Featured in the October edition of Australian Mining Magazine
Makuri Technology is rapidly gaining a reputation as the right team to partner with in the supply of high-performance wear parts.
Obtaining and maintaining the lowest operating cost is an ongoing challenge for mining companies, and Makuri Technology specialises in the development of exceptional high-performance wear parts that also come with a world-class three level guarantee system.
Makuri founder and chief executive Ian J. Wilson says that after working in mining equipment and process plant engineering and maintenance at some of the world’s largest and toughest sites for about 30 years, he saw both the need and opportunity to create higher value-adding parts.
These are needed to perform better than the often sub-optimal original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components and other aftermarket price-based offerings that come up short in hard rock and highly abrasive mining and processing operations.
“To achieve this, we hired several industry experts across a range of fields encompassing maintenance, engineering, manufacturing, process metallurgy and condition monitoring,” Wilson says.
“In particular, in the new Perth office we have Malcolm Sligo, who is internationally recognised for his site service and support; and Brett Holmes, who is often regarded as a world leader in crusher liner design and process simulation.
“They are supported by long standing and well known sale administrator Sandra Kahl and our engineering and logistics staff in our head office in Singapore and regional office in Indonesia.
“So, after many years of supplying high-performance wear parts to overseas markets, Makuri Technology has opened the doors in Western Australia.”
Makuri’s Australian general manager, Holmes, adds that the company’s goal isn’t to become the biggest in the market, but rather to make sure it services a key group of customers properly and to the level that provides maximum value.
“We aim to assist customers in identifying what can be optimised and how to meet extended operating scenarios,” Holmes says.
Sligo, who holds the company role of global sales director and has spent nearly 40 years in manufacturing and machine servicing and rebuilding, says, “I like the fact that we specialise in ‘the forgotten front end of the process plant’.
“This area typically gets less attention and it has become our core business and we excel in it. Our solutions range from crusher wear liners, chute liners, apron feeder pans, SAG mill feed chutes and general machine maintenance and components, and providing all the engineering and support around that.
“Recently, the company worked with an overseas mining company to improve the reliability of its pebble crushing circuit, following repeated failures by all other suppliers that had serviced the site, including the OEM.
“This was achieved by optimising the crusher liners, producing an overall life improvement of around 54 per cent.”
Makuri installs bimetallic chute liners on a large stockpile drawdown chute.
Makuri is committed to not only supplying wear components but also introducing improvements or changes relating to condition monitoring, processing, engineering and design to get the best value out of mining assets.
The company also uses in-house simulation and laser scanning methods to evaluate wear on liners to help provide better outcomes, including life and performance.
Holmes believes that if the company fixes all the root causes, a machine will perform much better than name plate suggests it can.
“We don’t concentrate on selling copies of standard OEM components, instead we customise them for end-users to work according to their unique applications,” he says.
“Our approach is to optimise component materials and design to take the problem away.
“Successful minerals extraction and processing now, and increasingly in the future, will be determined by the best availability and utilisation of assets. Makuri has extended its capability into completing advanced root cause analysis on many machines and associated component failures, and has utilised this approach to address MP1000 crusher head failures.
“After extensive investigations and design reviews, Makuri redesigned the head based on eliminating the current design flaws to create a greatly-improved machine part.”
This capability stems from the company founder, Wilson, who believes there are growing and pressing needs for the mining industry to address its lack of innovation and technology adoption in some areas, and its growing carbon footprint.
“We step in to show the world that we understand and care about such things and can work with customers to achieve them,” Wilson says.
Makuri started in Asia and has gone global before circling back now to Perth, Western Australia.
“We are excited about working with those companies in Australia that want sustainable improved machine performance, guaranteed lowest costs to operate and a reduced carbon footprint as both our wear and machine parts are proven to last that much longer than the current standard offerings,” Holmes concludes.
This article also appears in the October issue of Australian Mining.