Availability of spare parts a top priority for Australian miners

Destroyed mining equipments. Source: Wikicommons

A recent survey shows Australian mines consider “the availability of replacement parts” as one of the top factors when choosing an equipment supplier.

The survey conducted by London-based data analysis company Timetric involved over 110 mine managers, maintenance managers, procurement managers and other key decision-makers currently working in over 90 Australian mines.

“Product quality and reliability” was also consistently rated higher than any other factors when choosing an equipment supplier, regardless of location, mine method, or commodity.

The survey asked the respondents to rate the importance of 16 factors that could be categorized in cost, product attributes, and supplier attributes and capabilities.

The respondents placed more importance on high quality equipment that could support the efficient operation of a mine rather than being the lowest-cost equipment available.

Apart from “availability of parts,” other highly rated factors included “product quality and reliability,” “on time delivery,” “maintenance and service costs” and “average total operating hours.”

Some of the lowest rated factors were “lowest price” and “breadth of supplier’s range.”

Many of the respondents also said they were satisfied with their current suppliers due to their ability to deliver spare parts, citing reasons such as “parts delivered on time”, “immediately availability of spare parts” and “more parts available in quicker time frames.”

The study will be published later this week on Timetric’s Mining Intelligence Center site under the title “Winning and Retaining Business in the Australian Mining Equipment Sector, 2014.”