HIGH PROFILE
Overall, a TR100 takes about 17-20 days from first cut metal to leaving the factory; with an ADT taking about 15-17 days. Factory investment in recent years has included $ 5 million on production equipment which includes three new Doosan machining centres for rigid rear and front axles, PTOs, wheels and frame parts. A Co-ordinate Measurement Machine( CMM) checks that dimensions are accurate for key parts. For ADTs a crucial part to be checked is the articulated linkage to join the front and rear sections.
Final assembly sees six trucks in a line at a time for both the rigid and artic lines. At the time of the IM visit, the rigid trucks on the line were going to mining and quarrying customers in the USA, Russia, Algeria and the UK. The busiest single year for the factory perhaps surprisingly was 2000 when it shipped over 1,300 trucks or a rate of over 100 a month. On some days this meant seven trucks a day( five ADTs and two rigids).
Sub-assembled and one coat painted brake packs, differentials, rear axles, front axles, cabs, engines and platforms are all built and placed adjacent to the line for fitting. Five ADTs can be assembled per day in two shifts, with two rigids on two shifts.
Each truck at this stage takes just a day to assemble, using standard operating procedures checked on screen from a monitor which is only accessible by password if trained for that section.
The factory has two paint booths with direct to metal painting and baking at 80 ° C for 50 minutes. All trucks are signed off by each worker for complete traceability right back to welding. Records for every single truck off the line are kept in the factory so if there is ever a problem in the field there is a detailed production history. In all main production areas there are both team management and KPI boards summarising daily, weekly and monthly performance on safety, quality and delivery, with issues discussed daily in a morning meeting.
Before shipping there is a final visual inspection, then valve pressure, transmission and brake checks before running every truck on the test track for two hours, followed by a cool down and check for any leaks. Any problems see the truck sent back to the rectification area. A final four hour test track run is done before shipping to the customer after a final wash and touch up of the paint and application of decals. Currently all factory trucks are shipped with Magna tyres on ADTs and Bridgestone on rigids but customers can also specify if they wish.
Overview and Volvo acquisition
IM interviewed Paul Douglas, Terex Trucks Director and General Manager about the market for its haul trucks which cover ADTs up to 38 t capacity and rigids up to 100 short tons( 91 t). In terms of larger ADTs, with Bell and Volvo opting to produce 60 t models, he points out that in general from 50 t capacity upwards, rigid trucks from a TCO point of view generally have the advantage. Also the big market in mining for ADTs are the smaller and mid-sized mines in India and the rest of Asia, with very wet conditions and poor ground for much of the year. A few of these customers may opt for larger ADTs where they are used to running articulated trucks, but most of the larger mines have rigid fleets.“ As much as 80 % of rigid trucks of up to 100 short ton class go into non regulated, developing world markets where customers want low TCO and high reliability machines.” There are other potential markets for larger ADTs which include quarries in Scandinavia and mid-sized mines in central Africa, but again where they are established users of ADT only fleets.
Douglas also spoke about the acquisition of Terex Trucks by Volvo. It is no secret that a major part of this was to give it access to a range of rigid trucks to complement its ADT and excavator lines in Volvo CE, again because while there is a market niche for 50 t and above ADTs, in many of its customer sites, the rigid option remains a better one for larger payloads.“ So there is no doubt that we remain very committed to our rigid products and ensuring the future development maintains a simple and reliable design and ease of serviceability.”
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NOVEMBER 2016 | International Mining 61