Local Manufacturing Drives 64% YOY Sales Increase
Thinking customer first drives competitive advantage for our premium blasting technology
For ag亚游集团官方网站app Asia Pacific (DNAP) and its premium blasting technology, it’s all about finding ways to solve its customers’ biggest challenges.
Underpinned by its industry leading experts and the ability to leverage competitive pricing through a global supply footprint, ag亚游集团官方网站app’s strategy has led to its market leading position today. And it’s not a position taken for granted, with ag亚游集团官方网站app focused on strategic and continuous investment in innovation.
The strategy has seen strong growth in ag亚游集团官方网站app’s locally manufactured electronic detonator product range, with production increasing by 400% in just three years at its manufacturing facility in Helidon, 昆士兰.
Correlated to this are the electronic detonator units sold annually which have increased by 64% year-on-year, 过去三年:
This is driving physical expansion at the Helidon plant, with the recent addition of a sixth cell and growth in its regional workforce by 63% on the previous year.
Recognising that world class quality doesn’t happen overnight; especially given the highly complex nature of explosives and associated products, two objectives were set when determining the best manufacturing model:
- It must be flexible and situated as close to the customer base as possible
- It must maintain world class quality while remaining cost competitive
Each came with its pros and cons, 因此, a two-pronged approach was taken to satisfy both objectives.
集中生产
This model is applied to the standardised, 防爆的, ‘high-complexity’ parts of the electronic detonator, 如电子模块. The key benefits to this approach include:
- Ability to capitalise on scale,
- Highly-complex parts can be manufactured by world leading specialists,
- Leveraging wider industry experience and volumes,
- Processes can be highly automated ensuring repeatability and quality control,
- 作为非爆炸性成分, global transportation is less restricted and enhances security of supply in a cost-effective manner.
De-centralised组装
Each of ag亚游集团官方网站app’s facilities is strategically located in Australia, USA and Chile to facilitate product differentiation and meet specific customer needs such as wire type and length, as well as coil and packaging configuration.
By ensuring this bespoke assembly is close to the customer, it enables ag亚游集团官方网站app to:
- Reduce lead-times and customer inventory holding
- 增加供应安全
- Create local jobs with in-country assembly.
ag亚游集团官方网站app’s Team Leader Assembly, 马克沃特曼, looks over the installation of Cell 6 at the Helidon plant.
The assembly cells are designed with ‘lean’ principles in mind to ensure the following benefits are realised:
- Ability to alter products fast and effectively in response to customer feedback and requirements
- Superior quality control via a one-piece workflow
- Modular design enables fast upscaling, as seen at the Helidon plant which has grown from one to six cells between 2017 and 2020
- Critical operations on the cell are automated, such as electronic and functional testing, explosive quantity control and traceability, resulting in a highly reliable product
A testament to the effectiveness of this approach has been highlighted during the recent COVID-19 global pandemic, where ag亚游集团官方网站app has continued to supply customers with high quality and timely, locally produced products during unprecedented times.
Not only is the assembly performed locally, the product is backed by local technical expertise from the 电子启动 Team working with the shotfirers, and the DynoConsult® team liaising with site engineers, to the Specialists who know the product inside and out; this capability plays a significant role in achieving competitive advantage.
With volumes forecast to continue to increase over the coming months and years, ag亚游集团官方网站app will remain focused on meeting customer needs by improving product range and greater automation of manufacturing tasks.