IN FOCUS / BRIDON BEKAERT
WIRE ROPE ANALYSIS AND FORENSIC TESTING Industry leading wire rope manufacturer, Bridon-Bekaert The Ropes Group (BBRG) recently invested in a state-of-the-art Service Centre. The new centre operates in conjunction with their NATA certified testing laboratory to provide customers with specialised services including rope analysis and forensic testing. JAMES MACKIE IS BBRG’S PRODUCT Applications and Testing Engineer. Starting in the steel making and casting business back in 1996 with BHP Steel in the Whyalla plant in South Australia, Mackie now has over 25 years of experience with steel. “I worked as a Process Engineer in the casting plant and then moved across to the OneSteel Wire business and spent a decade working in process and quality engineering. I then moved to the Wire Ropes business in a customerfacing technical and testing role. In effect I’ve moved through the chain of production gaining experience in the metallurgy and technical aspects of the steel wire and now the ropes production processes. Over the last five years I’ve been heavily involved in the testing, inspection & forensic analysis of ropes and that is where a lot of the focus is for our business right now. BBRG is focused on its Services business globally and they see the Australian business playing a key role for this part of the region,” he said. Mackie explains more about his role within the Bridon-Bekaert business and what forensic rope analysis entails. “I am BBRG’s local technical engineer supporting the industrial and crane rope sectors. I work closely with our Technical Sales Manager, Rhys Hughes, and Service Center team led by Stuart Coxon. I am also responsible for maintaining BBRG’s NATA accreditation for the Newcastle www.cranesandlifting.com.au
“We offer a full range of testing and inspection services both on customer sites with our locally based technical team and for rope samples which are sent back to our testing laboratory for analysis. We are able to assess the rope’s performance and explore possibilities of life extension in consultation with customers.”
testing facility. “We offer a full range of testing and inspection services both on customer sites with our locally based technical team and for rope samples which are sent back to our testing laboratory for analysis. We are able to assess the rope’s
performance and explore possibilities of life extension in consultation with customers” he said. BBRG’s goal with Rope Services is to work closely with our customers to achieve the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for their ropes says Mackie. November 2021 CAL / 65
