FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
A dispatch room with the Modular Mining
DISPATCH Central application running in the
foreground
No time for idling
Paul Moore reviews trends in the FMS space, both surface and
underground, with some updates from key players both big
and small
leet management systems in mining, often
referred to in the industry simply as FMS,
are the backbone of surface mines, where
they optimise the comings and goings of
production equipment maintaining the highest
productivity and efficiency. But today they offer a
lot more than dispatching including incorporating
elements of tyre monitoring, fuel management,
machine guidance, collision avoidance, fatigue
monitoring and predictive maintenance – all
areas that have traditionally been supplied as
standalone technologies but today are often
factored into the overall FMS offering as part of a
package, though are often still supplied by the
same specialists as part of partnership
agreements and joint interfaces, or in some cases
these companies have been acquired – a good
example being Hexagon acquiring collision
avoidance company SAFEmine whose technology
was then embedded into the Hexagon FMS
solution. Added to that, of course today FMS
offerings are having to interface with
autonomous haulage systems (AHS), both from
mining equipment OEMs but also OEM-agnostic
players. This is a whole other topic in itself,
especially when it comes to how interoperable
the platforms are.
Today, the FMS market in mining includes a
diverse set of players, including three owned by
major mining equipment OEMs (Caterpillar’s
MineStar, Komatsu-owned Modular Mining,
Hitachi-owned Wenco) plus OEM independent
companies including iVolve based in Australia,
Zyfra Mining (former VIST Group) with a strong
position in Russia but also growing globally, and
Hexagon Mining. But there are a lot of new
players coming into the market today, nimble
companies offering in some cases more flexible,
more cost competitive options. Also, in the
underground space, true FMS is still not really
being used in the sense it is used on the surface
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18 International Mining | MAY 2020
due to the different type of working environment,
with most underground mines using forms of
advanced tracking together with production
optimisation software. But here progress is also
being made, as rather than trying to adapt
surface FMS to underground, new solutions
are being put in place that have been
designed for underground.
composition, pit design, or mine plan, can cause
production levels to fluctuate. As such, the mine
enlisted PA for help in pinpointing the underlying
reason, rectifying the issue, and getting
production back on track.
With a focus on helping the mine maintain its
performance standards amid dynamic conditions,
the PA team worked with mine personnel to
compare the 2018 production records to those
from 2019, and conduct a thorough review of the
mine’s DISPATCH ® Fleet Management System
(FMS) configuration. Over a series of visits, the
PA team updated relevant system parameters
and provided dispatcher training to improve
optimisation of the automated truck/shovel
assignments and minimise truck queue and
shovel hang times. After the PA team recalibrated
the DISPATCH system’s settings, the mine
achieved sustained
Performance assurance at the
next level
Looking in-depth at how Modular
Mining’s FMS solutions are applied in a
tailored approach for each mine, in March
of 2015, the company introduced the
Performance Assurance (PA) program, a next-
level support initiative designed to ensure that
each customer receives maximum sustained
value over the life of their Modular Mining
technologies. With each PA engagement, a
dedicated team of experts collaborates with a
cross section of mine personnel to develop
tailored, flexible, and proactive solutions to
address each operation’s specific challenges.
The company says participating mines have
seen numerous benefits, including enhanced
truck productivity,
shorter queue
times, reduced
equipment
maintenance costs,
and more. A
longstanding
Modular Mining
customer recently
expressed concerns
about diminished
production
volumes from its truck and shovel fleets. Any of
the events that mines experience on a regular
basis, including changes in personnel, fleet
A PTX device running Modular Mining's
DISPATCH Mobile application
improvements in fleet utilisation and marked
increases in production rates. Most significant
was the 29% uptick in ton miles per hour (TMPH),
which increased the average from 958 to 1,238
from May to December 2019, as shown in the
attached graph.
After the PA team recalibrated the DISPATCH
system’s settings, the mine achieved sustained
improvements in fleet utilisation and marked
increases in production rate