MINING TYRES
argeting best practices to improve fleet uptime and productivity,
Kal Tire launched TOMS—a proprietary Tyre Operations
Management System based on tailoring EAM technology to
mining tyre management with a backbone of predictive maintenance
and efficiency to deliver a new standard in performance. Paul Moore
caught up with Mark Goode, Director, Business Insights for Kal Tire’s
Mining Tire Group who is responsible for leading the development of
TOMS:
PM: Is this the next level from TPMS moving from just sensor data to a
more intelligent or smart tyre management system for mining?
MG: It is certainly our intention to integrate TPMS data into our data
set and indeed this functionality exists today. As your question
suggests, the value comes from combining TOMS data with sensor and
other site information to build predictive models that succeed in
turning data into actionable activities for our teams on site as well as
customer planning teams. We are starting to work on these models.
PM: Does TPMS still have a role to play in TOMS regardless of
whichever company supplied it?
MG: Absolutely. Tyre temperature sensor data is a critical part of
understanding how hard the tire is working and determining what
action(s) should be taken as a result.
PM: Is TOMS in some ways just making much better use of the mining
tyre data that is already out there but a poor job has been done of
meaningful and realtime analysis of it particularly realtime actions?
MG: Yes, that is the aim. The biggest issue we faced is that previous
mining tire data was stored in separate databases and with different
descriptions. Both these prevented accessing and comparing the data
collected. The common database of TOMS with its common language
removes those barriers and give us a platform to do analysis – both real
time and also historical benchmarking as well.
PM: At the sites where you have implemented TOMS integration, have
you been able to quantify the effect in terms of actual savings or
increased efficiencies achieved?
MG: Implementing TOMS on a site raises operational visibility in a
manner that was previously measured inconsistently and very often not
directly comparable. With this, we can review and put plans in place to
focus resources to harmonise and often improve service levels.
Typically, over time we see an improvement across multiple areas, such
as inspection frequency, tyre pressure accuracy, customer
communication, planning and reduced downtime. If you wanted some
quantifiable numbers – on an Canadian oil sands operation that has
been using TOMS for over two years now, we have seen tyre related
downtime half over the past two years from 4,000 to 2,000 hours that
equated to a C$4 million potential availability gain. The improved tyre
performance reduced the customer’s annual tyre budget by C$3 million.
TOMS has certainly played its part in helping raise visibility of
identifying opportunities and tracking changes.
PM: Have any companies yet been able to compare results achieved
across two or more mines in the same group? Is this potential for
comparative analysis one of the big attractions taking tyre
management away from essentially different platforms used at every
single site?
T
management, and offering ongoing measurement
of how the tyres are performing.”
As an example, Francis gave the example of its
success working with a coal mine in Alabama
over the last eight years. “When we began
working with them, the mine was having
problems with sidewall separations, cutting and
impact damage from the application. We felt a lot
Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group is starting to move its sites to a more
interactive relationship with TOMS, with eight sites globally now
conducting inspections where they can interact directly with TOMS to
see what work is required on the truck they are inspecting, pull up
Safe Work Procedures and input data and images of component
damage straight into the system
MG: Yes, we have one customer with five sites on TOMS doing
comparative analysis. And absolutely, the future potential to
benchmark both across internal sites as well as at an aggregated level
is a key attraction and one that excites a number of customers.
PM: This info on how tyres compare in performance in certain
conditions, is this something that you have shared or intend to share
with the major tyre OEMs for the greater good?
MG: Tyre performance data at site level belongs to the customer, as
such it is never shared with the tyre OEMs without the explicit
agreement of the customers themselves. The tyre OEMs themselves are
very interested in comparing their tyre performance across different
mines and conditions so they typically request access to the this data
from the customers directly. We manage this through data release
forms.
PM: On the topic of shared data to what extent will mines allow their
tyre data in TOMS to be used for comparisons across the industry?
MG: Customer data security and privacy is a fundamental part of the
system. Non-aggregated data will not be shared. We will be developing
a benchmarking solution in time, available to customers interested in
comparing aggregated tire or operational performance.
PM: Is the best solution to make TOMS part of every mining site where
you are present? If it is unique is there also the potential to implement
TOMS even at sites where you don’t have the tyre management
contract?
MG: We are in the process of implementing TOMS on every mine site
where we operate. Currently, around 60 out of 150 are on the system.
With respect to offering TOMS to mines where Kal Tire is not the service
provider, that is an option we may consider in the future once the
internal roll out has been completed.
of the issues were due to how the tyres were
being used, managed and maintained. We
worked with them to develop a refined tyre
management program and improve their daily
routine maintenance. We made
recommendations such as using a grader on haul
roads to clean up any debris that could impact
the tyre. With this tyre management program in
place, we’ve been able to track the tyres’
performance based on hours, wear rates,
potential issues and more each month. We
document the whole life cycle of the tyre in the
field from the mounting date to when the tyres
are pulled off. From this monthly measuring they
have seen improved tyre life, longer wear rates,
and overall enhanced maintenance practices.” IM
JULY 2019 | International Mining 55