From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report.

Sashnee Moodley:

In response to shifting market demands and evolving customer needs, mining technology company Weir has undertaken a significant redesign of its wheeled plant solution, known as the Weir Modular Wheeled Plant, or WMWP. Shannon de Ryhove tells us more.

Shannon de Ryhove:

Weir’s redesigned WMWP initiative marks a strategic turn towards enhancing portability and operational flexibility in mining and construction sectors across global markets. Weir Africa GM for crushing and screening products Tiisetso Masekwameng explains how market fluctuations have prompted the reintroduction of the wheeled unit.

Weir Africa GM for crushing and screening products Tiisetso Masekwameng:

The redesign of the wheeled unit came as a response to the market, a lot of our clients have come to us and recently asked us for portability in the units that we supply. And how the redesign came about is that we had so many of these inquiries and we realized that as a product line, it is something that we had previously produced. Just as a matter of context, when Weir Minerals actually acquired the communition product line, the wheeled unit was part of the portfolio. And what we did at the time was that the market was moving towards mining, there was a big boom. So we focused a lot on large throughputs and a lot at the time on actually mining sectors with static plants. But when COVID hit, there was a downturn and post COVID, as the market has a bit of an upswing, the demands are different. Clients are asking for smaller throughputs, clients are asking for portability because capital is actually very hard to reach. And in order for them to be able to reach their ROI, they are asking us for ways to be portable and move from site to site in order to reach that ROI quicker. And with that as a response from our end, we started to redesign the portfolio in order to meet the needs right now.

Shannon de Ryhove:

With the newly re-introduced WMWP concept, customers in Africa can now move and transport their crushing and screening plants from one site to another with great ease, boosting productivity and reducing costs. Masekwameng emphasises that the redesigned WMWP addresses diverse sectoral needs.

Weir Africa GM for crushing and screening products Tiisetso Masekwameng:

So in terms of the construction market, what we found was that a trend we're seeing right now is actually with contract mining.

For the construction sector, what we have actually realised is that contract mining is a big trend. And for contract mining, it's smaller throughputs. It's either infrastructure development, so you need to be at the face of where the infrastructure is developing. And these clients are asking us to help them reduce downtime from site to site, and to be able to actually meet the smaller throughputs. So we designed our units for the construction market, looking specifically at the needs of construction and others in terms of sand and aggregate markets, as well as actually looking at how do you then get a unit from one site to another in the quickest time and have your uptime quickest. And that's how we answered that. In terms of our mining clients, an interesting trend is that with the commodity upswings, most of them actually want to maximise production. Now they've got these massive static plants where you can't then just do commissioning for six months, hoping that the upswing stays. So they are then asking us to help them expand production in a very quick way. And the best way to do that is with a portable unit that you bring to site, you can commission within a week, and you then catch that upswing of the commodity markets.

Shannon de Ryhove:

Central to the redesign is the choice of wheeled instead of tracked units, which eliminates the need for diesel engines and the undercarriage maintenance that’s associated with tracked alternatives. Masekwameng explains how this design choice simplifies maintenance as well as reduces operational expenditure and downtime.

Weir Africa GM for crushing and screening products Tiisetso Masekwameng:

There's actually an option to do tracked and there's an option to do wheeled. What we have found with tracked units is that you have an undercarriage that needs to be maintained and each tracked unit needs to have its own diesel unit that is sitting on each of those units on your crushing and screening units. And you've got refueling that you have to do, you have to maintain the undercarriage and on top of that, access and maintenance on those units is a bit harder than it is on a mobile unit or on a wheeled unit rather. So our designs with the wheeled unit is that there's a bit more space, and it allows you to have better maintenance. So you have lot less downtime on a wheeled unit than you do on a tracked unit. You're also not refueling your units in order to use them because they become static when you put it in and you deploy it. So you would run that unit, you don't have to refuel, the maintenance on them is much less. So for clients that use wheeled units, you will find that they have less OPEX and less downtime than the ones using the tracked units.

Shannon de Ryhove:

Weir is committed to integrating customer feedback into its ongoing design enhancements. By engaging directly with customers and incorporating their insights, Weir ensures that each WMWP unit aligns closely with market expectations. Masekwameng elaborates.

Weir Africa GM for crushing and screening products Tiisetso Masekwameng:

I think we have been very lucky in that we recently relaunched into the market the product line, we brought in a lot of customers that we asked to come and sit with us, look at what we're doing and tell us what their aches were. And the brilliant thing for us is that everybody was willing to have the conversation because we didn't come out and say, this is the perfect product that we've put together, we came out and said this is what we're thinking, do you think we're on the right track? And a lot of the feedback where they said this is perfect, this works - we kept it. Where they said I don't think that will work - we made some changes. And in the end, we came up with something that I believe the market is really asking us for.

Sashnee Moodley:

That’s Creamer Media’s Real Economy Report. Join us again next week for more news and insight into South Africa’s real economy. Don’t forget to listen to the audio version of our Engineering News daily email newsletter.