It is imperative that industrial and mining companies in Africa “think beyond price” and instead toward life-cycle costs during the procurement of pumps used in hard water and abrasive slurry applications, says heavy-duty slurry pump manufacturer Schurco Slurry technical lead Curtis Green.

He explains that procurement officers must make informed decisions from the very start of procurement processes as running expenses for pumps, primarily energy and maintenance costs, are escalating.

Green attributes most procurement oversights to officers employing the traditional methodology and solely basing decisions on the narrow parameter of low capital expenditure (capex).

“By confining their decisions to capex, they overlook operating expenditure [opex] incurred when the pump is running,” he says, adding that in the process, they miss the “big picture” of the total expenditure.

In this context, capex entails initial procurement, installation and commissioning costs.

“When industrial and mining clients base their decisions on this alone, they are belatedly shocked when realising the opex of a pump they thought was a bargain-buy is astronomical and beyond their budget,” adds Green.

Additionally, lower upfront costs often lead to high opex owing to frequent wet-end replacements, higher energy consumption, increased losses as a result of unplanned downtime and, importantly, frequent maintenance requirements including repairs and spare parts.

Doing the Maths

Green suggests that, prior to procurement, procurement officers conduct comprehensive assessments emphasising long-term operational considerations.

Clients must focus on pertinent real-world pumping scenarios, recognising that wear life, operational efficiency and downtime are the primary determinants of total expenditure.

“Typically, the total expenditure integrates both capex and opex into a unified metric, providing an accurate estimate of life-cycle costs attributable to the pump asset,” he points out.

Additional critical factors included within this metric include, but are not limited to, energy efficiency ratings, material durability under abrasive conditions and compatibility with predictive maintenance systems.

Further, early integration of these considerations facilitates cross-disciplinary collaboration among procurement, engineering and maintenance teams.

This strategic approach enables mining operators to transition from selecting the least expensive pump upfront to choosing the most cost-effective solution over the entire life cycle.

Researched data from water and mining operations in South Africa and other regions substantiate the business advantage of implementing a total expenditure-based procurement strategy.

Green emphasises the compelling economic rationale for adopting total expenditure methodologies, which is corroborated by recent project outcomes.

Schurco Slurry supports mining enterprises in executing informed, total expenditure-oriented procurement decisions as a solutions partner.

“The company’s offerings extend beyond product sales to include life-cycle cost reduction through optimal pump selection, performance monitoring, maintenance planning and material optimisation,” concludes Green.