The Southern African divisions of Joy Global, mining equipment manufacturer Joy Mining Machinery Africa and P&H MinePro Services Africa, which have been separately run businesses within the same stable, have been combined into a single business, Joy Global Africa.

Joy Global Africa’s regional vice-president Jason Savage tells Mining Weekly in a video interview that the step to combine the two has been taken in response to a call from customers and to better leverage the world-class service capabilities of the two companies.

The combination also enables Joy Global’s surface mining customers to leverage off the unique and world-leading smart services and engineering capabilities that Joy has developed for the underground market.

“We have plans in place to become leaner and faster and to improve our quality,” Savage says. “We believe this integration is the best way to expand our partnership with our customers and provide superior mining system solutions that will increase their productivity, lower operating costs, and achieve our mutual goal of zero harm for the mining industry.”

Joy Global Africa will continue to use its JBS (Joy Global Business System) to drive operational excellence throughout the organi- sation.

With over 14 000 employees internationally, Joy Global is a $4-billion market leader that services the surface and underground markets in coal, iron-ore, copper and other bedded materials.

With its South African head office, parts manufacturing and distribution centre based in Steeledale, Johannesburg, Joy Global Africa manufactures equipment at its centre of excellence in Wadeville. Joy has invested extensively in the repair and rebuild of all its equipment and has developed a world-class repair facility for motors, which includes the repair of large motors for electric rope shovels and wheel motors for haul trucks. Today, Joy Global Africa has over nine service centres across Africa.

Future manufacturing investment in Africa will be driven by the demands of the Southern African market, which has significant growth potential, particularly as Joy Global increases its presence and expands into other minerals, including hard rock mining. Joy Global is currently investing in expanding engineering excellence into other mining markets in partnership with its customers.

With over 1 400 people that Joy Global Africa employs in Southern Africa, most of the labour force are involved directly in the local manufacture, repair and servicing of underground coal-mining equipment.

“South Africa produces highly capable engineers. We continue to provide leading engineering capability to the rest of the world, and, as a result, we have to keep developing and bringing new people on board,” Savage says.

Joy’s significant South African investment and capability have contributed to making this country’s underground coal mines among the most productive in the world. The opening of Joy Global’s Smart Services Centre in eMalahleni, the first globally in the group, has given ‘world class’ service a new home.

“We monitor performance. We see the data live. We can predict failures before they happen. It’s an entire toolbox for the mining industry, with world-class three-dimensional virtual reality training capability,” Savage says.
“Many of the world’s life-cycle management programmes and service infrastructure have been modelled around the South African market.

A lot of this has got to do with the receptiveness of the South African industry to tech- nology and the progressiveness of the South African mining customer,” says Savage.

Joy currently exports South African-manufactured 50-Hz shuttle cars from South Africa to China, Australia, India, Russia, the UK and several other countries.

These shuttle cars are used underground in coal, potash, gypsum and other mines, to shuttle material from the cutting face to the conveyor belt.

“We believe that we are the only multinational mining capital equipment supplier that manufactures and exports from South Africa,” Savage says.

Because Joy manufactures locally, its custom- ers have direct access to the designer; this has enabled our equipment to evolve to best suit South Africa’s tough mining conditions

Joy Global’s direct service model, local manufacturing capability and intimate relationship with customers and equipment maxi- mise the value it delivers to the customer and to the region. Joy Global does not subscribe to the dealership model preferred by many other companies. The extensive local infrastructure results in greater employment and high-quality engineering and manufacturing positions.

Joy Global is making significant investment in manufacturing and service capacity in emerging economies, such as China and some eastern European countries, in order to service those mining industries that are growing at such an exponential rate.

South Africa’s historical posi- tion as a low-cost source of resources and equipment has been eroded, owing to its volatile exchange rate, relatively unchecked inflation rate, unpredictable labour environment and risk perceptions around the legislative environment. These factors make the decision to invest in or expand manufacturing and export capability in Southern Africa more difficult for capital equipment manufacturers.

Currently, a level-six value-adding business in terms of the Department of Trade and Indus- try’s broad-based black economic-empowerment (BBBEE) Codes of Good Practice, Joy is currently undergoing assessment where it expects to be a level-five company to allow its industrial customers to recognise 80% of the value of their Joy purchases in the calculation of their own BBBEE scorecards.

Joy Global is currently engaging the DMR to identify alternatives to meet the yet-to-be-defined ownership requirements of the Mining Charter. Joy Global and other capital equip- ment manufacturers believe that it is critical that the DMR provide guidelines on how multinationals can meet the aims of the Mining Charter, without impacting on the competi- tiveness of the industry.

To overcome this, Joy is going all out to resolve its BEE ownership issue with the DMR, which is expected to define the required percentage of black ownership for equipment suppliers in the near future.

The company has exciting new technology, exemplified by orders for two flexible conveyor trains for installation at Anglo American Thermal Coal’s Greenside and Goedehoop collieries, two of the most productive South African coal mines. Joy Global has more than 125 years’ experience in the manufacture and marketing of original equipment and aftermarket parts for surface and underground mining.

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