Paul Higgins, DINGO CEO, shares his thoughts on how DINGO is bringing its world-class predictive maintenance solutions to the African market in partnership with local player, Krypton Mining.
A partnership focusing on Asset Health
“When we were looking for a partner in South Africa we had a series of meetings with candidates,” says Paul. “Krypton were unique as they had evaluated DINGO and knew about us. They were looking for two key solutions in the market: Asset Health and Fleet Management.”
Paul met with Krypton co-founders Lou Möller, Principal Consultant and Heinrich Becker, Managing Director—and shortly thereafter, a partnership agreement was signed. Krypton quickly developed a deep understanding of DINGO’s asset health offering, and through careful planning and teamwork, the companies are on the path to deliver their first project together.
Understanding management practices within a cultural context
DINGO is expanding globally with customers in Africa, Latin America and Asia, which are all culturally very different. While their maintenance practices and requirements might be similar, “it’s important to understand how, and to who, a maintenance recommendation is made, which can be very different depending on the country” explains Paul.
Partners are critical to help DINGO understand and adapt their offerings based on the culture of the local market. “What we’re seeing is it’s different in Latin America to Africa and Indonesia, and so we really have to listen. If you go in with the idea that management is going to behave the same way as it does in Australia, or the west, then you’ll probably fall into some big holes,” says Paul.
Building quality connections with quality companies
“Africa is a big potential market for us,” says Paul. Krypton is well positioned—they’re experienced with high-quality contacts. “It’s apparent Krypton’s co-founders have strong long-term relationships. That’s the sort of partner we want—to capitalize on key opportunities with established resource companies like Exxaro and South32.”
Krypton is also an excellent partner because of the quality of the team and their ability to explain DINGO’s offering and value proposition. “They’re putting the effort and the resources into understanding our technology. Together we’ve been tilling the soil, putting the fertiliser in and now we’re waiting for the harvest. It takes time, but we’ve been working on it and we’re getting close.”
Harvesting projects on the horizon
“Exxaro is the first opportunity we are pursuing and there are parallels to our project in Columbia,” continues Paul. The Cerrejón project is the largest mine in Columbia and Exxaro is the largest mining company in South Africa. “With Krypton’s support, we are confident that we can deliver tremendous value to Exxaro and expect to kick off with a trial shortly.”
Exxaro has 13 mines in South Africa both for domestic coal consumption and export. “Like most of our customers, a trial provides the opportunity to prove ourselves in that region. We will build off that strength. The rest of the region looks to leaders like Exxaro and South32. Then they tend to be fast followers, so we’re on a very strong path with Krypton.”
Investing in predictive maintenance
Krypton and DINGO want to “deliver real value,” says Paul. “We both understand and believe in predictive maintenance. We both understand and believe in solid relationships based on value and expertise. And we both understand it takes time and investment.”
Powerful applications for extraordinary conditions
DINGO’s industry-leading predictive maintenance software, Trakka®, is especially useful in places like Africa. Paul says, “They can feel isolated, as a lot of these mines are in remote areas, and it can be difficult to get the maintenance expertise required to keep operations running smoothly.”
“Our remote analysts provide recommendations on what maintenance work needs to be done,” explains Paul. Trakka allows the person responsible to assign the work immediately and get the job completed.” And our Trakka Asset Health Manager™ (TAHM) app for mobile devices gives the user “the overall fleet and specific machine health in the palm of their hand.” A manager knows when a piece of equipment is critical for hitting production output. If it is showing that it’s unhealthy, then Trakka provides a platform to identify the root cause and quickly fix the problem.
For more information, contact a DINGO expert.
