A few minutes with Metso

Metso hosted dealers and customers at its 2013 Quarry Solutions & Industry Knowledge Expo, a training and demonstration event in Columbia, S.C. This was the second straight year Metso hosted the event. Pit & Quarry sat down during the expo with Adrian Quigg, the company’s vice president of distributor sales, to learn more about the event’s purpose, the state of the company and for a look ahead to ConExpo.

P&Q: Can you share the history behind this special event and what Metso plans to take away from it each year?

AQ: We haven’t had this event every year. We’ve had it sporadically over the years. I would say the last two years we decided to resurrect this event. It was a tough decision last year when we did so because we’re in pretty hard times still in the North American aggregate market. So getting people to give time and spend money to come visit us was quite a tall order.

Our attendance is more than 20 percent up this year over last year. It’s a real testimony to the commitment our distributors have and the relationships they have with some of their customers. We’re very proud and we’d like to see this as an annual event if we can maintain the interest and make it interesting enough for people to come.

P&Q: Why the extra emphasis on service this year?

AQ: We’ve got to be careful with the word “service” because most people think of service as people who turn wrenches and go out and fix machines. At Metso, we put an “s” on the end and call it “services.” Services are everything that’s not capital equipment. It’s spare parts, wear parts and consumables, and the packages of service that go along with that.

Really, it’s a great opportunity for us to focus on [operating expenses] rather than [capital expenditures]. Customers are not spending money on new equipment like they have in years gone by. Aggregates production is still down. There is an overcapacity in the industry, but people are spending money to keep their plants running. So we have been very interested in developing our products and our direction to really support customers’ needs in the services environment.

PQ: How important is it to elevate this services concept considering production is down, and it isn’t expected to return to previous high levels anytime soon?

AQ: It’s a shift in emphasis for an OEM like Metso. We are operating in the “new normal” of the industry – this lower level of aggregate production and aggregate requirement in North America. All of us – Metso and competitors alike – are having to operate in a smaller-volume market. I think that’s causing our customers to look even deeper at their processes. Our customers are very keen to optimize their processes and be as efficient as they possibly can – and get every dollar and cent they can [out of their equipment].

PQ: How does the U.S. market’s health compare with Europe and other parts of the world Metso serves?

AQ: The U.S. economy is flat and fragile. That’s the way we describe it. My responsibility extends down into South America, which we would say is strong in the construction environment. It is going quite well for us. In Europe it is a challenging place to be right now for sure. The U.S. has some stability for sure, but there’s no signs of any kind of economic turnaround that’s going to take us back to former glory.

I think we’re going to live with this new normal for quite a while. We have to operate in this smaller-market condition.

PQ: Has Metso fully adjusted to the new normal you describe?

AQ: The heady days of 2006-07 won’t come back unless the economy allows it to come. We don’t expect to see those volumes again. We are busy adjusting. I wouldn’t say we’re fully adjusted. I’d say we’re in the process of adjusting.

One of the big initiatives we’ve launched – our quarry supplies initiative – is one of the ways we’re trying to adjust. This is a bunch of products – screen media, wire mesh, linings, conveyor belting, components and accessories. These have all been served as individual products over the years. If you wanted to buy these products from Metso, you had to make [as many as] five phone calls to five different places. We were not necessarily that easy to do business with.

What we’re trying to do is put them all together as a package for our distribution network so we become much easier to do business with and we can give more value through the distributor to the end customer. He can buy one package of products – maybe on a cost-per-ton basis – and be extremely well-served by the distributor, but in a much more efficient way than we’ve done in the past. That’s one of the ways we’re trying to adjust to this new normal.

The customer is demanding that, too. Customers are demanding we be as efficient as we can so we can reduce pricing.

PQ: How challenging is it to get dealers up to speed with this new mindset?

AQ: We offer four value propositions for distributors in North America. We have some distributors who sell all four value propositions; we have some who only represent one value proposition. When you sell technical product through distributors, you have to be wholly committed to developing the competency of those distributors. That’s why we invite them for two days and spend enormous amounts of time throughout the year on training and development of those resources, so they have the competency to represent our products.

Two years ago we launched a new e-learning campus for distribution, which was a big project. It was a $1 million project we launched for crushing and screening. It’s a subscription-based e-learning package that we developed, and it has been enormously successful. You have to train people all day, every day.

P&Q: Can you offer a Metso preview of ConExpo-Con/Agg?

AQ: We’re pretty excited about this up-and-coming ConExpo. We like ConExpo. We think it’s a big splash. We like to do it and we like to do it well.

We are going to show a new machine, but it’s not really in the public domain yet. I can tell you the machine is called an LT220D. It’s a secondary crushing and screening unit on tracks. It will be shown in configuration with a primary unit on tracks, which will be a complete process in two units. It’s a pretty exciting proposition to be able to produce calibrated finished products through two units.

P&Q: How in tune is Metso with what’s going on at the federal level? Are you concerned with there being a lack of clarity to this point on the next transportation bill?

AQ: We are, of course, concerned. There’s no doubt about that. I am a member of the NSSGA M&S [Division] Board, and I try to keep in tune through that medium. As a global company, we don’t get too embroiled in a lot of the lobbying aspects. We’re big fans of the industry fighting for improved spending and development of infrastructure. Of course, we believe that’s good for the nation and the industry. We’re willing to support that to a point at any time.

Until there’s some significant change in this stalemate we have in the government, we’ll have at least another two to three years of new normal because I can’t see this government making or breaking ground to make any rational decisions. It’s like heading for a debt ceiling deadline on Oct. 17. To me it’s outrageous.