Banks Mining contract for Pirtek Tyne & Wear
Pirtek Tyne & Wear to help minimize plant downtime at Northumberland surface mines
BANKS Mining have awarded a two-year contract to Pirtek Tyne & Wear to help maximize the operational availability of mining plant at the Durham-based firm’s two surface coal mines in south-east Northumberland.
Pirtek Tyne & Wear will provide a new on-site repair service at the Brenkley Lane and Shotton sites, near Cramlington, with a new local technician being recruited by Pirtek to carry out repairs between 8am and 5.30pm from Monday to Friday.
Pirtek’s Total Hose Management service will see any hydraulic hose breakdowns on Banks Mining’s plant and vehicle fleet being repaired on the spot, thus reducing any production losses as a result of having machinery out of action.
Pre-service checks will also be carried out by the on-site Pirtek technician, with cloud-based reports showing the reasons behind failures and analysing how vehicle repairs have been carried out being filed to provide Banks’ plant team with greater insight into how their fleet can best be managed.
Pirtek Tyne & Wear have been awarded the service contract as part of the family-owned Banks Group’s long-standing policy of working with local suppliers wherever possible.
Kevin Monaghan, operations director at Pirtek Tyne & Wear, who specialize in hydraulic hoses, pipe fittings and couplings, said: ‘Mechanical breakdowns have a direct impact on the efficiency of Banks Mining’s operations, as well as on their production capacity, so the quicker we can carry out repairs, the smaller these impacts will be.
‘Having a client like Banks Mining on our doorstep is a real advantage for both us and them, and we’re aiming to build a strong working relationship with the Shotton and Brenkley Lane teams over the next couple of years and beyond.’
Robbie Bentham, plant director at Banks Mining, added: ‘Pirtek Tyne & Wear have shown both the mechanical expertise and the service commitment that we needed for this contract, and it’s especially pleasing to be helping them create a new job for a local technician through this new arrangement.’
