Breaking into new markets is tough for any business, especially when you don’t speak the language or know the local culture. To remove those barriers Elite Industrial Equipment have formed a distribution partnership with Chilean company Sattel Chile.

Elite are a local company founded in 2010 by Rod Murphy, of R&R Murphy and Scott Newman. A major supplier of mining equipment and consumables for the surface and underground mining industry, they are rapidly becoming known globally for their revolutionary powered mirrors.

Standard mirrors pose all types of safety risks, as well as downtime as operators are unable to adjust them and a technician and tooling is required for adjustment, whereas Elite’s electric mirrors eliminate both the safety hazards and downtime as the operator can easily adjust the mirror in both vertical and horizontal planes using a ‘hard-wired’ controller inside the cab.

As the demand for Elite’s powered mirrors and other products increased, the team at Elite were looking at options for expanding into the international market when a chance introduction at IMARC in November to Chilean company Sattel Chile provided an opportunity.

What started as a conversation quickly moved into a distribution partnership as both companies realised how complementary their products were, heavily focused on innovation and cost saving. But more than that, at the core of each product was improving safety for workers.

Sattel Chile are all about sustainable products and solutions based on knowledge, innovation and technological development, which integrate electronics, telecommunications and information technology.

As any maintenance crew would know, the different dangers and hazards associated with electrical connections and the routing of the equipment, cables and connectors make maintenance difficult. Sattel Chile’s PDA Auxiliary Device Protector has been designed to protect all the technologies onboard mining equipment, and by doing so protect the operators and maintenance teams.

Elite’s Project Manager Mark Gream shared how both companies quickly realised the potential a partnership offered.

“Immediately we saw the value in each other’s products, and more than that, we saw how well our companies aligned in both how we operate and in our values. Both Elite and Sattel are local businesses who employ local workers and have built our businesses on reputation. We believe in the products we sell and we are proud of them. We recently had a team from Sattel Chile fly over and spend some time with our crew. Getting to know each other really cemented the partnership.”

Mark explained that while both companies wanted to expand into new markets, they still wanted to be able to provide the same quality of service that they did locally.

“There are so many benefits to buying a product locally. You speak the same language. It cuts down delays. You have on the ground support.

“Of particular importance is that every country has different environmental and safety standards, so you need to know that the product you are buying is adhering to all the requirements in the country of use and not just where it was developed.

“Global mining companies who already use Sattel Chile’s products in Latin America will now be able to introduce them on sites here in Australia and know that we will ensure the product meets all Australian standards. That’s the guarantee this partnership will bring.”