At a function well attended by clients, technical press and staff, SKF Solution Factory Africa was officially launched on 17 July 2009, with Vartan Vartanian, president of SKF Service Division, unveiling a commemorative plaque.
Vartan Vartanian (left), president of SKF Service Division, congratulates Gavin Garland, managing director SKF South Africa, on the opening of SKF Solution Factory Africa
The concept
In his opening speech Vartanian explained that the Service Division was far removed from the image of service equating only to maintenance and breakdown response – SKF sees it as a group that is focused on improving customer productivity and that its philosophy is about 'adding value' and 'building relationships'. One of SKF’s mantras for this is 'Spend minutes, save thousands'.
Vartanian explained that the SKF Solution Factory model brings together SKF’s entire service offering and the company’s five technical platforms: bearings, seals, services, lubrication and mechatronics. Typical services available from a Solution Factory cover lubrication solutions, sealing solutions, remanufacturing of bearings, spindle service and other mechanical services as well as remote monitoring, project management and training.
As SKF rolls out Solution Factories around the world they are all being established to provide the same consistent level of quality and service, employing the same standards and work practices. This means that the South African operation, as the sixth such SKF Solution Factory, is on a par with all other SKF Solution Factories.
To date, SKF Solution Factories have been opened in Tianjin and Shanghai (China), Gothenburg (Sweden), Torino (Italy) and Sao Paolo (Brazil), and now South Africa. SKF’s plan is to establish 15 of these factories in 2009, serving customers on every continent and creating a global network of knowledge.
South African investment
Gavin Garland, SKF South Africa’s managing director, says, “To effectively offer integrated and customised solutions, one needs an infrastructure with the installed technology, equipment and technical resources to coordinate and execute the solution. Solution Factory Africa creates and formalises that infrastructure with over 2500 sq metres of purpose-built infrastructure including workshops, technology centres and training facilities under cover, totalling some R9 million investment. In addition, we have built on the base of our ISO 9000 quality system and developed business processes and computer systems to allow us to effectively manage projects and deploy the technical resources.”
Expanding on the infrastructure investment Garland explained that a modular approach had been applied over the past few years, culminating in the current capability of Solution Factory Africa. The initial investments were in the mechanical workshops and the Remote Analysis Centre. In 2008 the Bearing Remanufacturing Service Centre and Reliability Maintenance Institute were completed. The latest additions to Solution Factory Africa include the Lubrication Application Centre, the Maintenance Products Repair and Calibration Centre, the Seals, Power Transmission and Mechatronics Customisation Centre and the Machine Tool Spindle Refurbish Centre.
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