Value Up Close and Personal
Published in Bulk Handling Review
Fenner Conveyors is offering its customers the opportunity to visit its manufacturing facilities and see how its products are made.
Conveyors are a vital part of day-to-day operations that keep mines moving. To keep these operations going, it is important that workers understand all facets of the conveyor system.
Fenner Conveyors recognised the value in demonstrating how their equipment is manufactured and how customers can maximise its benefits.
This is why the company welcomes mining partners to visit its manufacturing facilities and see how the equipment is made.
Visitors from BHP, Roy Hill and Rio Tinto have toured Fenner Conveyors’ Kwinana factory in Western Australia.
“We take clients on a tour of the facility to put our manufacturing process into perspective,” Finlen told ABHR. “It highlights the commitment to detail we take at every stage of the process."
This customer support offering was extended further through discussions with Rio Tinto to design a tailored conveyor training program for its graduate engineers and other key staff working with conveyors.
Fenner Conveyors operates a dedicated registered training organisation complete with a training conveyor system and classroom facilities at its Kwinana location alongside the conveyor belt factory, which makes the perfect location to deliver these training sessions.
Participants receive an in-depth explanation of conveyor belts and system engineering from the company’s embedded engineers.
“This is then usually followed up by some theory in a classroom setting. We explain in detail why we manufacture things the way we do and open up the floor for questions.
“This practical approach to customer support allowed participants to learn more about how Fenner Conveyors engineers belting unique to system and application requirements,” Finlen said.
“They are working with conveyor systems fitted with our products every day. Understanding how these products are built to last and what makes them perform is helpful, as it gives them a more holistic picture of how to best operate on site."
“Once customers attend this type of training opportunity, it’s clear the lengths we go to for ensuring highly engineered and quality conveyor solutions.
“Providing customers with a holistic understanding of our equipment, especially when they are in the early stages of their career, means we start to build trust with future leaders of the industry.”
One key aspect of both client and graduate tours is to highlight the company’s strict quality assurance processes at its on-site laboratory.
Fenner Conveyors’ Kwinana factory operates the latest generation Siempelkamp Steel Cord press lines, designed to deliver the industry-leading conveyor belt quality and production efficiency.
“Our customers appreciate seeing our belt manufacturing processes first-hand and the rigorous quality checks we employ to ensure belt performance in the field,” Finlen said.
Fenner Conveyors continually refines its facility and processes to further develop its safety, quality, and productivity standards. It achieves this through advanced instrumentation that collects production data, which can then be presented to operators, leaders, and quality assurance teams.
Holistic training
It is not just the Kwinana factory that hosts these in-person, informative visits. Most of the company’s manufacturing facilities have an open-door policy allowing customers to visit and learn how the equipment is made.
Conveyor Products and Solutions (CPS), one of Fenner Conveyors’ brands, has also welcomed graduate engineers and other key staff working with conveyors from major mining companies.
CPS head of engineering Peter Copley said these visits have been an excellent opportunity to showcase CPS’ innovative manufacturing processes.
“People knew we were local, but they didn’t understand the scale of the facilities or know that this type of mass manufacturing was still happening in Australia,” he said.
“CPS uses robotics, automation and digital job tracking, all supported by our internal systems team, to stay at the forefront of manufacturing excellence. These systems allow us to produce faster and better, as well as allowing us to track job status and quality data electronically.”
Factory feedback
Both types of facility tour also allow customers to provide important insights directly to the Fenner Conveyors team. Copley said that listening to the challenges customers face on site helps Fenner Conveyors and its portfolio of conveyor solutions brands to develop solutions that can then be used to advance the industry as a whole.
“A great example of this is our polyurethane range of rollers,” he said. “Within about three months we developed a solution in response to impact roller failures and issues on belts carrying acidic process materials.
“Everyone can contribute to the improvement of the products and operations, for instance, last year there were approximately 520 safety and quality improvement actions proposed and implemented from our production crews.”
Fenner Conveyor customers see the value the training brings.
Feedback on the factory tours themselves has also been glowing. Attendees were impressed by the scale and sophistication of the facilities, and said they learned a lot from the experience.
“By allowing visitors to interact with actual examples of the conveyor belting and products, and understand how they interact on a conveyor system, we are supporting them to have an enhanced educational experience, whilst strengthening our relationship as a trusted supplier for their mining operations.”
Finlen said more and more Fenner Conveyor customers are seeing the value it brings and are getting in touch to take up the opportunity.
“We build up a partnership with our customers, we don’t just supply them something and then leave them on their own,” he said.
“These facility visits show that we’re invested in our customers’ success, for the long-term.”
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