FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
capabilities without the complexity typically associated with large scale mine deployments. This enables customers to adopt essential dispatch, visibility, and optimisation functions while maintaining a clear upgrade path as operational needs evolve.
She adds:“ In parallel, iVolve provides an alternative for operations seeking a simpler, more lightweight solution aligned to less complex haulage and production environments. Together, these offerings allow Komatsu to tailor fleet management solutions across a broad spectrum of mine sizes and maturity levels, ensuring fit-forpurpose capability rather than a one-sizefits-all approach.”
Hexagon brings more flexibility to bear
Hexagon’ s FMS evolution has two interesting developments currently, and IM caught up with Jarym Kowalchuk, Hexagon’ s Mining Head of Product- Load & Haul on both. Firstly, its flagship FMS, OP Pro, will soon be offered in a lighter version with the most basic functionality to get the mine going with FMS – operator logging, equipment hours, tonnes moved, activity tracking production accounting – but without all the additional optimisation tools or dynamic assignments that come with the full
version. But you can still track and monitor your mining fleet and mine performance and activity, plus it gets many of these mines on a first true digitalisation step.
Secondly, due to increased focus on integration of technologies, Hexagon is bringing its OP Pro FMS together with its OAS fatigue monitoring solution in what it calls its‘ single core’ project. Kowalchuk:“ Single core is basically for any customer that wants to have our fatigue system, operator alert, OAS, and our OP Pro- now we just can have them installed on board with less hardware. So it’ s easier to install and easier to maintain.”
Up until now these systems have been designed to be installed individually, where they wouldn’ t know if there was another system onboard. Customers can still opt for that, but now for new deployments or even existing ones, they can opt to declutter and Hexagon can reduce the sensors and hardware. There are two ways in which Hexagon is looking at the integration – first the hardware side and the mentioned decluttering of the cab and the equipment. This has other benefits like greater ease of install, as there is also less cabling to deal with. But the second aspect of integration concerns the data in the back end – where all the data can be held in a one stop shop location, so users can access all the
data more easily but also potentially get enhanced insights and information from it once you overlay all the data together.
As IM went to press, this single core project was very close to commercial launch and it was in the final stages of testing at a major customer partner site.“ We’ ve done all the early prototyping and internal testing, and we’ ve built the solution, so this single core OAS plus OP Pro system is now basically in that last beta testing phase of just making sure everything can run on a large scale in a real mining fleet scenario without any major issues. We are really close to single core realisation in the market.”
Then on to the lighter version of OP Pro.“ We’ ve always positioned OP Pro as a premium product for large mining customers that need a full feature suite and full optimisation for complex mines, plus it is OEM agnostic of course. But these companies have a larger budget to be able to really invest in the technology long term. What we want to offer now is for sites that are maybe in a different position where it’ s a smaller, less complex mine, or maybe it’ s just a mine that’ s just at a small scale now and doesn’ t quite need the full solution, but they want to start with something.”
He added:“ Maybe you’ re a contractor that doesn’ t have a long-term contract, but you need some basic fleet tracking and