FLEET MANAGEMENT
Hexagon is leading the way with integration of FMS with other technologies like CAS and fatigue management, both from a hardware and data analysis standpoint
Ecosystem FMS
Fleet management systems are becoming more intelligent and more integrated with other technologies to enable new levels of operational optimisation, reports Paul Moore
Fleet management systems are increasingly being described as part of a wider ecosystem in the mine, part of a mine vision that can combine the traditional benefits of FMS with other technologies and functionalities.
Building upon its industry-leading DISPATCH fleet management system, Komatsu at MINExpo 2024 announced the launch of the new Modular ecosystem, an expanding set of interconnected platforms and products designed to simplify existing workflows while creating a bold vision for the future of mine site optimisation and data utilisation.
“ One of our customers’ biggest challenges is being able to get the full value out of the data sets they own,” said Jason Fletcher, Senior VP of Mining Technology Solutions at Komatsu.“ The Modular ecosystem is that entry point for a mine operation to have one place to gather operational information for every activity that’ s going on across their mine site. It’ s our path forward to help optimise mining operations at the machine, mine site and enterprise levels.”
Thanks to its open architecture design, the Modular ecosystem offers customers the ability to create a‘ single source of truth’ for common data used across their mining operations, including data from connected Komatsu products as well as third-party vendors and other connected equipment. Access to all connected operational data allows customers to streamline decision making and support remote decision making. The Modular ecosystem will also allow stakeholders to securely share their data with partners of their choice, fostering collaboration and increasing overall solution velocity for an industry in the midst of ongoing transformation to meet the needs of a more sustainable future for all.
The first new offerings on display at the show included four apps to simplify existing DISPATCH workflows, introduce new technology and help customers prepare for an optimised experience. Modular DISPATCH ® Apps it describes as powerful solutions that leverage the Modular ecosystem to accelerate innovation and ROI for a mining equipment fleet, mining operations, and enterprise strategic planning. Currently they are available for customer demos with commercial release on the horizon.
DISPATCH ® Simulate leverages your existing DISPATCH optimisation engine to simulate load and haul scenarios and decide what set of DISPATCH configurations results in the best production outputs. Users choose the best scenario based on shift targets and allows you to push those to the DISPATCH scheduler. DISPATCH ® Roadways eliminates the multi-step process of manually reviewing mine graphics in DISPATCH to look for road network discrepancies. Based on GPS data and advanced algorithms, Roadways provides recommendations that help keep DISPATCH road systems accurate and up-todate with little user intervention.
DISPATCH ® Replenish is a predictable fuelling and charging schedule tool that
creates a fuelling / charging schedule based on fuel levels, burn rates, fuel station availability, truck location and assignment. Replenish real-time simulation starts at the beginning of the shift for accurate measurement. It looks at live predictions of where the shift target is, then calculates the position and provides a best-case scenario to get the project shift plan back on track during the shift.
Finally, DISPATCH ® Look Ahead creates optimal schedules and continuously optimises the fleet, now and for the future, ensuring compliance and significantly reducing dispatcher effort. By processing load and haul data in real-time, Look Ahead adjusts to minute-by-minute fluctuations, optimising scheduling and blending, while also integrating maintenance plans for seamless daily operations.
Hexagon – FMS and a new interconnected mining space
IM spoke to Hexagon’ s Head of Product for Load & Haul, Jarym Kowalchuk, about how Hexagon is leading the way in integration and synergies between FMS and other technologies.“ At Hexagon we have quite a wide range of products and technologies relative to other FMS players in the market and particularly in relation to mine planning, fatigue management and collision avoidance. So we believe this breadth of coverage also creates a unique opportunity for us around integration between some of these solutions; and we are starting to do some meaningful work in this space. The timing wasn’ t quite right in the past as we were waiting for some of these other technologies to mature in their own right – we wanted to wait for them to get to the right level of performance with customers before we started to look at how they could integrate with and talk to other solutions. But we are at that point now.”
Hexagon’ s FMS, OP Pro, is probably the most mature as it has been around for a long time since Leica Jigsaw and all the incremental improvements and changes that have been made over the years. But today the company is also very proud of its Collision Avoidance System( CAS), which it has tried to keep at the cutting edge in the market in terms of its functionality and capability. Kowalchuk:“ We have invested heavily to make sure it is the best available and continues to be. And our fatigue management system, which we call our Operator Alertness System( OAS) is also very well established and stable. So today
International Mining | MAY 2025