KSB Pumps and Valves employs a customer first approach to the supply of spares and parts for its massive installed base of pumps and valves across the continent.

With a history spanning more than 50 years supplying critical infrastructure to the private and public sectors the company maintains a significant stock holding of spares and parts for tens of thousands of pumps including decades old pumps that are still in operation across water utilities, power stations, mines and chemical plants as well as smaller plants on farms, municipalities and businesses. It also maintains procedures for spares and parts for its complex engineered pumps.

Johannes Tokwana, sales manager at KSB SupremeServ responsible for spares and part sales, says the company employs sophisticated logistics techniques based on enterprise and manufacturing resource planning software from SAP which has been specially adapted for the company’s needs. It relies on decentralised stockholding backed by a central support base in Johannesburg which ensures all branches in South Africa and companies in Africa are sufficiently stocked.

Apart from its branch network in South Africa the footprint covers KSB operations and partners in Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Namibia and Angola, with agency support in Ghana. Many of these markets are heavily mining driven while others are in water scarce areas where authorities are under sustained pressure to improve water and wastewater reliability. In all cases, equipment uptime is non-negotiable.

“For us, the human factor is vitally important with our branches and sales partners still required to regularly visit their customers and identify fast-moving and critical items. This is so we can accurately gauge requirements and hold these items on site to ensure they are not replenished by our staff at SupremeServ before they are depleted. The same principle applies to sister operations throughout the region where fast-moving parts are identified based on installed base data and service history. Critical components are prioritised and where necessary emergency logistics are arranged to protect uptime.

“In areas where, for example, municipalities are battling ageing infrastructure and water shortages or production plants rely on liquid pumping circuits this type of responsiveness is essential. In these instances pump or valve downtime cannot wait for overseas lead times and that is the beauty of having our local manufacturing plant that is able to cater for most of these types of spares. However, our aim always remains to collaborate with our customers to establish preventative maintenance routines that work for them and ensure their pumping infrastructure remains dependable.

“The strategic advantage lies in proximity and that is why we have invested heavily in our African network and having service and support situated in close proximity to our customers. By supporting customers from within the continent and coordinating regionally the company reduces its dependency on longer international supply chains. This is particularly important in remote African operations where logistics can be unpredictable,” says Johannes.

He adds that service parts usually consist of wear components, seals and hydraulic parts that must be checked and replaced at regular intervals under certain conditions. Keeping these fast-moving items in stock is easy but having them in the right place at the right time is essential and this is the key role of the company’s structured supply chain and forecasting discipline.

“That is the critical role that KSB SupremeServ plays to close the loop between manufacture, installation and long-term operation. That means ensuring the right part is available in the right place at the right time whether that is Germiston, Cape Town, Kitwe or Nairobi,” Johannes concludes.