100% attendance rate in Africa - Interview

"At present, the maturity of commercial vehicle products in China is very high, and the quality of a vehicle is mainly determined by daily management and maintenance. We use TCO concept to operate the fleet, with seven points to support and three points to repair."

"Our vehicles have been working in Sierra Leone mining area in Africa for nearly four years, and now it still has a 100% attendance rate of 8 trucks per day. The engine has never been repaired!" This was an answer given by Mr. Wen, a partner employee of Vimetco, a world-famous aluminum company in China in a recent interview.

According to Mr. Wen, his company is engaged in bauxite transportation business in West Africa, and the owner is a European company. In June 2017, we bought a total of 8  SHACMAN Aolong S2000 6x4 dump trucks, equipped with Weichai 340 horsepower engine, and started the mineral transportation work.

Mr. Wen showed a recent daily waybill of dump truck. According to the waybill, two drivers were on sick leave that day, and the number of trips of the other six vehicles was very uniform. The distance between one vehicle and the other varied from 20 to 80 kilometers every day, with an average of 9 to 13 trips every day. Each vehicle transported more than 30 tons of bauxite per trip on average. The total number of goods transported in one day was 300-400 tons, and the total tonnage of goods transported in the six vehicles combined was more than 2000 tons. In the 4-5 years of operation, the average total mileage of each vehicle has reached 180000 km, and all vehicles run smoothly without faults.

"In the actual operation process, we feel that Weichai engine has strong explosive power, good reliability and stability, just because it is Euro II standard vehicle, the noise is a little bit higher. In addition, we have our own maintenance team, including Chinese mechanic team and local mechanic team. Since there is no 4S shop in the local area, we purchase the parts from China and ship them to Sierra Leone. " Mr. Wen added.

In the daily maintenance of vehicles, Mr. Wen also accumulated a lot of experience, "for example, many of our maintenance parts are of original parts, the lubricating oil is from Shell, with the tires also from well-known brands, the engine oil is changed once a month or 5000 km, the maintenance cost seems very high, but it prolongs the service life of the vehicle, reduces the repair and rescue time and increases the transportation time, all of which are turned in to profits. Therefore, we have won the trust and dependence of the mine owners. The performance appraisal is often among the top ten transportation companies in the mining area. We can develop in the mining area for a long time. In this way, the comprehensive operating cost is lower and the profits are considerable. "