HIGH PROFILE
Kal Tire has a team of condition monitoring analysts based in Barranquilla
is sent for repair , they will only find this separation when they skive the outer part of the tyre away and will then realise it cannot be repaired despite the already incurred washing , drying and logistics costs plus 12-15 hours of time in some cases . This all reduces their overall repair output and
turnaround time , so if these types of damage are seen already this can be avoided .”
So how are the types of damage identified ? The system itself today can distinguish between damage and no damage , plus between hotspot and no hotspot . Then it also determines the size and the temperatures of those hotspots . “ The footage and scan is then sent to TOMS and we apply business rules which are streamlined to drive the particular customer goals . For example , if a customer wants to carry out repairs we then automatically create work orders to take damaged tyres off trucks for repair . If a customer wants to prevent truck isolation and to be as productive as possible , we will only create work orders or alerts to the dispatch team when it is time for the truck to be stopped and the tyre to be removed otherwise a hazardous situation would evolve .”
Erdelyi said Kal Tire has a remote team of condition monitoring analysts who validate the output of the system , and decide when the minesite should be contacted . This team is based in Colombia in Barranquilla . “ There are customers in that region and there is also a very good availability of young engineers that are passionate about the system and its evolution .
He adds : “ TireSight is actually the culmination of all of this work to date and all of the tyre sensor systems that customers might use . This includes TPMS and Pitcrew AI thermal imaging and in the future maybe also others . The team of condition monitoring experts work with the system output validating what has been found and communicates work based on customer priorities .
TireSight is currently operating or in deployment at a dozen locations in Canada , Chile and Colombia , with customer discussions taking place in numerous other regions . Pitcrew AI has some of its own thermal imaging stations in Australia , Brazil and other parts of the world at minesites ( which do not have Kal Tire service , review and output components ).
The system is evolving and improving all the time . Erdelyi : “ Because we have access now to so much more information , we employ reliability analysts who complement the work that the condition monitoring team is doing . They work with the customer reliability team to engineer away the tyre failure causes seen on the minesite by facilitating things like tyre improvement meeting and carrying out studies on things like TKPH and cycle times plus characterising failure modes and assisting the customer in decision making and finding the best strategy and way forward .”
What about benchmarking between different mines within the same company and between different minesites generally ? Plus quantifying the benefits of TireSight versus a mine not using it in cost saving and efficiency terms ? “ We are working towards this goal – and are currently defining value KPIs with which the customer can start to measure the payback of TireSight and the value they receive from it .
Erdelyi concluded : “ It is also important to point out that TireSight is not there to replace people . If anything it is enabling increased tyre inspection in many mines where recruitment of these roles has become very difficult . And it means we can utilise the technicians that are there in the field much more effectively , using the technology for more repetitive tasks and leaving the tyre technicians free to concentrate on their areas of expertise within other areas such as the workshop .
Finally , Kal Tire ’ s relationship with Pitcrew AI
All TireSight systems utilise two cameras to enable monitoring of both the front and the back of the mining truck
remains very close – in May 2024 they announced a global mining partnership . The signed Memorandum of Understanding ( MOU ) solidifies the existing collaboration between the two organisations and designates Kal Tire ’ s Mining Tire Group as Pitcrew AI ’ s preferred global partner . IM
TOMS is an industry-leading productivity tool using cloud-based enterprise asset management ( EAM ) software
114 International Mining | SEPTEMBER 2024