The reason for this explosion of development is that over the past three years Superior Industries has transformed itself from a conveyor supplier to a company that supplies the whole gamut of rock processing equipment including crushers, screens, and washers.
“We saw all these products that we were connecting our conveyors to and we thought ‘we need to be more relevant’,” said Mary Erholtz, Superior Industries’ director of marketing and the daughter of the company’s founder.
“So we set out with our ‘Rock Face to Load Out’ initiative around five years ago.”
Superior’s rapid growth has involved the acquisition of five companies and the recruitment of new people with the relevant experience. Four of the company acquisitions are North American – Greystone, Clemro Western, MFE Manufacturing and FLSmidth – and the fifth is Brazilian components manufacturer Parcan Group. All are now re-branded Superior.
However, the expansion has not been without its challenges, admitted Erholtz.
The three biggest hurdles have been working with new supply chains linked to acquired firms, climbing steep learning curves in order to produce brand new product lines and sourcing new staff.
“We have had a really hard time finding engineers,” said Erholtz. “The biggest area of growth for us in staff is in engineering. It holds up production and so it comes first.”
