Helping Zambian suppliers to increase market share with mines

A combination of logistics and procurement knowhow is linking Copperbelt mines to local suppliers of goods and engineering services. “When we first arrived in the Copperbelt we found it was quicker for a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to source components from Johannesburg than from neighbouring Zambia,” says Mike French, who has opened a Nucleus Mining Logistics office in Kitwe. Johannesburg-based Nucleus works with the full supply chain – procuring on behalf of its clients; working with suppliers in order to optimise the use of resources; and providing warehousing and inventory management, distribution and customer relationship management and segmentation. These systems are helping Zambian-based suppliers to increase their market share with mines that want to raise their levels of local procurement. French brings with him the experience of working the supply chains of major mining houses and providing back office and logistics support services through Nucleus. What he found when arriving in Kitwe was that, while many Copperbelt suppliers and agents have the ability to service the mines, they do not understand the procedures that need to be followed in order to be included in the supply chain. Nucleus has been working with the suppliers in the Copperbelt and has seen local procurement volumes grow steadily. Nucleus has developed an information system which manages the procurement process from the mine to the supplier and back. “One of the problems we identified was that every supplier had its own systems, most of which did not talk to the mine’s procurement system.” Further delays were caused by each supplier having its own transport company and clearing house. Goods would therefore arrive piecemeal rather than as a single load. Shipments bound for the DRC are now consolidated in a Nucleus warehouse, which is handling around 9000 tons of general mining supplies such as pumps, bearings and repaired components. Nucleus Zambia has two 10-ton trucks for deliveries and collection, and two one-ton bakkies for urgent loads. “The company also has direct investment in or access to more than 150 triaxles and superlinks,” he says. It takes responsibility for ensuring that the right components are loaded, and for the clearing and forwarding. There is a strong base on which to work, believes French. The engineering services in Kitwe are “of world standard. The engineering companies are investing in new machinery. For example, one recently installed a US$1.1 million CNC machine,” he says. Other mines in the region are watching the rollout with interest as it will serve as a model for local procurement, says French. INSERT Shipments bound for the DRC are now consolidated in a Nucleus Warehouse. CAPTION The Nucleus systems are helping Zambian-based suppliers to increase their market share with mines that want to raise their levels of local procurement.