Caterpillar Magazine Mining
Mar 1, 2015
Today, Jordan-based contractor Al-Own provides a high level of service and innovation to the mining industry.
FOR CUSTOMER AL-OWN, A DYNAMIC PARTNERSHIP DRIVES SUCCESS
Today, Jordan-based contractor Al-Own provides a high level of service and innovation to the mining industry. It exceeds current standards, provides challenges for employees and prides itself on adaptability, exceptional workmanship and high productivity. Back in the early 1990s, however, the company now known as Al-Own didn’t yet exist. Then, it was a small, local contractor in south Jordan with a few mid-sized machines that took on jobs handling mining materials. Soon, and because of outstanding productivity, the company earned bigger and better mining industry work, including projects for the Jordan Phosphate Mining Company (JPMC). Then, in 2003, and well after establishing the company as Al-Own, JPMC gave the growing contractor its first long-term mining contract for performing work such as extracting overburden and phosphate. TRUST AND CONFIDENCE Even though Al-Own is known for its ability to take on tough challenges, adapting to different environments and succeeding, these new, bigger challenges would be Al-Own’s first in-depth mining work. Not only did Al-Own take on the work with determination and confidence, Jordan Tractor helped provide guidance, support Abu Rasheed (third from left), Mine Manager with the JTEC on-site support team. and training. Their partnership first began more than 25 years ago through product support for a single medium-sized wheel loader. Lately, the relationship has developed into a growing, 24-hour-a-day enterprise with Jordan Tractor supplying 49 mining machines over the last three years. “When we first pursued our venture into this larger mining contract, we, along with Jordan Tractor, gathered a wide range of valuable information about mining operations. Their input helped us make truly informed decisions that are still having a positive impact on our productivity,” said Mohammad Tarawneh, Al-Own CEO. Just as important is the long-term commitment between AL-Own, JPMC, Jordan Tractor and Caterpillar to achieve specific business objectives and maximize the effectiveness of their collective resources. “It is critical for the Cat® team to ensure our dealer and customer have all the necessary tools and expertise to achieve a best-in-class mining operation in the long run,”said Dieter Gessner, Caterpillar Global Mining EAMECIS General Manager. That required a partnership with a shared culture and without regard to organizational boundaries. “Our relationship is based on trust, dedication to common goals and an understanding of each other’s expectations and values,” Mohammad added. From a dealer point of view, Christie Janho, Jallad Group CEO (covering Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan), had this to say; “Mr. Tarawneh was always interested in learning more about Cat products and services. He started to spend a lot of time with our sales team and implemented many of their recommendations, which improved his machine operations, uptime and maintenance practices.” With the development of the business, and especially mining, Al-Own needed more efficiency and comprehensive support to increase production and reduce cost per ton. “Together, our goal was to establish a first-class mining site and we’ve certainly achieved that.”
A PARTNERSHIP THAT’S PAYING OFF To support Al-Own’s successful endeavor into the mining industry, Caterpillar and Jordan Tractor provided a full range of products and services, including operator, mechanical and product training as well as factory visits. A dedicated Caterpillar global mining team of experts, supported by Jordan Tractor, included a factory engineer, production expert, operation trainer and others. “We met with Al-Own’s people on a regular basis to educate, train and review the situation and help make any necessary improvements. We also helped establish their Condition Monitoring Center and provided production studies. Personally and professionally, we wanted to be there every step of the way and we were always ready to go the extra mile,” Amin Amireh Jordan Tractor, General Manager explained. That level of initial and continuing support from Jordan Tractor and Caterpillar has been effective. Not only is Al-Own achieving 75 percent above their productivity target, since 2013, the contractor has reached 94 percent machine availability for their Cat 6030 excavators and 777D off-highway trucks. Those impressive numbers are partially in thanks to Jordan Tractor, which is offering a full resident team on site and performing equipment management services that include preventative, predictive and corrective maintenance. And, as a result of this successful partnership, JPMC has awarded Al-Own additional mining sites and increased volume goals. That led Al-Own to purchase equipment in addition to the four 300-ton 6030 shovels and ten 100-ton 777D trucks that are currently on site. • Eighteen trucks will be operational soon • Two more shovels are being assembled on site • Twelve 777D trucks and two 6030 shovels have been ordered recently NEW DRAGLINE BUSINESS Mohammad Tarawneh Al-Own CEO And, thanks to a new oil shale project, Al-Own’s mining fleet could extend even further with thirty 777D trucks and three 6030 shovels. Christie Janho Jallad Group CEO In fact, not too long ago, Al-Own had less than 10 percent of JPMC’s production business. Currently, they have more than 50 percent and anticipate increasing that number as a result of Al-Own’s ability to provide more robust support and productivity at less cost per ton than competitors. “Our alliance with Jordan Tractor and JPMC is what made this partnership a success and what helped contribute to our growth,” said Mohammad. We have the knowledge and tools needed to operate at peak efficiency at a modern, efficient site that has high standards. Together, we’ve created something special that no one would have expected at the beginning.” ■ Additional details at: www.cat.com In a related story, and yet another new challenge for Al-Own, the contractor recently won a contract to operate four draglines. Two of the four are legacy Bucyrus machines JPMC acquired in the 1980s. Making that challenge more difficult is the fact that, when the contract was awarded, two of those draglines were not operational and had technical issues. This was due to age as well as an obsolete electrical system and technology. However, and thanks to another Al-Own, Jordan Tractor and Caterpillar partnership, Al-Own now has one of these two machines back in working order. Jordan Tractor and Caterpillar are preparing further assistance to Al-Own regarding operational support, maintenance and troubleshooting to help ensure the draglines until complete upgrade and rebuild can take place.