Weir Minerals’ operation in Turkey has performed strongly at the start of 2013, securing £2.5 million in new orders since the opening of its first sales and service centre in the country. The company launched the 600 sq m facility in the south of Istanbul province in October last year to provide enhanced customer support and faster delivery of equipment, spare parts and maintenance services to its customers across the region.

Tony G. Locke, managing director of Weir Minerals Europe, said: “This is an early indication that our strategy of getting closer to our customers by providing a greater level of sales and technical support on the ground is the right one. It is encouraging that our growth comes from a large number of orders from customers that vary widely in terms of size, industrial sector and geographical location – a strong indication that we are building a sustainable customer base in Turkey.”

Weir Minerals supports some of the largest businesses in the Turkish mining and aggregate industries, including contractor Tekfen, which last year ordered £8.6 million of equipment from the business for deployment on a £10m (€12.5m) 200km-long pipeline project in Morocco. The company has supplied pumps and equipment to the mining and aggregates industries in Turkey for over 20 years, mostly via third-party distributors, but now provides direct sales and support to customers through both its Istanbul centre and a team of mobile sales and service operatives.