GOING THE EXTRA MILE: A CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY

By: Scott Bahr

As you can imagine, being a company that services mining and construction needs, we work with some fairly remote clients. These remote customers are just as important to us at Bit Service as our neighbours in Saskatchewan are. Our dedication to serving our clients extends beyond our initial sales. We want to be a part of the process—and help when we can along the way.

We work with mining companies of all sizes and understand the unique challenges that come with running operations of different breadths. For a smaller company, losing several days of production because of broken parts can threaten profitability.

In the case of one client, this was the exact problem they ran into. Our client was a remote mine up in Northern B.C. near Tumbler Ridge. As a remote mine, the logistics of getting products to their site in a timely manner were far more complicated. Plus, having stricter access to the mines meant that the company kept fewer spare parts for maintenance on-site.

One day we heard from the team on-site at the mine near Tumbler Ridge: a large bearing on one of their pieces of material handling equipment failed, and it needed to be replaced as quickly as possible. Luckily enough, we had one in our warehouse available for them, and we were determined to get it to them as soon as we could.

But servicing a remote mine is not as simple as loading up a truck and driving replacements over. There were also no direct flight paths there, like there would be with a mine closer to a major center. We brainstormed and realized that we could still get our customer the part they needed, we would just have to find/charter a plane that could get it to Tumbler Ridge.

We found a small local pilot who loaded up the parts onto his plane and flew them from Saskatchewan to Northern BC. The aircraft was just a small passenger vehicle that was so small that it didn’t have a cargo hold. We ended up having to remove the pilot’s luggage, so there was room in the plane to safely secure the parts. Our staff personally drove the bearing down to the airfield, and loaded it into the plane. Once we loaded it up, the pilot took off on his own, and the workers at Tumbler Ridge got their parts promptly. Success!

Those close to the industry know the importance of being able to operate your loadout when a unit train arrives as scheduled. If ttheir loadout had continued to be down, it not only affects their schedule, but risks availability of the train and future scheduling. So having the replacement bearing in place, and the ability to start production again allowed the mine to fulfill their orders.

Additionally, it made sure that the quality of the product was there. There are tight timelines when working with metallurgical coal as once it is excavated and extracted from the ground, as it can start to degrade in the open air. Therefore, if the coal had already been extracted and could not have been loaded onto the train, the product risks a loss in value as the mine has very high standards for the product they deliver ot their clients.

We understand that everyone has unique timelines and needs they’re working with. As a company, we are dedicated to working with you, so that we understand your processes and how how we can fit in to keep them running as smoothly and efficiently as ever.  For us, we always want to make sure we serve our customers before, during and after the sale.