Metso Outotec is celebrating the groundbreaking ceremony for its biggest service centre globally, which is being built at Karratha in Western Australia.
The Finland-based quarrying equipment and solutions provider announced the investment in November 2021. The new centre will offer comprehensive maintenance and repair services for mining and aggregates customers in the Pilbara and Gascoyne regions. Located in one of the world’s largest mining regions, the centre offers increased productivity and shorter lead times as well as substantial environmental advantages due to shorter transportation journeys.
The new service centre’s lot size is over 35,000m2 and it will have a workshop of 5,000m2 and a total of 18,000m2 of storage space. The total investment value is around €32m, including the purchase of the land, assets, and construction of the service centre. The centre is expected to be operational during the fourth quarter of 2023.
Martin Karlsson, senior vice president, professional services, Metso Outotec, commented: “This is a great day for Metso Outotec and our customers. Reaching this milestone means that the construction work on the site is proceeding after a thorough planning phase. The service centre is an expansion to our footprint and an important strategic investment in supporting our customers. The strong operational support and leading process knowledge we provide, will help our customers to meet their targets.”
The centre will be equipped to repair and refurbish for example large mining crushers, grinding mills, screens, and car dumpers. It will also act as a base for field services, hold inventory for customer critical wear and spare parts, as well as providing a customer training facility.
Stuart Sneyd, president, Asia Pacific market area, Metso Outotec, said: “By investing in this state-of-the-art service centre, we are demonstrating our long-term commitment to the Pilbara Region and the communities there. We can offer shorter lead times, and environmentally efficient service and delivery capabilities. The functionalities of the building have been carefully designed, and we are able to support our customers with a comprehensive service and repairs capability for all their needs.”
The Pilbara centre is expected to provide long-term stable employment to skilled personnel from the local communities, including service engineers and experts.
Metso Outotec has today 140 service centres globally, over 3000 field services professionals, and additional support resources close to customer operations.
