The realm of industrial, agricultural and mining bulk handling covers moving raw material in bulk from source, through processing to the end-user. Oil is delivered in tankers, maize is housed in massive silos, mining commodities are taken from the ground to processing and onto road or rail to harbour, coal is stockpiled at power utilities.

Three main broad categories accomplish these tasks, viz, conveying (moving large volumes of goods from the ground, into the mills, onto the rail wagons, also covering crushers, chutes, reclaimers etc); lifting equipment (cranes, chains, hoists, heavy duty forklifts etc); earthmoving machines and equipment to ‘work the soil’; supplemented by the trucking and rail industries.

Much of the equipment designed, installed and maintained is the responsibility of the mechanical engineer who specialises in this sector. As such, Bulk Handling Today Online is endorsed by the SA Institution of Mechanical Engineering which distributes the monthly newsletter to just under half (2 600) of their members who have specifically requested to receive it.

Straight to the Inbox: Two other bodies in the bulk sector endorse and distribute the newsletter monthly directly to their full membership, viz, the Conveyor Manufacturers Association of SA and the SA Institute of Materials Handling (400). Rounding out the third ‘leg, Promech Publishing has a well-researched database covering the lifting industry having published a Lifting Guide for many years as well as an annual Buyers Guide (1 400).

Shelf-life: The current edition of the newsletter, as well as that of the previous month, is housed on the website, giving advertisers an extra bang for their buck. Each news item is ‘filed’ under the relevant Sector News section on the site, so readers can go straight to their preferred area of interest and scroll back across two years of archiving to find an article which may have caught their eye.