Based near Johannesburg, South Africa, AARD Mining Equipment designs, manufactures, services, and supports an impressive variety of mining equipment, specialising in low-profile underground machines for mines with low mining heights. Its portfolio includes products such as high-quality drill rigs, bolters, loaders, scalers, and more. With a team of roughly 200 employees, the firm primarily serves the Southern Africa region, carving out a competitive edge in the bespoke equipment sector.
“We have been able to create a market niche customising products while working closely with our customers,” says the firm’s new Managing Director, Martina Ahlborg. “We are a small, agile team that can design products to meet the specific needs of the customer, engaging with them to understand their operations and develop solutions uniquely suited to their projects.”
A New Era
Ahlborg is relatively new to her position in the company, having become MD shortly after AARD Mining Equipment was acquired by Epiroc, a global productivity partner for the mining and infrastructure sector.
Epiroc has made a name for itself on an international level, working to accelerate the transformation towards sustainable industry, and society at large. It develops safe but innovative equipment through ground-breaking technology for rock excavation, drill rigs, construction equipment and tools for applications both surface and underground. The Group had revenues of SEK 50 billion last year, and while it is headquartered in Sweden the firm operates across 150 countries with approximately 17,000 passionate employees.
The ink is still drying on the firm’s acquisition of AARD Mining Equipment, but work is already well underway to make the most of the deal.
“We are very early, barely three months, into our first stages of operating AARD as an independent company,” Ahlborg tells us. “We are building relationships, and we have areas where we see the integration will happen faster than others.”
This is far from Epiroc’s first acquisition, and Ahlborg is more than familiar with both the knowns and the unknowns of the process.
“When we acquire a company, we know what we want to do but each acquisition is different,” Ahlborg says. “They need to fit into the overall portfolio and must add something we don’t already have.”
When we speak to her, Ahlborg has been in her new position for a matter of weeks, but she comes to it from a period of 13 years working in the Epiroc Group’s research & development, and operations departments.
“Stepping into this role has been so inspiring,” Ahlborg tells us. “I have people that are truly passionate about what they do. We are a small adaptable, flexible, and knowledgeable team.”
Ahlborg’s first job as AARD’s new managing director has been to connect with and make the most of that team.
“With any team, it’s all about finding out about the individuals involved, their passions, connecting with them and understanding what they are about,” Ahlborg says. “You make sure you have the right plans in place and that everyone understands them, with everyone in the right position. Then of course you need to guide them with a clear strategy and targets so that everyone knows what they need to deliver.”
Ahlborg is clear about her own targets and strategy for AARD moving forward.
“In this case, my ambition is to grow the business within the network of the Epiroc Group. I want to utilise the technology we have developed in the group for automation, electrification, and digitalisation,” Ahlborg points out.
Epiroc is known for the world-class service and aftermarket support it offers, particularly in terms of its solutions around automation, digitalisation, and electrification. By becoming part of the Epiroc Group, AARD gains access to its extensive, global reach for technological acquisition.
“We have people scouting and developing technology across Epiroc, collaborating on these platforms,” Ahlborg says. “Epiroc is currently going through a period of great technological acquisition. It has made a lot of acquisitions during this year alone. We are looking at what can acquire, what we can do in-house, how we can collaborate and what we can get through Epiroc as a group.”
With her background in research & development, Ahlborg is passionate about deploying these tools through AARD.
“We are working on collision avoidance, helping vehicles avoid colliding with other vehicles or people in the mine,” Ahlborg explains. “We are also looking at ways to remove the operator from the scene, keeping them safe.”
It is all part of Ahlborg’s wider vision of productivity and efficiency, supporting the workforce to do the best job they can possibly do.
“We are talking about productivity, helping operators perform their tasks better. All of this technology is out there for operator assistance that we can inherit and work on and adapt,” Ahlborg insists. “These machines are robust, with a low cost of ownership, and offer real benefits to the projects that use them.”
One of those key benefits is sustainability. Even before it became part of the Epiroc Group, AARD has been fully committed to the transformation and investing in local communities and enter-prise development initiatives. Ahlborg seeks to continue and build on that, also pushing an environmental agenda within the company.
“For me personally, sustainability is a huge priority,” she says. “We must make all parts of the company sustainable for the comm-unity and the environment.
We know that making this transformation is important, and the electrification of our fleet is important. We want to make sure you can rebuild and reuse machines and recycle them if needed.”
Overall, it is clear that between Epiroc and Ahlborg, there are big things in store for AARD Mining Equipment’s future.
“There is still a lot of ongoing work to do. We are working on collision avoidance, investigating an automation, digitalisation, and sustainability journey with Epiroc on board,” Ahlborg says. “We have a facility that can rebuild and manufacture a lot of components, as well as complete vehicles, to contribute to the circular economy.”
