Australian Mining sat down with FMS Group to discuss the company’s growth aspirations and goals for MINExpo 2024.
Since 2006, FMS Group (formerly Field Mining Services Group) has been a trusted services provider for the Australian mining industry, with expertise in site shutdowns and ad-hoc maintenance support and machine repairs.
“We do work across the mining stream, whether we’re supporting mobile equipment, critical plant such as draglines or rope shovels, or mining excavators,” FMS Group general manager, equipment Tony Liddelow told Australian Mining.
“Our focus has been around major shutdowns, with more than 600 FMS employees across Australia supporting this critical work. Most of the Tier 1 miners in Australia and PNG now work with us on a regular basis and rely on our workers’ expertise.”
To further support its mining customers, FMS Group developed its own hydraulic lifting and on-site machining systems for critical plant maintenance, making jobs safer and easier while reducing downtime on-site.
“We’ve got two complete safety lift sets with another three to come online in the very near future,” Liddelow said.
“Coupled with our on-site machining services, Safety Lift Solutions came about to manage the critical path while supporting and mitigating risk for our customers and get them back to work quicker. This is our tradition and underlying company focus.”
Image: FMS Group
While FMS Group understands its strengths, the company also recognises its growth pathways, having complemented its services business with an equipment division in recent years.
“We’ve coupled our trusted service capability with a range of synergistic products,” Liddelow said. “We already have capabilities around project management, in-house engineering and technical design, and on-site support. That’s where our tradition started.
“Now we can provide all of those services and manufacture and supply equipment to our trusted partners as well.”
Liddelow said FMS has added “the other side of the circle”.
“I often talk to people about a circle,” he said. “We had half the circle, which was our on-site support, centred on people, labour, servicing, design and maintenance, and now we’re adding the other side of the circle which is our equipment portfolio.
“This includes quality brands that have synergies with what we do.”
FMS is the Oceania supplier of Ground Force Worldwide and TowHaul, two companies recognised for providing unique engineered designs and solutions to support load and haul operations across the Oceania region.
Not only can all Ground Force Worldwide and TowHaul products be ordered through FMS Group, but the growing company can service and maintain this equipment. FMS Group now also manufactures Ground Force Worldwide water tanks and dump trays across Australia under license.
With plenty of new business stemming from its partnership with Ground Force Worldwide and TowHaul, FMS Group has added another product to its portfolio.
“We recently introduced a new brand called HAWC, which we’re now sourcing and supplying globally,” Liddelow said. “This includes TrackHAWC undercarriage components for large rope shovels and excavators.”
The HAWC brand, which stands for “Hard-As Wear Components”, leverages the innovative induction hardening processes that FMS Group and its manufacturing partner have been working on over the years. HAWC provides enhanced wear life for undercarriage components for all makes and models of rope shovels and excavators found within the Australian and Oceania markets.
Image: FMS Group
As FMS Group further supplements its services business, the company will continue to grow its equipment portfolio with engineered products and components.
But with any product addition, Liddelow said, it’s important that FMS Group “doesn’t lose its core”.
“We’ve got a great culture and business built around service, but we feel we can support and augment those services with new products that make sense,” he said.
“We have a vision to be the alternate OEM. While large OEMs typically have a full suite of products, services and parts, we feel we can fill a void in the specialty OEM space.
“Our fluidity and reactivity are what our customers value. This enables us to provide a customised service – we’re not tied to one brand or product; we’re focused on providing the best solutions that suit our customers.”
Coming to MINExpo in Las Vegas from September 24–26, FMS Group will be located at booth 6393 in the main hall next to Komatsu and Caterpillar.
Liddelow said the quadrennial conference will offer FMS the opportunity to cement its partnership with Ground Force Worldwide and TowHaul.
“By the time MINExpo comes around, it will be about 15 months into our journey with Ground Force Worldwide and TowHaul and their introduction into the Australian and Oceania markets,” he said.
“We’ll be making sure there’s awareness of the Ground Force Worldwide and TowHaul products, and we’ll have a 136-tonne lowboy float on the stand, as well as several other Ground Force Worldwide products.
“We’ll also have an Australiana-themed section within the stand to highlight our bumper conversion kit. This will help cement our presence and our profile for supporting Ground Force Worldwide and TowHaul products.”
This feature appeared in the August 2024 issue of Australian Mining.
