Werner Pumps, a leading manufacturer of high-pressure jetting equipment in South Africa, has expanded its service offering to customers by making one of its combination jetting and vacuum truck units available for rental, with another planned for mid-2020.
“We realise that the long lead times on vehicles affect customers’ businesses,” says Sebastian Werner, MD of Werner Pumps. “Whether you import a unit or you order one from a local manufacturer like us and have it built to your own spec, you’re looking at a few months before you receive the truck. To help our customers bridge the gap, we decided to make one of our Impi Combi units – a premium quality, locally-manufactured unit – available for hire. This means that customers can call on us for a rental unit when their own trucks are being serviced, or while they are waiting on delivery, and their businesses can keep operating as usual, without any down time.”
The Impi Unit impresses offers a tilting 12 500-litre, 304 stainless steel tank, with a hydraulically-driven high-pressure pump capacity of 295 l/min at 135 bar, and a vacuum pump with 1850 m³/hr suction capability. The high-pressure pump is fitted with a pneumatically operated regulating valve, making infinite pressure adjustment possible, thus increasing the safety of the operator during use.
Ultimately, Werner says this first rental unit is part of the company’s long-term plan to have a small fleet of jetting and vacuuming equipment available for hire, as well as a training, maintenance and service division.
“We want to ensure our customers can keep operating at all times, so we’re finding ways to help them do that,” he says. “This includes providing operator training, which is more complex than many realise. It also means being available to fix machines customers have purchased from us when there is a problem, and providing a stop-gap machine where required while we undertake maintenance or repairs.”
Werner sees this as an area of growth potential for the business and believes it also offers room for job creation and skills development. “We want to be a one-stop shop for anyone who requires high-pressure jetting equipment, from manufacturing quality truck-mounted units locally to supplying the best spares and accessories, and offering comprehensive after-sales services too,” he concludes.
