Interview: Belting up in mining sector

Article published in the March/April issue of ERJ

Falling prices in markets, such as copper ore, iron ore and coal have blocked decisions about new mining installations causing a noticeable decline in the conveyor belting segment.

Despite this challenging market environment, Semperit’s conveyor belting business unit Sempertrans was able to record a positive volume development in the first three quarters of 2015.

This outcome, according to Sempertrans head Boris Illetschko, was possible by convincing new customers about the value of the company’s conveyor belt “solutions”.

Sempertrans had a growth spurt in 2015, with the expansion of its European production plant in Belchatow, Poland.

Sempertrans expects the Belchatow plant to be Europe’s largest and most modern conveyor belt production site.

“In total, around €40 million is being invested to double the production capacity there. The first expansion step was completed in 2015 and the second phase is to complete in 2017,” said Illetschko.

The company increased its sales and distribution network in the Americas, while also advancing in the Australian market by signing an exclusive distribution agreement with ConvaTech – a large New South Wales-based independent conveyor maintenance service provider.

In North America, Sempertrans and Shaw Almex, an established name in the vulcanisers and presses segment, have agreed on co-operating in conveyor belt sales across the US, Canada and Mexico.

Application engineering

Sempertrans also set up a technical consulting team for application engineering, in 2014, as part of a long-term strategy to add value to its products and services.

“Particularly large and efficient mines need powerful systems with high-quality conveyor belts,” he said, adding that initiatives by market players to offer additional services were now in demand.

This is where Sempertrans’ application engineering team can support customers in choosing the right belt and also by helping to optimise their conveying processes.

The team provides customised consulting services, such as the design and configuration of conveyor belts, in order to optimise the effectiveness of its customers’ business operations.

“This results in optimised belt lifetime, minimised downtimes of conveyor systems and a higher cost-efficiency of the mines by saving costs,” the Sempertrans head added.

Diversity

Another key issue for the company is market diversity.

Around half of Sempertrans’ business comes from mining industry customers, but other important markets are the cement and steel industries, ports as well as other bulk handling applications.

Another potential growth area for Sempertrans is thermal power and heating plants, as it predicts global energy consumption to increase by 35 percent by 2040.

As the company banks on the long-term growing energy market, it expects demand to be particularly driven by Asian and Latin American countries.

“In order to benefit from this long-term trend, Sempertrans aims to strengthen its position in these regions to achieve greater market share,” Illetschko added.

As part of a drive to develop new technologies, Sempertrans launched an energy saving belt TransEvo in 2013.

“With this innovative belt, power savings of up to 25 percent are possible. Especially for long-distance conveyors, high savings will most likely be generated by this product,” said the Sempertrans boss.

But, according to Illetschko, the strategic focus will however remain on applications in mining markets around the world.

Sempertrans produces its products in Poland, France, China and India and sells through several regional sales offices worldwide – from copper mines in Chile to coal mines in Germany and port facilities in Australia.

However, with a weak global economy and currently no growth support from China on the horizon, the supply and demand of raw materials will remain imbalanced for a while, explained Illetschko.

The official predicted, though, that in the long-run the growth for raw material demand will return, even if we will not see a “mining super cycle”.

“The mining industry will continue to scrutinise new projects more thoroughly while, at the same time, having to continue its cost-cutting programmes for existing operations,” the Sempertrans boss concluded.