Crane and hoist manufacturer Condra has expanded its maintenance programme to include hands-on training for customers’ service personnel.

The company says it will also introduce remote diagnostics for on-screen assistance at isolated sites, rolling out these improvements at installations across Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Bulgaria, Peru and Chile, and in all African countries where it has a presence.

The long-term plan includes the combination of diagnostics with remote specialist oversight to aid repairs by the customer’s own technicians.

To date, Condra’s maintenance programme has incorporated only selected agents and technical teams from its own factories whereas the new approach will capacitate customers’ own maintenance crews to execute maintenance work, assisted by visiting teams or remotely by specialists at Condra’s technical centre in Johannesburg. On-demand emergency repairs will continue to be managed by Condra technicians sent to site.

Condra MD Marc Kleiner explained that the goal is to lower the customer’s service costs, and to further improve machine uptime and productivity.

“The idea is that a Condra team will oversee the mine’s own service personnel wherever possible, helping them carry out the repair themselves,” Kleiner said. “This will allow hands-on training under specialist direction,” he explained.

Condra service teams comprising either an electrical specialist accompanied by a mechanical assistant, or vice versa, are scheduled to visit countries across Africa in the near future.

In addition, the company will work in conjunction with specialists in England and Australia to allow customers to receive prompt assistance in most of the world’s time zones, combining a phone call with on-screen visuals presented to the customer’s technicians at the installation site.