Ghana CRC achieves Cat certification – the first in Africa

Presented by Steven Scott, Managing Director of Mantrac Ghana in January, the award is the culmination of over a decade of work and investment by the Group. It demonstrates our commitment to providing quality, safety, efficiency, and innovation to our customers and stakeholders in the key RI, CI, and E&T industries.  

Andrew Sarson, CRC Operations Manager at Mantrac Ghana, said: “I am extremely proud of the hard work and commitment shown by all those involved in achieving this milestone. The award is a great achievement for our world-class facility and a testament to our skilled technicians and dedicated support teams. It will drive continuous improvement, setting high standards to maximise our competitive advantage in our aftersales support capabilities.” 

The history of the Ghana CRC 

As we know, Caterpillar machines are designed so their components can be rebuilt several times throughout the lifecycle of the machine, allowing customers to benefit from maximum performance and reliability.  

After seeing an increasing number of mining machines and a rise in the volume of engine and powertrain components in Ghana, the CRC was commissioned in November 2018. With previous facilities no longer big enough to handle the workflow, around $60m was invested in a new centre.  

The CRC is designed to move components systematically from receipt at the CRC to cleaning, followed by disassembly, component cleaning, inspection, component reconditioning, re-assembly, testing, painting, and shipping. So, Mantrac Ghana Ltd is equipped to rebuild and test all major components, meeting safety, quality, and contamination standards as you would see in the Caterpillar factory. 

Building on old foundations 

The first year in the CRC saw the team go through a transition period of setting up the workshop and working towards the certification and five-star contamination control standards. While the team were happy with some of the processes and policies inherited from the old facilities, they saw room for improvement, implementing new technologies, techniques, and processes. 

While the old facilities saw the introduction of the Caterpillar Production System (CPS) in the old Mantrac Ghana facilities in 2013, the team were restricted due to capacity constraints. The new CRC facility provided the opportunity to rethink their strategy to improve efficiencies using the 6-Sigma methodology to guide projects and implement processes. 

Meeting Caterpillar standards  

A pre-certification audit was carried out in October 2019 to check the quality, efficiency, capacity, image, administration, and continuous improvement to meet the stringent standards set by Caterpillar. With a score of 63%, the audit highlighted areas of improvement the team still needed to work on if they were to reach certification.  

The team didn’t give up, and with certification still in their sights, they worked to complete all the critical action items and 80% of the non-critical items. Work continued throughout 2020, with regular updates provided to Caterpillar as more and more boxes were ticked.  

Following their hard work, a second audit took place in December 2020. Carried out virtually via Teams due to COVID-19 restrictions, the audit was carried out over two days. The team were required to show proof of documentation and CCTV footage of the CRC to show their work, which led to the certification for excellence with an outstanding score of 99.42%.  

Adam Martin, Product Support Manager, Mining Service, Mantrac Ghana, added: “We say ‘Ayekoo’ to the whole Mantrac team and look forward to seeing the continued revenue growth this substantial investment is providing.”