Equipment supplier BMG’s regional service centres (RSC), which are situated in the major city centres and commercial nodes throughout the country, play a critical role by providing engineering solutions – including hydraulics, lubrication, greasing and pneumatics services – designed to optimise productivity for every customer.

“Through the consolidation of BMG’s regional workshop facilities and field services into centralised hubs, dedicated RSC are able to assist customers who are faced with a lack of engineering expertise, costly machinery repairs and unnecessary downtime periods,” explains BMG fluid technology high-pressure division business unit manager Daniel Feiteira.

“Our specialist service centres, with assembly, repair, maintenance and support operations, offer combined technical expertise and value-added product solutions. “These dedicated service centres, which focus on core BMG divisions – including hydraulic, lubrication and pneumatics, drives, gaskets and materials handling – operate closely with dedicated branches, to meet every customer’s specific requirements.”

He adds that advantages for customers include improved service, repair and delivery efficiencies, centralised technical support and easy accessibility to BMG’s comprehensive range of quality branded engineering components.

“An important focus of a RSC is on fluid technology services that integrate quality branded components, full turnkey engineering and contamination control, as well as a test and repair services, to ensure optimum performance and extended service life of all fluid technology hydraulic and lubrication systems.”

Feiteira states that BMG is able to assist with design, manufacture and assembly of all hydraulic, lubrication and pneumatic systems, whether it is for a workshop or process upgrade or is an hydraulic system for an entire new plant.

“Our highly experienced teams work in consultation with customers to ensure the most efficient solution – from small multipurpose power packs to large power packs for mining and industrial applications. “Key industries in the region include sugar, agriculture, shipping, mining, automotive, power and petrochemicals plants, manufacturing and general engineering.”

BMG follows stringent ISO-accredited procedures to ensure the integrity of every hydraulic system. Each repaired component is assessed by the company’s testing facility and certificates are issued as assurance that equipment has passed the strictest performance standards.

These products include variable and fixed displacement pumps, industrial and mobile valves, low and high-speed motors, as well as cylinders and accumulators.

A critical element in any hydraulic system is contamination control.

BMG’s systemic approach to fluid analysis emphasises the benefits of a system that is maintained through the use of high-quality filtration equipment, coupled with a regular sampling and testing programme. An efficient fluid analysis service ensures improved performance, extended life of components and reduced maintenance costs.

The company’s service to the hydraulics sector also includes a mobile workshop that is fitted with tools, equipment and quality branded spares, to be able to efficiently perform functions like troubleshooting, onsite repairs, installations, commissioning and system flushing. This service also incorporates onsite fluid analysis and hose and pipe assembly.

Zambian Project

A recent success for BMG was the design and manufacture of a radial door hydraulic power unit (HPU) urgently required to operate an ore pass radial door at a process operation in Zambia.

This large-scale project required a system that would open and close one cylinder with a stroke of just under 1.5 m through 15 m hoses, ensuring high performance, precision and control. BMG’s solution, which included 56 unique components listed on the general assembly drawing, was an HPU system mounted on a large 630 ℓ tank and supporting frame, with two 525 V high-efficiency motor pumpsets, three 55 ℓ accumulators and two electrical control panels.

The system uses various push buttons and switches to control key features – including oil level, temperature, pressure, power failure or emergency, as well as directional control. The smart design of the system makes use of one 55 kW motor pumpset to operate the cylinder, while the 4 kW motor pumpset charges the accumulators and cycles oil through an auxiliary cooler.

The completed HPU and cylinder system, which was successfully installed in Zambia at the beginning of 2022, ensures that mined ore is passed efficiently through the material movement channels by regulating the radial gate control.

Manufacturing Investments

BMG has made substantial investments in manufacturing capabilities in order to efficiently service the hydraulic industry for manifold blocks and cylinder manufacture. There are dedicated hydraulic cylinder servicing workbenches for the repair, servicing and rebuilding of cylinders, as well as a capability of testing equipment up to 700 bar, in conjunction with the Enerpac brand.

In accordance with stringent quality and safety specifications, BMG adheres to a strict protocol for all cylinder repairs by keeping an accurate record of all work done. When a cylinder comes into BMG for repair, it is stripped, washed and all components are tagged and hard-stamped for traceability. After components have been refurbished, they are inspected before the unit goes to final assembly. All cylinders are tested and painted before delivery.

BMG enhances its manufacture and repair service with a total design solution, using the latest computer-aided designed and computer-aided manufacturing software. This service encompasses expertise from manifold design, to manufacturing and assembly of a complete system. The company’s three-dimensional modelling programmes clearly exhibit the interior and exterior of a manifold in a virtual environment – this enables the identification and amendment of possible design flaws before fabrication commences.

BMG provides 24-hour customer process support for production efficiency and reliability-centred maintenance throughout Southern Africa. Its comprehensive range of equipment and components includes bearings, seals and gaskets; power transmission; hydraulics and pneumatics; fluid technology and filtration; drives, motors and controllers; materials handling; fasteners and tools.