“We have a higher standard of quality that we stand behind, and I believe that’s why Australian Certified Winches – a respected and sought-after OEM for custom winches – chooses us,” exclaims Engineering Design Hub Manager, Josh Price.
It’s Josh’s job to oversee any design or fabrication work undertaken by BSC and ensure it meets both the company’s elevated standards and “the high standard expected from our customers.” Recently, this included an order from Australian Certified Winches for a number of custom-designed sheaves.
“Australian Certified Winches have been a customer of ours for the past four years. We primarily provide roller side bearings and housings that will support their rope drums,” he explains. “Recently, however, we supplied an order for them which included sheaves at various grades made to Australian code – this was for an offshore application. They know and trust us to supply a quality product and to deliver on time, which is why we received this special order.”
According to Grant Barrett, Director of Australian Certified Winches, the sheaves are part of a series of custom winches that have been made for various ship-loading applications in an offshore mining operation.
Typical to the projects that Australian Certified Winches takes on, the winches for these offshore applications needed to be made to certain codes and standards, including the sheaves employed on the wire rope. As an experienced customer of BSC, Grant made an enquiry with his local branch, which resulted in an order for the tailor-engineered sheaves.
“While my company has only been in operation for the last four years, I’ve been building winches for over 25 years – and originally, on the Gold Coast with a company called Jaden Engineering, who specialised in marine and trawler winches,” explains Grant. “Back in the 90s, we used the BSC Gold Coast branch exclusively as our bearing and sheave supplier. Now, I primarily deal with Garry Spinks up at the BSC Yatala branch who delivers this same personal service.”
Garry indeed followed up with the relevant engineering personnel at BSC, which led to Josh at the Engineering Design Hub in Eagle Farm, Queensland.
“My customer is every BSC branch across the country; I support them and their customers with design and fabrication needs,” Josh points out. “Often I’ll be in contact with the end customer to make sure we are as responsive to their requirements as possible.”
This was the case with Australian Certified Winches.
“Australian Certified Winches works primarily in the mining industry and the sheaves are being used for ‘gravity take-ups’ which is a large suspended weight that is used through a pulley system to apply a tension load to a conveyor belt,” Josh expands. “The sheave units we supply to them are fully-custom-made here in Sydney Australia including all the casting and machining, the assembly and painting.”
The sheaves are integral to the winches that Australian Certified Winches then manufacture and sell to their customers in the mining industry. And as these customers are often offshore, they need to prove their value in a highly price-competitive market.
“We have always been a quality supplier. We are often not the cheapest option due to our manufacturing methods and standards, but we choose quality over price whenever we can,” explains Josh. “We make cast-iron sheaves that provide a longer service
life to customers and are more reliable, which makes up the difference on the initial investment.”
Garry Spinks, Internal Sales Lead at BSC Yatala, elaborates on these customer benefits.
“The major benefit to Australian Certified Winches comes from our capabilities as a company with the product knowledge and manufacturing abilities to assist him at all levels from the enquiry to the supply,” he expounds. “Our branch is strongly aligned with industrial customers such as Australian Certified Winches and these relationships are based heavily on the service we provide over pricing.”
Having said that, Garry points out that BSC is always willing to work with customers on a payment plan to ensure their upfront costs are manageable.
“Most recently with our large sheave order, BSC agreed to payment terms that were beneficial to both parties, and helped considerably with my cash flow,” Grant explains. “As a small business where cash flow is often a challenge, this type of support is appreciated.”
