At the recently ended Lokolaunch 2024, a global Metso customer and partner event held in Tampere, Finland, Pilot Crushtec International walked away with two prestigious awards – Best After Market Distributor and the Second Biggest Lokotrack Distributor in the Large Distributor category.

The latest accolades bring the total number of awards won by Pilot Crushtec to five since becoming the southern African Metso distributor in 2016. After bagging the 2017 Best New Services Distributor Award and the 2019 Best Sales Growth Award, Pilot Crushtec was named Metso’s 2022 Distributor of the Year for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

“We are always extremely proud to get this level of recognition, especially from a global original equipment manufacturer (OEM) such as Metso. The latest accolades once again reinforce our commitment to the success of customers in southern Africa and corroborate the fact that the quality of service we provide to our customers is of a high standard,” says Francois Marais, Sales and Marketing Director at Pilot Crushtec.

The Second Biggest Lokotrack Distributor award, explains Marais, is for the second largest number of Lokotrack machines sold in the world. The two volume drivers for Pilot Crushtec in southern Africa are the Lokotrack® LT106™ mobile jaw crusher and the Lokotrack® ST2.8™ mobile scalping screen.

Taking a feed size of up to 600 mm, with a production capacity of up to 400 tonnes per hour (tph), the Lokotrack® LT106™ is the best seller in the Lokotrack® range and is especially popular among contractors. The machine is renowned for its versatility; it can be deployed in both mining and aggregates applications. The second-best seller, adds Marais, is the Lokotrack® ST2.8™ mobile scalping screen, which is renowned for making the scalping of sticky material a breeze.

The Best After Market Distributor acknowledges Pilot Crushtec’s customer service initiatives, including customer support, parts supply, parts availability, training events, new product launches, marketing campaigns and technical competence development, to name a few.

A consistent, reliable aftermarket regime has always been a key pillar of Pilot Crushtec’s operations. “Providing legendary aftermarket support is part of our philosophy. We have always been extremely consistent about delivering a high level of support – anchored by a comprehensive spare parts stockholding and trained skilled technicians,” says Marais.

To provide context, Pilot Crushtec carries about R180-million worth of Metso genuine spare parts at any given time. This not only includes critical items, but also slow moving items that could, in some instances, sit in the parts warehouse for years. Fast moving items are constantly replenished based on usage.

Trained technicians are the lifeblood of aftermarket success in crushing and screening. Therefore, Pilot Crushtec does not leave anything to chance when it comes to the development of its technical skills. The company invests heavily in training to keep its customer support technicians up-to-date with the latest equipment and industry trends.

In addition, Pilot Crushtec develops its own talent pipeline through a rigorous two-year graduate programme. During the past 13 years, more than 70 engineering students have gone through the practical phases of their mechanical and electrical engineering studies at Pilot Crushtec’s Jet Park, Gauteng facility. The programme plays a critical role in developing Pilot Crushtec’s talent pipeline and is also a deliberate effort to foster skills development and transformation in the engineering and mining sector as a whole.