Agile Screening, an ambitious new company in the Australian quarrying sector, shares its vision to stand out in the local market.
When Ed Sill and his capital and advisory firm, Trinity Capital, acquired the screening media business of Locker in Australia and New Zealand, they had one goal in mind.
To turn the newly minted Agile Screening into the best cost supplier for screening media in the quarrying industry.
The company wanted to ensure its screening media solutions benefited customers in terms of quality, cost, and delivery, making it a supplier of choice for those in the quarrying industry. It sounds simple enough, but the company has undertaken rigorous work to make that vision a reality.
The hard work is paying off months into the journey of Agile Screening as a business.
“That first phase was always for us about the manufacturing, and we’ve moved four manufacturing facilities, and we’ve got those up and running. The next phase for us was about connecting with our customers,” Agile Screening executive director Ed Sill said.
“We’ve noticed a strong retention rate among our customers, and subsequently, we’re now working with our customers around lead times on products and what their annual usage looks like.
“The fact that those customers are engaging with us is a great tick.”
A key fundamental to Agile Screening’s approach is its international supply chain, which consists of global trade partners and local manufacturing in Australia. The company vetted its international supply partners and visited their factories to ensure they would deliver the quality products within Agile Screening’s portfolio.
The combination of local manufacturing capabilities and international supply allows Agile to service the various lead times its customers require. Projects with a longer lead time can be serviced by its international partner in China, while shorter lead time projects can take advantage of its local manufacturing facility in Australia.
“We’ve set up an international supply chain that enables us to be the best cost supplier. It includes trusted supply partners that mean we can get to a quality, cost and delivery that benefits our customers,” he said.
“We’ve supplemented our local manufacturing with international supply. We’ve been partnering with these international suppliers for the best part of 20 years in one form or another.
“Finding a company that is an expert in the product that we’re supplying is more of a challenge. We wanted to partner with companies that are focused on our range of products.”
Customers of Agile Screening can tap into this global knowledge base as soon as they inquire with the Australian-headquartered company.
This approach ensures the customer’s application is given maximum attention as Agile Screening works with its trade partners to deliver the best solution.
The integrated approach between Agile Screening and its trade partners is made possible due to Agile being a brand-agnostic manufacturer. It screens media solutions, which include Poly Ripple (polyurethane screening media), Tufflex (polyurethane-coated wire and synthetic rope), Poly Modular, Rubber Modular and wire screening media, which can be made to suit any brand’s screening equipment.
Tufflex can be partially or fully welded, providing extra flexibility to a screening set-up. The increased flexibility means it reduces pegging issues while remaining light and manoeuvrable.
PolyRipple cross-tension screens are suited towards applications involving wet and sticky materials.
The Poly Ripple screen media has enhanced wear life due to the addition of polyurethane.
In the past, Agile Screening has worked with end-user customers as well as original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to design screen media solutions in quick timeframes that are reliable and durable for quarry conditions.
“We’re here to be a screening media expert, and our focus is solely on the customer’s screening needs and how we can help with that,” Sill said.
“Being agnostic means that we’re able to work on a case-by-case basis and we’re not wedded to a particular machine supplier. We still work with all the OEMS because that is important to us, but we’re not wedded to them.
“We know that when we go out to the quarry sites, our customers are looking for expertise in screening media. They are incredibly time poor, so we can’t spend a day talking to them about options; we need to be quick, be focused and explain the best-case solutions for them.”
To that end, Agile Screening takes a data-driven approach to supporting its customers and their screen media requirements. The company works quickly to understand the customer’s objectives, like reduced downtime, and applies its knowledge in areas like wear rates and the customer’s applications to devise a solution.
By understanding the customer’s parameters, including material type, production rates, and desired outcome, a more informed solution can be created that ticks all of the customer’s boxes.
Agile Screening has assembled a team with extensive industry experience in Australia’s heavy industries. While no quarry or application is exactly alike, the team’s accumulated experience and shared knowledge allow them to offer prompt and dependable advice to all their customers.
“It allows us to get to the nub of what our customer is incurring and then making sure that we capture that data to use in the next conversation,” Sill said.
“By establishing these parameters, we’ve already got the data, we already know what they’re doing, and we can tailor our recommendations. We’re not just a supplier; we are part of their supply chain, and to be effective, we need to understand what they do and how they do it.
“This tends to enable us to engrain ourselves with our customers. A customer can come to us with a range of different issues that they are facing, and our flexibility is something we believe enables us to be in a position to support them.”
Sill and his team took over Locker’s screening media business in 2024. After months of hard work, Sill said Agile Screening had a bright future ahead.
“We think we’ve got the right mix of the quality, price and service of our product and the expertise within our business to serve our customers,” Sill said.
“We’re constantly striving to improve everything we do for our customers. We’re really comfortable and confident that we’ve got the best-cost supply model.” •
For more information, visit agilescreening.com.au
The post Agile Screening is striving to be the best appeared first on Quarry.