Thiess has celebrated the official opening of its new Thiess Rebuild Centre on Batam Island, Indonesia, a facility that, it says, will serve as a dynamic hub for rebuilding Thiess’ mining trucks, equipment and components for its operations in Asia and Australia.

The official opening brought together many dignitaries and stakeholders, including Mayor of Batam and Head of BP Batam, Muhammad Rudi, the Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Penny Williams, Chairman of Kabil Integrated Industrial Estate Group, Kris Wiluan, clients and industry leaders, key suppliers, community representatives and Thiess employees, to witness the unveiling of a facility that will elevate Thiess’ global capabilities in asset management and asset services.

Thiess Group Executive Chair and CEO, Michael Wright, said: “This purpose built, state-of-th-art rebuild centre enables Thiess to play a bigger role in the future of sustainable mining. The rebuilt equipment and components will result in improved machine productivities, incorporating product updates and technology improvements, and delivering enhanced mining efficiencies at lower costs for our clients.

“It also establishes a platform for Thiess to explore decarbonisation and alternative fuel technologies, as well as the opportunity to provide these services to our clients in the future.”

Thiess Group Executive of Asset Management, Autonomy & Digital, Ramesh Liyanage, explained that the rebuild centre will enable Thiess to retrofit rebuilt trucks with clean fuel technologies upon availability, instead of simply replacing end-of-life trucks with conventional diesel trucks currently on the market.

“The Thiess Rebuild Centre is the perfect demonstration of how we can leverage our global expertise and come together to provide sustainable solutions for our clients’ operations, as well as deliver asset management services to the mining sector globally,” he said.

Thiess’ Batam Engineering General Manager, Daryl Albury, added: “We have just completed our first two zero-hour rebuild Cat 789 trucks, which will be heading to Thiess’ Australian operations. The rebuild successfully reset the usage on these trucks to zero hours, extending their lives by a further 50,000 to 60,000 hours each.

“We currently have another eight 789s stripped back and ready to go through a complete overhaul of all major components, as well as a full refurbishment of their chassis and all electrical systems, and technology updates. By the end of 2024, we expect to have around 65 trucks fully rebuilt, a great result for Year one.”

Thiess says it is committed to offering employment, training and development opportunities to local communities where it operates around the world. For the Batam Island communities, this includes opportunities for local people to enter Thiess’ leading apprentice program, as well as for local students to participate in work experience with Thiess, with the goal of furthering their future employment opportunities.