South Africa-based crushing and screening specialist Pilot Crushtec has expanded its international footprint with the appointment of distributors for mainland United Kingdom and for the Republic of Ireland.

Francois Marais, Sales and Marketing Director at Pilot Crushtec, has announced that OnTrax Equipment has been selected as its agent for the UK and South West Crushers for the Republic of Ireland - marking a strategic return to markets where the manufacturer has enjoyed considerable success in the past.

The appointments come after Pilot Crushtec completed the development of Stage V emissions-compliant versions of its flagship TwisterTrac vertical shaft impact (VSI) crusher range, enabling the company to once again supply customers in Europe and other Tier 5 emissions-regulated markets.

“Pilot Crushtec has been manufacturing tracked VSI crushers for more than 30 years, which we exported successfully into Europe, the US, Australia, South Korea and other international markets,” Marais says. “The financial downturn in 2008 effectively brought that export business to a halt and, over the following decade, we have focused on redeveloping our product range to comply with global emissions regulations.”

He says the company is now well positioned to leverage its specialist expertise in mobile VSI technology, which he believes is among the best of its kind in the world. Selecting the right distribution partners was equally important.

“Our equipment is designed to complement broader product portfolios, so we needed distributors that already had strong, established product ranges and customer relationships,” he explains. “Trust, reputation and shared values were critical and these two companies understand their markets and share our service culture and commitment to customer support.”

The relationships have already delivered encouraging results, with the first machine sale set in motion shortly after the companies began working together. Managing Director of South West Crushers, Larry Collins, notes that Pilot Crushtec’s specialist VSI technology has shown that it can fill an important gap in the Irish market. Collins believes growing demand for manufactured sand and specialist aggregate production will create significant opportunities.

“There's a real shortage of natural sand in Ireland, for instance, and contractors are always looking for ways to differentiate themselves,” he explains. “Pilot Crushtec’s VSI offerings give customers access to applications that very few other machines can achieve.”

Customer support, he says, will remain central to how South West Crushers delivers the Pilot Crushtec offerings. As a fitter and service engineer himself, he emphasises that after-sales support has always been the foundation of his business.

“We have trusted service technicians positioned around Ireland and we’re building our spare parts capability from the outset,” Collins says. “Customers know they will be dealing directly with people who understand the equipment and who respond quickly whenever assistance is needed.”

Jonny McNaugher, Managing Director of OnTrax Equipment, sees strong alignment between the South African OEM’s product philosophy and his company’s existing offering.

“We supply diesel-electric hybrid crushing and screening equipment, so Pilot Crushtec’s dual-power VSI technology fitted naturally alongside what we're already doing,” McNaugher says. “Among the aspects that impressed us about Pilot Crushtec is that they remain independently owned and have a passionate close-knit team that is genuinely invested in growing the brand. That matches the way we operate.”

He believes the VSI’s ability to solve specialised processing challenges will create opportunities across quarrying, recycling and construction.

“The TwisterTrac machine gives us something genuinely different,” he says. “Instead of competing in the crowded mainstream crusher market, we can focus on applications such as recycled asphalt, manufactured sand, limestone reduction and material shaping; many customers are looking for solutions that conventional equipment often can't provide.”

Initial demonstration work has already delivered promising results, McNaugher says, including significantly higher throughput in recycled asphalt applications and successful testing in limestone reduction.

Marais says the distributor appointments represent more than simply adding new sales channels.

“We previously had more than 35 Pilot Crushtec machines operating across these territories, so this is very much a re-introduction rather than a first entry,” he concludes.