Osborn Engineered Products SA, an
At the centre of the recent key structural change is the company’s keenness to refocus on its core Aggregate and Mining business. This is part of the South African-based manufacturer’s new customer-centric approach that seeks to offer an upgraded and technologically-advanced product range to improve productivity, safety and, more importantly, profitability for its core aggregate and mining customers.
“Strategically, a decision to remain focused on the core products for the Aggregate and Mining industries has necessitated us to discontinue certain non-core product dealerships,” says Noel Bassler, sales director at Osborn Engineered Products SA.
“The reason we have ended the representation of the non-core products is that we want to concentrate on our core Aggregate and Mining markets, which we have been servicing for almost 100 years now,” says Martin Botha, product development director at Osborn.
Osborn has been providing crushing, screening and related products to the mining and quarrying industries since 1919. In the past 10 years, the company took on board a range of asphalt and paving products from its sister companies that form part of the Astec Group. Astec had hoped to leverage Osborn’s existing footprint in Africa to develop these products on the continent.
Osborn initially brought in Canadian-based Breaker Technology Industries’ (BTI) range of rock breakers, before taking on board Astec’s United States-based
In future, both Bessler and Botha reiterate that the respective principals will deal directly with customers when it comes to new equipment sales, but Osborn will continue to support all the products from an aftermarket point of view. “Osborn will take full responsibility of spare parts and aftersales service to ensure full customer satisfaction, but will forward any new equipment and plant enquiries received to the appropriate company representatives,” says Bessler.
Meanwhile, Osborn will keep some of the Astec Inc. products that are in line with its aggregates and mining business. “We will continue distributing aggregate and mining-related products from BTI, KPI-JCI and AMS. We will only bring special products from their ranges that we don’t make locally. These include high frequency screens, as well as horizontal and vertical shaft impactors,” says Botha.
Osborn will continue with the
The change in focus – which has been initiated by Osborn’s new managing director, Johan Goosen, who joined the company earlier this year, is aimed at helping Osborn’s core aggregate and mining customers improve their productivity, safety and profitability. This will be achieved through an enhanced in-house engineering process that will result in an improved product range with all the “bells and whistles” of modern equipment.
Bessler says the new engineering approach will also focus on driving parts commonality across Osborn’s diverse product range. This will allow the company to provide fewer line items across its diverse range of products that includes jaw crushers, cone crushers, vibrating and grizzly feeders, screens, washing equipment, horizontal and vertical shaft impactors, as well as modular plants.
Already, Osborn keeps a very large stockholding of parts, because aftermarket is such a big venture for the company, especially considering that it has a very large installed base of machines that have operated in the region over the past 60 years. A big parts stockholding is also complemented by Osborn’s widespread representation across the continent, as well as internationally where it leverages the Astec Group footprint. In South Africa, the company has representation in all major provinces. This allows it to support major customers in all the key mining and aggregate destinations.
