14 Feb Premium partnership benefits mining contractor
For CBC key accounts manager Steve Madden, winning an evergreen contract with a major Australian mining services contractor is definitely a highlight of his 25-year career.
Back in 2017, Madden was heavily involved in getting through CBC’s tender submission for the contractor’s bearings and associated products, as well as helping to reduce its inventory.
Madden recalls the contracts department pushing him to get down to business and work through the contract details for a deal that has finished up generating more than $600,000 for just one product range.
“Going from a $0 account in CBC nationally to making $600,000 for one product range for that mining contractor is quite extraordinary,” Madden says.
“As of the timing of the tender, about 10 major mine sites were set to use this product.”
The product range is part of CRC Industries’ offering for the mining sector.
CRC services the mining contractor at mine sites in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia with its equipment maintenance, material handling, fleet maintenance and worker personal care solutions, including corrosive sprays and brake cleans for mechanical parts.
The preferred supplier status reflects CRC Industries’ reputation as Australia’s most popular aerosol lubricant supplier and the proven performance of its chemical products at mine sites around the world.
“CRC definitely had a role in winning the contract,” Madden says. “We wouldn’t have been able to reduce the mining contractor’s inventory of engineering consumable products from 10 to 15 different spray items, to two to three CRC products to cover that whole range without discussing the best options with CRC and getting them to support us by directly contacting the customer if needed.
“I know that CRC’s engineering team has contacted a few of our customers on behalf of CBC, so it’s a joint CRC-CBC effort in getting this contract off the ground.”
CBC is also able to work through the contractor’s stock range, offer substitute products and dramatically reduce its inventory lines on the back of a thorough understanding of where and what CRC’s products are used for.
This is testament to CRC’s research and development team, which continually develops new and improved products to help mining professionals do their job faster, easier and safer.
During the tender process, CRC also provided the contractor’s engineering team with a technical data sheet (TDS) and a safety data sheet (SDS) for each of the products.
The contract has since delivered major savings for the contractor through inventory reduction.
CBC’s partnership with CRC dates as far back as the start of Madden’s career with CBC as a branch manager in Slacks Creek, Queensland 25 years ago.
CRC has maintained a strong chemical products range the entire time, with on-site manufacturing that allows control of all production processes.
All CRC’s raw materials and finished goods are subject to stringent testing by the company’s control department and go through lot sampling.
The engineering consumables supplier is also backed up by distributors to which customers can simply quote a CRC price to.
“You have to offer something more than just a product,” Madden, who is now based in Eagle Farm, Queensland, says.
“You have to offer the support they find they can rely on. And that support is still ongoing and offered to the mining contractor.”
With branches across Australia, CBC also provides each mine site with an individual representative to assist operators in remote locations.
Each CBC branch can provide a delivery service to ship products to a mine site quickly as required.
“If they need assistance with any lubrication issue, we also have our lubrication specialist to work out the best solution for them,” Madden says.
“It’s more about maintaining that customer relationship, servicing them in the way they need to be serviced.”
“They don’t want to wait for three weeks for a product to ship from Brisbane to Western Australia. They want it in a day or two, so that’s what we can provide by being a much stronger national company.”
The CRC-CBC partnership highlights the ability of both companies to provide back-up support for the mining industry, because in the words of Madden, “Once you’ve got a CRC product in, the product will sell itself.”
