Adrian Quigg, vice president, distribution sales – Americas, for Metso, discusses customer service, the North American market and the upcoming ConExpo/Con-Agg show in this exclusive interview with Rock Products. –Ed.
What is Metso’s number-one goal when it comes to serving U.S. aggregates producers?
Sustainability. Metso has today the largest installed base of any manufacturer; as such we are present in the asset base of most major aggregate producers.
They need to know that Metso is willing and able to provide effective support for their equipment and that we can do so in a responsible and competitive way.
How is Metso’s dealer network positioned to maximize customer service?
Full-line approach. Today we are sure that our network provides us with a clear competitive edge, we have great geographic coverage and high levels of competency in our network.
That said we are far from perfect and we have plans to continue strengthening
the network by accelerating competency transfer, adding meaningful products to the portfolio and “listening” to the customers’ needs via our key account
programs.
What are the key selling points of some of the products being introduced later this year?
One of the key advantages to Metso, and Quarry Supplies that we are launching, is being able to deal with one competent supplier in an efficient way where it’s easy to do business with and you know you are buying quality products. You can now source through your local Metso distributor a full range of consumable products. The interesting thing about the consumable business as well is that we are traditionally thought as an OEM, an original equipment supplier, whereas these quarry supply products don’t need a Metso machine.
They go on anybody’s machine, anybody’s site, anywhere. All sites, all operations. And when you are in the consumable business, replacement consumable parts, you have to be very, very present with the customer. It’s a same-day or next-day business.
You have to be really in tune with the customer’s needs, you have to be highly competitive, and you have to be very competent of what you do. We believe through our distribution network, we can be in that game.
How does Metso view the North American market going forward?
Stable but somewhat fragile. We see a need to continue adjusting to the new norms in terms of production volumes versus available capacity. It’s a market where customers need even greater support and competitiveness. For sure the next few years will continue to test us all.
What plans does Metso have for ConExpo-Con/Agg?
We’re pretty excited about this up-and-coming ConExpo-Con/Agg show for a number of reasons. We like ConExpo-Con/Agg; it’s a big show, it’s a big splash. It’s a chance to really show our brand off. We like to do it and we like to do it well.
We are going to show a new machine this year that’s not really in the public domain yet. I can tell you that the configuration of the machine is called a LT220D, and that it’s a secondary crushing and screening unit on tracks. It will be shown in configuration with a primary unit on tracks, which will be a complete process in two units. It’s a pretty exciting proposition to produce calibrated finish products through two units. It’s a pretty exciting opportunity.