Think of technology as another tool in the profitability box.

By Phil Lewis Finning applications manager

We all know that technological advances are changing the way everyone lives, works and connects with each other. So it is no surprise that technology is now having a major impact on those industries that use mobile equipment, like the mining and quarrying sectors.

Thanks to the ‘internet of things’ it is not just people that can talk to each other, machines are now finding their own voices and learning how to tell their story, as well as helping to provide time and cost saving solutions for more complex tasks.

The key to taking advantage of technology however, is to understand how to apply different technologies or systems to the everyday tasks needed to run a successful operation or project.

Greater efficiency leads to greater profits
Take the quarrying industry as a good example. In order to make money, a quarry operator needs to blast a rock face, load and haul the loose rock to a crusher and ultimately use other processing methods to create a salable product.

In order to make this financially viable and as profitable as possible, each stage of that process needs to be managed at the lowest possible cost. To do this successfully you need the right people, expertise, equipment and processes. You also need to focus on continuous improvement and the capability to investigate what actions can be taken to achieve incremental gains at each point in the production cycle.

This is why technology must be seen as one of the tools in the profitability box that can support productivity gains and cost reductions. In practical terms, there are two very different types of technologies that can provide data to support the quarrying industry. There are those that can be integrated into a machine and those that are standalone. So the key to using technology effectively is knowing how to process, read, interpret and act upon the data produced by a whole range of devices and systems.

It all starts with the mapping and planning
A well planned quarry site layout and development plan is critical to the success of any operation. This is why surveyors and surveying technology is so important. Whether using the latest Trimble base station and mobile surveying equipment from SITECH, or taking advantage of drone based mapping from the Redbird and Finning partnership, the more information you can gather about a current or proposed new site, the better.

For example, one of the most important areas to survey are the stockpiles of product, as they represent an asset ready for sale. Traditionally stockpiles have been calculated by using counter wheels and measuring tapes. But thanks to new digital surveying rover equipment, much more accurate information can be taken and processed onsite.

Equally, it now only takes around 2 hours to fly a drone or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over a site and just minutes to identify and label stockpiles or check safety bunds are the right height. This is thanks to the cloud software from Redbird, that automatically recognises haul roads, quarry faces and safety bunds, calculating their heights. For safety bunds, the system uses a traffic light tag system, with red highlighting areas where work needs to be carried out to meet the HSE and site pre-designated guidelines.

This is all made possible thanks to the very high resolution data collected by the Redbird drones, which take up to 150 measurements per square meter. So when it comes to planning haul roads, a typical desired grade for the best Off Highway truck performance would be around 8-10%. Take this above 15% and the increases in fuel burn and component wear alone can dramatically increase haul costs.

A little help with compliance
In addition to safety bunds, adhering to legislation is very important when it comes to quarry faces. Take for example the Cat 374F with its mass excavation boom, a 74 tonne machine typically used in quarries. From the deck this has an 11 metre reach, therefore if it is sat on a stockpile, this machine can address a face of up to 15 metres in height. So when looking at the positioning of blasts and quarry faces, the Redbird data can deliver a 3D model of your quarry face, to allow for much more sophisticated placement of explosives for blasting.

From planning to drilling and blasting
Having a 3D model of the quarry, either from drones or a connected site using Trimble base stations, enables the use of other technologies like more advanced drilling for 24/7 face blasting. In practical terms, a surveyor will use the 3D model to design the drilling points, sending this information to the Trimble DPS900 Drilling and Piling System, complete with remote sensors, without the need to be onsite.

These sensors link with the mapping display hardware within the cab to guide the operator, with antennas/receivers allowing for the machine to be connected to the accompanying Trimble software in real time, through the GPS network or onsite base station.

Once in position, the in-cab monitor will instruct the operator to adjust the angle and orientation of the drill mechanism, alerting them when the correct depth has been reached.

Due to surveyors not having to be present whilst the operator works, it opens the possibility to drilling activity being a 24/7 process; completely negating the costly incursions downtime and machine idling can have on an operation.

It pays to load efficiently
Once blasted, it is the job of the primary movers to efficiently load and haul material and this is where health and payload monitoring really play a key role.

Payload systems are now being designed into machines such as Wheel Loaders, Excavators, Ridged and Articulated Dump Trucks. This real-time payload technology gives small to large quarry operators an exact picture of what the prime movers are doing. At the click of a button in VisionLink, the Cat software that collects the data from each machine, a quarry manager can see whether a truck has been under or overloaded and how many passes are being used to load each unit. The in-cab display also shows the operator how much material they are getting into either the bucket or the skip.

For example, by avoiding overloading, the operators not only stay within safety parameters, they also reduce the strain on the equipment and its components, extending the overall life of the machine.

If you can reduce the idle time on a machine, you will also improve its productivity, but when it comes to increasing uptime it is the health of the machine that is really important. With machines able to talk to maintenance teams through GPS enabled pre-programmed alerts from numerous in-built sensors, health events can be monitors in real time. With increasingly sophisticated sensors able to pick up everything from components overheating to transmission alerts and excessive breaking, each machine is able to share an increasing amount of useful information.

Technology is the operators’ friend
Finally, by combining location data with these alerts and 3D surveying data, we can understand where something is happening and investigate the reasons why.

For example, in a recent case, we were receiving regular alerts from the braking and transmission systems, which if not addressed would lead to premature component failure. By combining the intelligence gained from drone flights, location based machine alerts and operator feedback we were able to identify a gradient change in the haul road in excess of 16% at a specific location.

By remodelling this section, the customer was able to make significant long-term savings and the operator team recognised the added support technology could give them.

So by combining important bits of data with training, experience and knowledge of applications, locations, materials and weather conditions, utilising technology can really make a difference.