Considering the needs of the construction industry, one tooling manufacturer touring its products across the country, providing demos and training for effective application.

“Since its launch in November 2012, the Atlas Copco demo truck has been well received by industry,” reports Neville Stewart, Atlas Copco Construction Tools Division’s business line manager.

“Our demo truck, a first of its kind on the African continent, is touring around the country with great success, attracting many new and potential customers,” says Stewart, adding that distributors in particular have appreciated the value of the truck.

Heemphasizes that always using the right tool for every application is paramount for cost-effective, sustainable operation in order to remain competitive in the construction industry. “Our customers’ interests always take precedence, so it’s imperative that we continue to strengthen our focus on customers and products. The demo truck enables us to address both by showcasing our expansive range of construction equipment, introducing new technology and products, and providing hands-on product demonstrations.”

“Taking our products, advice, training and service to the doorstep of our customers and distributors and demonstrating the productivity offered by our products on-site is one of the functions of the demo truck. We are able to move our products around the country with relevant ease, enabling us to heighten awareness of our product portfolio, giving us the scope to share options to do the job more efficiently and effectively that customers may have been unaware of. Several customers are showing interest in our broad solutions offering and are recognizing the valuable contribution we can make to their businesses,” explains Stewart.

“We aim to increase our presence in the small plant hire industry over the next few years and will concentrate our trips on this industry offering quality products that add value to the small hire company through excellent cost of ownership.” Healso points out that the truck opens up cross-border markets. “We are planning a road trip to Botswana and Namibia in 2014 to address construction businesses in these regions.”

Typical equipment on board includes concrete vibration and surfacing equipment, plate compactors, rammers and rollers, handheld hydraulic construction equipment, motor drill breakers and pneumatic demolition equipment, with new products being added. “Recent releases include ride-on trowel models, generator drive units for electric poker vibrators and a vibration reduced chipping hammer for hand held hydraulics.” But Stewart says that the company’svast construction tool product range makes it impossible to showcase the entire range as there is limited space on the 3.5 t demo truck. “The challenge lies in choosing the right product arrangement for an event, which can be difficult, especially if more than one show is visited over a short time.”

The demo truck is creating career opportunities with theoretical and hands-on training given to employees. “This is part of our commitment to customers that they will receive sound advice and expert operator training from skilled personnel. We have a demonstration specialist in Aubrey Silidi, who has shown tremendous growth after attending three training sessions in Sweden,” says Stewart. “We have received positive comments on Silidi’s abilities. Following an open day during which we demonstrated our products, Richards Bay distributor AT-CO commented, ‘I felt it was well worth it. Aubrey’s knowledge was good on all the tools and he was very good with our customers’.”

Demolition Technologies of Cape Town commented: “The presence of the very professional looking set-up as well as your well-trained staff added huge value to the success of our open days. With the range of equipment on show as well as being able to see products working has resulted in us being able to ‘close the deal’ on a number of potential orders.” Stewart says: “These accolades are most encouraging and we are looking forward to our next road trip to the Northern Region in November.

“The fact that we were once again included in the list of the world’s 100 most innovative companies by renowned business magazine Forbes,and acknowledged as one of the world’s most sustainable companies in the Global 100 list presented at the World Economic Forum earlier this year, bears testimony that we have the interest of our customers and the environment at heart. By continually improving our products, we offer our customers improved productivity and cost of ownership,” concludes Stewart.