SSAB appoint MSS as a brand new Hardox Wearparts® Centre

HUB-4 were invited along to Markfield in Leicestershire to learn more about MSS, a newly appointed Hardox Wearparts® Centre in the UK.

On hand for the official presentation of the certificate were John Gregory, SSAB Regional Sales Manager and Scott & Simon Bailey, the two Directors of MSS. John explained a little more about the selection of Wearpart Centres and the new appointment “In selecting new Hardox Wearpart® centres SSAB have extremely high standards and the process is in-depth with various criteria that must be met. This assures us that whoever we appoint will be a brand ambassador and that the quality of work will be excellent. We were really interested in finding a partner that specialised in mobile on-site repair and maintenance and MSS are a perfect fit for us. This enables us to expand Hardox solutions to new and existing customers who would like to have it supplied and fitted by the same experienced team.”

Founded in 2006, MSS has grown into a thriving £5m turnover business providing nationwide high-quality mobile quarry and site maintenance. Employing over 80 maintenance engineers covering the UK they operate a fleet of over 35 fully equipped ‘mobile workshop’ vehicles, and can handle any on-site maintenance task. We talked with Simon Bailey about MSS and how the business has expanded “We pride ourselves on the quality of the work that we deliver to our clients and that has always been the way in which the business has grown since 2006. We look after many different clients across the country and recently have taken on the complete maintenance contract for Tarmac’s Mountsorrel Quarry where we have 31 engineers on-site with a full fleet of vehicles.”

“Over the years we identified more and more demand for fabrication, so we have our own facility here in Markfield where we offer a complete design and fabrication service and have invested heavily in a large-bed CNC plasma cutting machine allowing us to handle larger area sheets of up to 11m x 3m. We’ve been using Hardox steel for some time now and its becoming more and more integral to the solutions that we offer. I have personally had experience of many other types of hardened wear plate over the years but Hardox is without a doubt the best on the market, and compliments the quality of work that we produce. We have used a considerable amount of Hardox 450 recently which we have found to be excellent and are now looking to use Hardox 500 for selected bucket maintenance where we can cut the plates to size.”

Scott Bailey commented on the services offered by MSS “The contract that we now have at Mountsorrel Quarry is a good example of what we can offer. As well as any on-site maintenance task in the quarry we also carry out crusher repairs, crusher relines, bucket repairs, full engineering services, and we have also recently installed a new conveyor system in the quarry. We utilise Hardox wherever possible to add wear-life benefits allowing for less downtime in this very busy quarry.”   

We asked Simon about other growth areas of the business “We’ve completed a lot of project work over the last 18mths for clients including Brett Aggregates, Tarmac, MQP and Hanson and this is something that we are looking to grow. At Clee Hill Quarry in Shropshire we have just re-lined all the chutes with Hardox 400 to maximise wear-life and reduce maintenance. We’ve also invested a lot in our mobile workshop vehicles, equipping them all with welding plant, oxy-propane, cutting equipment, all hand tools, 110v kit, lifting gear, pull-lifts, slings, straps and collar chains, so our maintenance engineers have everything to hand that they will need. We currently use around 70ton of Hardox per year and are really looking forward to working with SSAB to expand Hardox use throughout the business.”

For more information on Hardox Wearparts® visit www.hardoxwearparts.com and for more information on MSS visit www.mss-maintenance.co.uk