Located in Boksburg, on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa, the BRC remanufactures an average of 2 000 components each year for Caterpillar’s mining and construction equipment, ensuring that Barloworld Equipment can efficiently support the more than 24 000 Caterpillar assets in the southern African region.
As a Caterpillar dealer, the company provides its customers with the necessary technical support and parts availability to reduce equipment mean time to repair and provide the highest uptime for its customers. The BRC plays a key role in this, states Kamogelo Mmutlana, Executive Head for Business Excellence at Barloworld Equipment.
A competitive value proposition
With a staff complement of about 250 people, including contractors, and a 30 000 m² under-roof facility, the BRC focuses on large mining equipment components and has the capability to rebuild hydraulic systems, drivetrains and associated components, as well as engines. These include Caterpillar’s largest C175 20-cylinder engine, which powers the 797F mining haul truck.
Mmutlana explains that by the time a component finds its way to the BRC, it would have typically reached the end of its economic life. Traditionally, these would be disposed of and replaced, but the BRC has the technology and capability to rebuild these components to a Caterpillar certified ‘as new’ state, complete with a full Caterpillar warranty. In general, this is achieved at a cost of between 55% to 75% of the price of a new component, depending on the maintenance practices.
Through investment in its advanced salvage capabilities to repair and refurbish high value parts, Barloworld is promoting the rebuilding and reuse of components. This aligns with the company’s commitment to a circular economy and sustainability. By focusing on component reuse, Barloworld aims to reduce its environmental impact, first through the reuse of salvageable components, and secondly through the responsible disposal of end-of-life components and equipment.
Barloworld’s investment in enhancing the BRC’s service offering gives customers an option to either repair components economically or to undertake a complete rebuild, instead of buying new parts or equipment at a high cost. The BRC’s primary business model is built on an exchange programme where old components are exchanged for off-the-shelf rebuilt components.
“The enhanced BRC service offering, together with an extensive parts stockholding and a rebuilt component exchange programme, directly reduce customer downtime, ensuring equipment returns to operation faster,” Mmutlana says.
Enhanced machining capability
Through the purchase of 12 new, state-of-the-art pieces of equipment, including a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine and a robotic thermal arc spray, Barloworld is now able to internally machine and repair all engine blocks and heads, inspect and repair all crankshafts, as well as undertake machining of components and arc spraying in-house.
“This investment not only strengthens our rebuild capacity and reduces our component rebuild turnaround times, but also allows us to bring key processes in-house, giving us greater quality control and service flexibility,” Mmutlana says.As a Caterpillar Certified Component Rebuild Centre, the BRC is the main component rebuild hub and is supported by 11 other smaller component refurbishing centres throughout southern Africa. The BRC supports the South African market as well as seven other southern African countries with specialised component rebuild services, including Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi and at times, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The BRC is also the largest component rebuild facility within the Barloworld Equipment global dealer network and has successfully achieved its third consecutive Caterpillar Dealer Component Rebuild Centre recertification for 2025.
“Any piece of equipment that stops production is our focus at the BRC,” Mmutlana says. For example, if a component fails in the field and a customer does not want to exchange the component for a rebuilt one, these are then prioritised for repairs, he adds.
Improved technical capability and training
Following Barloworld’s investment in high-precision engineering, the next phase of investment at the BRC will focus on advanced electronic tooling technology for artisans. These smart tools, used in conjunction with an automated mobile assembly station, will be capable of receiving and transmitting data. This will guide artisans through pre-defined assembly procedures, enhancing accuracy and ensuring the high-quality standards essential for effective repair.
These smart tools will not only improve worker safety and ergonomics, but also enhance assembly quality, and turnaround efficiency.
Furthermore, Barloworld is looking to build additional technical capacity at the BRC through a ‘train-to-task’ approach, designed to help address South Africa’s skills deficit. This model focuses on training technically inclined individuals to perform specific technical tasks, enabling the rapid development of targeted, job-ready expertise.
Meanwhile, digitising the BRC’s operations remains an ongoing priority for Barloworld, with further investment planned in smart equipment and management systems that will enable end-to-end digital integration from production planning through to execution, Mmutlana says.
Moreover, Mmutlana says Barloworld’s investment at the BRC also includes the renewal of its existing 6 000-hp dynamometer for engine performance testing, complementing its existing 3 000-hp dynamometer. These enable the testing of small to medium construction engines through to the largest C175 20-cylinder engines used in the large mining haul trucks and power generation applications.
Focus on sustainability
To ensure that the BRC aligns with Barloworld’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, the company has invested in several sustainability initiatives, including water and waste management and renewable energy.
The company has invested over R16-million in the installation of more than 1 MWp of rooftop solar, reducing the BRC’s electricity bill by 19% year-on-year. It has also installed a rainwater-harvesting system with a capacity of 58 000 litres, which is used for washing components and equipment. This water is recycled and reused, significantly reducing the facility’s reliance on municipal supply.
In addition, the BRC operates under a stringent waste-management protocol that ensures as much waste as possible is recycled, supporting the company’s longer-term goal of achieving zero waste to landfill.
