“Our success wouldn’t have been possible without Komatsu and Panafrican,” says Kwasi Osei Ofori, CEO of Rocksure International. That’s a bold statement, but after 14 years of working together, he is not exaggerating. The Japanese original equipment manufacturer and their local distributor have been there from the early days of this 100% Ghanaian mining company.
A homegrown success story
What sets Rocksure apart becomes clear the moment you visit one of their sites. Here, more than half of the people operating the massive excavators and haul trucks are from the local communities, and 10% of the operators are female – a remarkable fact in an industry where women are rarely seen in operator seats.
“At Rocksure, our vision is to be the leading mining services provider, and to achieve effective development, we focus on fostering indigenous participation. This means actively investing in the people around us. On top of that, by bringing local women into the work force, we make sure to empower everyone in the community to take on skilled technical roles,” Mr. Ofori says.
More than a partnership
At their mining sites, it’s quickly remarkable that 90% of Rocksure’s fleet is Komatsu. For a Ghanaian company competing in the buzzling mining sector, this decision required serious confidence in both the machines and the people supporting them.
Panafrican Group, Komatsu's distributor in Ghana, has become more than an equipment and parts supplier to Rocksure over years of collaboration and partnership. “We are close like families,” Mr. Ofori explains. “Panafrican goes the extra mile to find fast and creative solutions to help us solve problems so that no productivity is lost, and this helps us build our reputation for reliability with our clients.”
Giving the old machines a second life
Recently, Rocksure and Panafrican tackled a project that demonstrates how this partnership keeps delivering significant customer value, where ten Komatsu HD785 haul trucks, each with about 30,000 hours on the clock, went through a complete overhaul locally in Panafrican’s workshop in Ghana.
30,000 hours is a lot of hard work in tough conditions. Most companies would be shopping for replacements, but Rocksure decided to give these trucks a second life, and that’s for good reasons: “It's both economical and ecological,” Mr. Ofori points out. He is right on both counts. The cost savings compared to buying new are substantial, and from an environmental perspective, refurbishing equipment customers already have is the best way to reduce waste.
“We are very satisfied with the Komatsu HD785 trucks. They represent the premium engineering quality that Komatsu puts into their machines and we would like to get maximum life from them through this overhaul process,” says Mr. Ofori.
Creating value together
For Rocksure, the partnership with Komatsu and Panafrican has been fundamental to their growth. The reliable equipment, the responsive support, together with the dedication to helping customers make the most out of their investment — many efforts have been compounding over the past 14 years into today’s local champion in Ghana.
For Komatsu, Rocksure represents the kind of customer that makes a market. “Rocksure is a local company who's committed to our brand, and they are proving every day what Komatsu can do,” concludes Eric Perben, Senior General Manager Africa Division at Komastu. “When other Ghanaian companies look at Rocksure's success, they are also seeing Komatsu's value proposition in action. Our partnership is a great example of creating value together – Komatsu’s success wouldn’t have been possible in Ghana without Rocksure or Panafrican.”
