When Queensland-based original equipment manufacturer, M&Q Equipment, was looking for a reliable local supplier to provide a range of bearings and bearing assembly components for their flagship slurry pumps, they turned to their trusted suppliers at BSC’s Wacol branch; which resulted in a partnership with Timken®.
For over 25 years, M&Q has been a trusted manufacturer and supplier of high-performing equipment and the name behind the industry-recognised Austral slurry pumps. The pumps are built in Brisbane, shipped around Australia and globally for use across a range of applications including mining and mineral processing, water and wastewater, sand processing, dredging, dewatering and more.
Among other uses, Austral pumps are fitted into wastewater processing facilities at bioenergy power plants around Queensland and New South Wales – where organic renewable materials are processed to produce heat, electricity, biogas and liquid fuels.
Adam Robson, Sales Manager at M&Q Equipment, says his company was looking for a local supplier that could help them meet their ongoing requirements for the refurbishment work done on site.
“Timken® is a well-known brand already used in the industry and with their reputation for a high-quality product and excellent product availability, they were the preferred choice of brand for our bearings,” says Robson. “Our local bearing supplier BSC has a close working relationship with Timken® and we continue that today.”
BSC’s Wacol branch manager, Aaron Pickersgill says his branch had been working closely with M&Q over the years, supplying a range of products as and when required.
“Reliability and stock availability were very important factors for M&Q Equipment. They always really liked working with BSC because of our quick turnaround whenever they needed something and we wanted to make sure that we delivered on those expectations,” says Pickersgill.
M&Q was looking for a supplier that was not only well-recognised for quality excellence, but that could also guarantee regular supply and availability.
Moreover, M&Q was interested in working with a single supplier that could meet all of its requirements for different types of bearings, including tapered roller bearings, spherical roller bearings and cylindrical roller bearings.
To tick all those boxes, the BSC team recommended that M&Q work with Timken® – who are a globally recognised bearing manufacturer with a strong local presence in Australia.
“The Timken® products fit the bill perfectly,” says Pickersgill. “The Timken® brand obviously has a very good reputation in the market. They are a single brand with a wide portfolio of well-engineered and high quality bearings. More importantly for M&Q, the Timken® company is great at stock management.”
Pickersgill and Brett Ayerst, Timken® Regional Sales Manager then worked together to arrive at an optimum level of safety stock to ensure the required parts and components were available when an order came through.
“Safety stock is what we agree upon based on the feedback that we receive from customers. For example, if a customer says that they need 12 pieces of a certain component each month, we might decide to stock 24 of the product with our distributor to account for the safety stock, says Ayerst.
“Every time a new business arrangement comes into the equation, we then make adjustments in our inventory to account for that,” he explains.
Apart from having the assurance of regular supply of quality products, Robson says the partnership with BSC and Timken® has also brought more cost-competitiveness to the Austral brand.
“The Austral pump is one of the handful of pump brands in the slurry pumping industry that are still built in Australia. We pride ourselves on being able to supply a product that is not only of top quality, but that is also extremely competitive pricewise. This is only possible with suppliers like Timken® and BSC,” Robson says.
Pickersgill and Ayerst both made sure that the prices offered by both Timken® and BSC enabled M&Q to compete in the market.
“Working with Timken® and BSC allows M&Q to offer its flagship pumps at very competitive prices. As the supplier, we also wanted to make sure that our rates were competitive in the market to bring maximum cost benefits for our customer,” says Pickersgill.
Ayerst says the partnership between Timken® and BSC is particularly successful as the two partners share the same vision in terms of customer service and integrity.
“It was very important for us that M&Q as the end user could reach out to us directly to talk about their requirements. It is this sort of open and trust-based relationship that we share with BSC that enables us to achieve the best outcome for customers,” he says.
“It’s a relationship that’s based around trust. We trust that BSC always does the right thing by us as well. It works. We have the same focus and same direction, so the chance of success greatly improves.”
Ten years since the partnership took off and M&Q started deploying the Timken® bearings in Austral pumps, Robson says they have not experienced any product failures.
“M&Q has received multiple positive feedbacks from clients across all industries saying that Austral pumps have exceeded performance required and outlasted any other brands. We pride ourselves on our Australian-built pumps for the Australian market,” he says.
