficiencies for Mining Operators

Gerardo Angulo - Timken
Director General

STORY INLINE POST

Wed, 10/19/2016 - 16:48

share it

Q: What new products has Timken introduced into Mexico that enabled them to hold such an important position in the industry?

A: Timken provides customers with durable, high performance products. We are interested in providing our clients with a variety of products, including all bearing types, the most complete housed unit line, chain, couplings, gears, and other power transmission solutions. Our engineers can create different types of seals that can protect our bearings from a larger variety of contaminants. We also offer different types of coatings for different industries. We analyze various markets and working conditions in order to create specialized products that are able to adapt to their duties and environment. We have 12 technology and engineering centers that are located around the world where we work to find solutions that help improve the reliability and performance of equipment manufacturers.

Q: How do you support mine operators with maintenance and adequate training for your equipment?

A: We spend numerous hours working with the heads of each department and schedule training sessions with operations, maintenance, and any other work group in the mine. We also work very closely with our distributors, preparing them for any problem that they could come in contact with while working with our equipment. It is crucial to know the product inside out so if a problem arises it can be fixed as quickly as possible without impacting the production time of the pit. Nowadays, most mining companies have their suppliers with them in the mines, which work with our suppliers to provide them with correct solutions.

We are always interested in our customers’ areas of opportunity. We like to know in which processes they are having problems or where they are having bottlenecks. We like to work together to figure out a solution. If a customer looks to us and tells us they are changing a part too often, we investigate the causes and the problem to come up with a solution. We recently saw an opportunity in housed units in the market, and came up with the split-housing units called “Revolvo”. Instead of taking hours to replace a housed unit, it now takes only 15-20 minutes. We have been successful with our Solid Block Units and Couplings. In the mining market, couplings need lubrication and the whole part must constantly be replaced. We offer a solution that works as an insert, and that way it would only be necessary to replace one component and not the whole thing. The savings that a company would have in this product are 70-80 percent.

Q: What are the opportunities that Timken has spotted in the mining industry?

A: Since acquiring Torrington, we offer a diverse portfolio of bearing and related products and have become even stronger in the market, which increases our presence with our end users. The challenge is to communicate all of this to our clients but we have reached a point where our clients are familiar with the Timken brand and the quality of all of our products. The biggest challenge that Timken has right now is the economy. However, this also offers an opportunity to help our customers save money and increase uptime with the products and solutions that we offer. We know the importance of maintenance times and our innovations focus on how we can help our customers save money in low cycles.

Q: What position does Timken aim to hold within the mining industry?

A: We want to be the first choice not only for our distributors but also for our end users. We want our customers to link our distributors and us together as one supplier. Our goal is that whenever our customers have a problem, they will turn to us for a solution. We strive to solve the problems in each sector to make it easier for everybody and become a one stop shop.

You May Like

Most popular

Newsletter