John Sample Group (JSG) has demonstrated its eye for quality brands in the market since it was formed in 1921.
The privately-owned company first emerged as a major player in the automotive market, owning exclusive distribution rights to brands such as Blackhawk, Federal Mogul, Mann’s Pistons and Fitzgerald Gaskets.
Nearly half a century later, the group – through its JSG Industrial Systems business – holds the distribution rights to Lincoln Industrial Lubrication Systems across the Asia Pacific. It became affiliated with one of the world’s largest bearing manufacturers, SKF, and has innovation strapped at the back of its original product designs.
With extensive technical knowledge and drive for quality engineered systems, JSG has helped pave the way to grow the lubrication systems business in the mining and industrial sectors.
Now it is also breaking into Australia’s fire suppression industry through subsidiary JSG Industrial Systems.
JSG has attracted one of the biggest players in the sector, with one of Western Australia’s largest iron ore producers making the company’s original Muster Fire Suppression Systems standard in all its mining vehicles over the past four years.
“There hasn’t been a lot of significant developments in the fire suppression industry from a technical point of view,” JSG Industrial Systems national sales manager Italo Marcantonio tells Australian Bulk Handling Review.
“We’ve been able to change that by developing a cutting-edge technology to keep people and assets protected in mine sites. Now we are specified as the preferred supplier for one of Western Australia’s largest iron ore operations.”
JSG has taken technologies that have proven effective in other systems to strengthen its fire suppression offering with features that are unique to the sector.
Its Muster fire suppression system is, for example, capable of monitoring mobile mining equipment 24/7. This means monitoring the systems overall integrity every two seconds covering all aspects of system functionality including fire detection.
This is managed by a compact, self-contained alarm panel that not only provides monitoring ability, but also serves as a manual activation point to streamline installation in the equipment cabin.
The Muster system is supported by a cloud-based risk assessment & design tool, and a comprehensive diagnostics application used by technicians in the field.
The technology, the intellectual property of JSG, is developed in-house with a company partner in South Africa.
“But we don’t only have a hands-on relationship with our clients through our distribution partners. That relationship also extends to our end users in mine sites,” Marcantonio says.
“We train site personnel, including engineers, so they understand how the fire suppression system works, how to troubleshoot should there be a problem and provide a whole range of technical support.”
JSG’s fire suppression systems are available in Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and the Pacific Islands. JSG is also expanding its fire suppression technology into other regions including China, Thailand, and Malaysia.
But JSG’s “biggest story” is yet to unfold. JSG, along with its major supplier SKF, is engaged in another multi-billion-dollar Western Australian iron ore project.
The companies are trusted with the delivery of extended reliability performance, which is an 18-week maintenance window on critical plant and equipment.
SKF has the engineering competence to design state of the art bearing assemblies, incorporating customised lubrication systems that greatly extend maintenance shut periods.
“We are taking the company to the next step of performance reliability,” Marcantonio says.
“Our engineered lubrication systems help the bearings perform at their optimum level, thereby avoiding premature failures caused by ingress and contamination.”
This will help the new mine operate its critical units with uninterrupted run time between maintenance shutdowns, and to extend the life of critical assets.
After all, this technology has been proven to extend equipment life and performance around the world, according to Marcantonio.
It has also established JSG’s position as a one-stop shop in the lubrication, fluid management and fire suppression system markets.
The company carries products from “only the best suppliers”, including FloMAX International, All-Flo, GPI & Flomec, to be able to confidently assist users with the installation and ongoing support of these systems.
JSG also has an “enviable” reputation in the export market, now operating in over 32 countries throughout the world.
Importantly, the quality of JSG’s lubrication and fire suppression systems demonstrates its relentless pursuit of people and assets protection within the mining and industrial sectors.
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