As Multotec positions itself to become the leading screening media solutions provider in the international arena within the next five to 10 years, the company is accelerating its R&D programmes across several focus areas.

“Against a background of deteriorating ore grades globally, we’re concentrating on providing optimal screening media solutions that add the value our customers requirements,” Rhodes Nelson, newly appointed managing director of Multotec Manufacturing, says. “Our R&D is being conducted within the realms of the customer’s activities and is being driven by the four key trends we’ve identified on the world stage: the need for speed to market, for high levels of product consistency and reliability, for OEMs to take on the role of solution providers and the ability to recycle our products on behalf of our customers at the end of their working life.”

Multotec’s focus on mineral processing and its understanding of the metallurgical process allows the company to respond to these world trends and, in so doing, to identify new markets.

“We understand the importance of screening media and are very aware that part of the value add we need to offer is helping customers to maximise their screening efficiencies,” says Nelson. “Our R&D activities enable us to determine how a specific product performs in a given application and then to optimise this performance. Mining companies today want predictability, particularly as they come under increasing pressure to extract maximum value from their existing assets.”

An area attracting increasing attention within Multotec’s R&D programme is the optimisation materials of manufacture and, notably, the company has already made major advances in the rapid production of heavy duty and light duty rubber screen panels in all shapes and forms, using a variety of compounds.

Over the past four years Multotec has quadrupled its production capability in this area, dramatically improving speed to market, while offering unmatched pricing. In parallel with this, the company has boosted its manufacturing capabilities by introducing different production technologies. The turnover from its rubber screening media solutions has multiplied by five in the past four years across diverse applications.

Nelson says the company’s R&D programme is also addressing customers’ need to optimise labour, by ensuring that Multotec screening media products require minimum maintenance. Monitoring is key to this requirement and the company has addressed this with the successful deployment of its Hawkeye internet-based predictive software tool. Hawkeye promotes optimum condition monitoring, providing accurate reporting on product lifecycles and replacement rates, allowing service centre personnel to predict service intervals, which has the added benefit of optimising consumable inventories.

“As we move towards realising our vision of becoming the leading global technology solutions provider within a five to ten year period, we’re increasing our technology collaboration with the international Steinhaus group, our sister organisation,” Nelson continues. “We have initiated workshops at which each company showcases its latest technologies and capabilities and this sharing of knowledge facilitates a process that is taking our vision forward. We don’t want to re-invent the wheel, we want to dramatically improve it. Multotec services the mineral processing industry and our international associates serve different industry sectors and although these industries differ, the manufacturing methods and technologies are often common to all.”

Multotec’s R&D activities are also being advanced in collaboration with local and international universities. While in previous years the company would conduct testing at individual customer sites to demonstrate the efficiencies of its products, today Multotec has established common test sites where a variety of customers can observe product performance and give their feedback. To this end the company has made a substantial investment into test equipment that enables its personnel to grow in their understanding of product performance in various applications.

As part of its obligations as the market leader, Multotec has embarked on a programme of disseminating test results and technical data across its markets, in the interests of advancing the industry as a whole.

MULTOTEC ACCELERATES R&D PIC 01 : An overview of Multotec's injection moulding manufacturing facility.

MULTOTEC ACCELERATES R&D PIC 02 : On-going research and development includes the use of best practice design software.

MULTOTEC ACCELERATES R&D PIC 03 : Multotec manufactures the tooling used to produce its screening media.

MULTOTEC ACCELERATES R&D PIC 04 : Quality inspection of injection moulded screening media products during the manufacturing process.

MULTOTEC ACCELERATES R&D PIC 05 : Multotec makes use of state-of-the-art injection moulded rubber screening technology.

MULTOTEC ACCELERATES R&D PIC 06 : The Multotec Teepee panel during manufacture.