Porter Group Sandvik specialist, Johan Hanekom

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Johan Hanekom is the Sandvik product specialist for Porter Group New Zealand. He shares some insight into his expertise and the Sandvik Mobile Plant range and its place within the New Zealand quarrying and mining industry.

What is your career background?

I have been working in a sales and marketing role in the heavy equipment market for the past 14 years. Early in my career, I worked as a business development manager for a bank doing commercial finance on capital equipment before joining Bell Equipment South Africa in 2008.

When I first moved to New Zealand in 2019, I managed McCloskey Crushing and Screening, MB Crushing Buckets and HSC Cranes for CablePrice in Wellington.

What do you enjoy most about your role as Porter Group Sandvik product specialist?

I really enjoy travelling all over New Zealand meeting our customers and listening to all their stories about where they’ve come from and how they developed their skills and businesses. I like the freedom the role gives to develop your own skills and brand within the company. Porter Group gives you all the necessary tools and backing needed to do this.

I enjoy solving riddles and puzzles and think crushing and screening is a bit like that: you have a start product and need to solve the puzzle of how to get it to a certain size and shape with as little handling of the material as possible. All while keeping in mind the number of machines and manpower you would need to get to this specific finished product. Keeping the running cost down and production as high as possible is a problem I love helping our customers solve.

How does the Sandvik Mobile Plant range cater to the unique New Zealand quarry and mining market?

The Sandvik Mobile product range is built on the same principle as its static plant; it is designed to work in heavy quarry and mining applications. It is built to give you maximum reliability and control of the product produced.

They have uniquely designed crushing chambers and screens that are fit for purpose and tough enough to withstand harsh operating conditions. From the Hydrocone with its steep concaves, the patented Prisec HS impact chambers which double as a primary or secondary crusher, to the patented double screen box incline design. I think what stands out with the Sandvik range is the versatility, which serves the NZ market well.

How does Porter Group’s offering differ from competitors in the quarrying and mining equipment market?

The Porter Group is the official distributor for Sandvik Mobile Plant in Oceania. What people don’t realise is it makes us one of the biggest distributors if not the biggest of crushing and screening machines in New Zealand. This benefits our customers as we carry more spare parts and invest more time in technical training.

Porter Finance plays a big role as well, as it can design a deal around an individual customer. Porter Finance makes all its own credit and lending decisions allowing our customers to operate a profitable business.

Porter Group has the resources to cater for any situation or stage of your business. With machine sales and hire as well as rent to buy options, we’re a one-stop shop where you can set up a complete quarry from one supplier.

What programs and services does Porter Group offer beyond mobile plant and equipment?

Porter Group and Sandvik offer a range of value-add products that help inform the mobile plant purchasing process.

Rock samples from a customer’s quarry can be sent to Sweden for professional analysis of the abrasion and wear index of the rock. This data is then used in the Sandvik Plant Design programme where we can map out different machine configurations to produce the desired product cost-effectively and at a certain production rate.

Our Sandvik Mobile range also comes standard with My Fleet telematics free for the first seven years. This system gives the customer visibility of their machine location, fuel burn, production, crusher settings, engine load and a complete view of the operation anywhere in the world. Lastly, we offer a range of extended warranty options in Sandvik Security Plus to ensure total peace of mind ownership.

Couple all of this with our nationwide Porter Mechanical field service capabilities and extended global parts network and partnering with Porter Group is a no-brainer!

What are some of Porter Group’s most popular Sandvik products?

I would say the Sandvik QJ341 jaw crusher is well known for its reliability and production. The jaw chamber is well established in our market and was known as Extec C12 before Sandvik utilised it in the QJ341 range.

The Sandvik QI353 and QI442 impact crushers will be the next big sellers in the Sandvik range. These were launched by Porter Group towards the end of 2021 and are getting good reviews at present. The Sandvik impact crusher is a very flexible machine due to its patented curtain design, and so far, that has really resonated with our customers.

What will be the quarrying industry’s challenges in the next three years?

Obviously the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting global supply chain issues continue to plague business the world-over. The logistics of heavy equipment supply is no exception, particularly with the increase in demand we have seen across all industries we serve. Our teams in New Zealand and Australia have had to adapt to these challenges ensuring a regular, proactive dialogue with customers is maintained so demand can be more readily forecasted.

Is Sandvik adding new quarry spec products to its tracked plant range?

The new QI353 mid-size impactor with all the bells and whistles will be the next big thing from Sandvik. We’re anticipating a lot of interest in this model due to its mid-range weight class and output capabilities. With longer maintenance intervals the QI353 is set to be a real time saver which is ideal for our busy customers.

How advanced is Sandvik in the development of electric power or hybrid engines for its mobile plant range?

There is a fair share of the product range already available as dual power units. Some jaw crushers, scalping screens as well as incline screen units. Sandvik as a whole has made some ambitious commitments to climate action in their global operations; committing to cut CO₂ emissions to net zero by 2050. We’re excited to see how these goals are reflected in its electric and hybrid product offering in the coming years.