Bridon Bekaert Ropes Group (BBRG) Australia has just completed a highly successful year of engagement with the cranes and lifting sector.
BBRG has experienced significant growth in key industry sectors, including mining and resource, oil and gas, onshore and offshore, and also in the heavy lift sector of the crane sector, which is focused on major infrastructure and construction projects.
With the manufacturing plant located in Mayfield East, near Newcastle in New South Wales, BBRG has invested heavily in its plant, manufacturing, and testing equipment, stock holdings and people over the past 18 months. This investment will continue to see BBRG being recognised as an Australian leader in the manufacturing, supply, and support of high-performance wire rope products.
The BBRG vision is simple: provide the market with a trusted high performing product, superior service, technical backing, and the aftersales support to go with it.
BBRG recently installed a state-of-the-art service centre – a first for the wire rope industry in Australia – and with the support of its 14 manufacturing plants globally, the company is well positioned provide a vast array of wire rope products and services across the country, well into the future.
BBRG support and service capabilities range from a cut piece of rope, and standard run-of-the-mill termination, to specialist crane rope fittings, visual inspection, rope cleaning, re-lubrication, advanced lubricants and non-destructive examination (NDE).
Advice and services can also include application recommendations, custom rope design, VisionTek 3D optical rope analysis, post life examination, the Maximum Operating Rope Efficiency (MORE) program and NATA testing and forensic services.
According to Stuart Coxon, BBRG’s technical accounts manager, BBRG is at the forefront of the wire rope industry here in Australia and worldwide. The continued investment in the business is designed to streamline sevices BBRG is able to offer customers.
“We have heavily invested in our stock holdings locally and this is designed to service the numerous customers we have in critically important industry sectors across Australia,” he said.
“The cradle to grave approach taken by our team at BBRG Australia stems from users wanting the optimum performance from their asset. For a customer to receive the full benefit of the resource behind the BBRG team, there needs to be an initial discussion with the technical team which, where possible, will start with a machine audit.
“This will involve our team understanding the type equipment involved, the conditions our ropes will be operating in, and any issues the customer may be experiencing etc. This will provide our team with the data required to select the best possible rope for these specific applications.
“Many factors will come into play in terms of a rope’s selection, and these will include breaking force requirements, flexibility, rotational resistance, high corrosion protection, crushing, and elasticity, to name a few” said Coxon.
During the life of a BBRG high performance wire rope, if a customer requires any assistance or has technical queries around the ropes performance, BBRG has a local technical team that can be contacted to work through their requirements.
“From a more critical asset management perspective, where rope life can play a part in dictating the production. We like to take advantage of our post-life rope analysis.
“The technical team will perform several specific in-house tests on the rope to work through its failure mechanisms, residual break force, retention of lubrication, and so on. This provides our technical team with an insight into how we can look to change or even redesign the rope differently to enhance performance and keep the customer’s asset operating for greater periods between downtime and change outs,” said Coxon.
BBRG Australia also understands that this holistic approach is not always for everyone. At times, a customer may just want a fast and urgent turnaround on a common rope, or cons truction, wants to get its crane or asset back to work.
“In these instances, our experienced team at BBRG is well equipped with a state-of-the-art facility, the stock and expertise to get our customers back to work,” said Coxon.
“So, whether it’s a rope for your a pick and carry, the workhorse of your fleet, your all terrain, crawler, foundation/piling rig, tower crane or ship to shore critical asset, BBRG Australia has a high performance rope to suit your application, and the service and support capabilities to manage the rope from cradle to grave.”