Multotec Australia’s team of field service engineers provide quarry operators with the industry expertise they can rely on to support their operations.
Whether it’s in the factory or the field, there’s one mantra that shapes Dennis Klosen Holstein’s approach to any issue.
“From the start to the finish, we’re working with the customer to get what they need,” he told Quarry.
“If I had to give us one thing, we perform really well when making the product for the customer.”
As a longtime Multotec employee, Klosen Holstein has seen both sides of the coin, starting out in the company’s manufacturing facility before transitioning to its field service team as a field service engineer.
With years of experience under his belt in both the quarrying and mining sectors, Klosen Holstein has come to know Multotec’s products inside and out.
It has given the former polyurethane casting technician a unique lens on the problems encountered on site by operators.
“The product we’re dealing with, I understand how it’s made and how it works. I know what it is supposed to look like and what it is not supposed to look like,” he said.
“For example, when something breaks like a bolt snapped, I know it might just be a fatigue issue, rather than a production issue, it is just wear-and-tear. It’s important to know these things when identifying issues.”
Quarrying conditions in Australia are harsh on equipment. As quarries look for higher production rates, the equipment can take more of a battering. But while production rates grow on-site, downtime, especially unplanned downtime, can be ill-afforded. When equipment fails, quarry operators need it up and running again as soon as possible. Lost production is lost money, and negating that is key to any successful quarry operation.
With his industry experience, Klosen Holstein takes a wide-scope approach to helping quarries identify the issues that can cause production to stop. As he explained to Quarry, quarry equipment is increasingly integrated, which means customers are better served by taking a whole-of-system view of pain points.
“We don’t just look at our product. We look at how it is bolted together, is rust present in the equipment, things like that. Different sites require you to do different jobs,” he said.
“For example, you may look at the underneath rails. And that’s no drama for us, because our product sits on those rails, so it is in our and the customer’s interest to look at this.”
The whole-of-quarry view isn’t just a theory for Multotec. The company specifically employs trained industry professionals because their industry knowledge can spot issues others may miss. As they visit sites regularly, they understand the issues Australian customers face and the solutions they can provide to address them.
Many quarries are familiar with planned shutdown days, during which the bulk of plant and equipment maintenance occurs. Sites will often push their equipment to reach the planned shutdown period so that regular production is not negatively impacted.
As a trusted partner to several Australian quarry sites, Multotec helps its customers plan shutdown days so its field service team can be on hand to isolate equipment, identify issues, and provide solutions.
Other times, equipment can break down unexpectedly. In that instance, customers can contact Multotec’s field service engineers to come out to the site and help them get the equipment back up and running properly.
When this happens, speed of response is the name of the game.
Recently, Klosen Holstein was in Brisbane on a Sunday when a customer called.
An issue had come up on site, and production had stopped. The Multotec engineer flew out on the first available flight and drove to the site at the start of the working day on Monday morning.
“When it needs to be done, it needs to be done,” he said.
“When a customer is working with us, we’ll always try to help. We always want to provide support on planned shutdown days, but when unexpected issues happen, we’ll attend and help as well.
“We don’t want any of our customers to struggle. We make sure to work together as a team, do the job right, and the customer will be happy.”
Safety is more than a value at Multotec.
It is evident in how they manufacture products and in how their field service engineers support customers. Part of Klosen Holstein’s role is to share his knowledge with clients and educate them on best practices.
In one case, Klosen Holstein worked with a customer for eight months on an issue, trialling and testing different solutions to find the best approach.
By following Klosen Holstein’s advice, the customer has found Mutltoec’s hammerless system to be optimal, and the feedback has been instantaneous.
“He told me, he’s like ‘I love it’ and it is all that he wants now,” Klosen Holstein said.
“They started with one screen to convert to our hammerless system.
“So we provided the solution and the training so they could use it properly. Now, it is all they want for their application.”
While Klosen Holstein has seen many things across the quarrying and mining sectors, Multotec’s hammerless screen media solutions, like the ACE System, might top the list. It avoids the need to “whack a big hammer” and risk injury. Or in Klosen Holstein’s own words, “it’s not about relief, it’s about not getting tennis elbow”.
“I am turning 41 this year. How long can I throw a four-pound hammer around? We have advanced that product because safety is important to us. With that system, it means anyone can install it,” he said.•
For more information, visit multotec.com
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