Innovative equipment and good-as-new products are reducing maintenance costs as Patrick Smith reports
Maintenance at quarry sites, and their associated equipment, is not only essential for health and safety but productivity as well.
Such maintenance includes regular inspection and (where necessary) repair of such fixtures as haul roads, embankments, and vehicles on site.
To most quarry operators such procedures are part of regular preventive maintenance, an activity that is usually planned and scheduled.
One company involved in keeping quarry operations running,
The company, a leading after-market manufacturer and supplier of replacement crusher spares and service, supplies worldwide to the quarrying, mining, demolition and recycling industries.
“The recent transfer of Baguley into the Precision Services Division and our recent business expansion will mark the beginning of a new manufacturing chapter for the company which will also provide further opportunities for our supply partners,” says Chris Sydenham, CMS Cepcor technical director.
Alongside the UK manufacture of crusher, screen, feeder and coating plant spare parts, the company says it is also experienced machining contractors to the rail, power, water treatment, brewery and oil exploration (including deep sea, rig head and pipeline) industries.
With the recent substantial investment in its premises in Coalville, County Leicestershire, central England, to accommodate a new technical centre, the company decided to transfer all Baguley personnel, subsequently relocating all machining services from Burton-on-Trent (County Staffordshire, England) to the new centre.
The new technical centre will be formally commissioned during Q1 of 2013.
The company says the investment in the premises, and in CNC (computer numerical control) manufacturing capability, will further enhance the manufacturing, inspection and repair facilities in Coalville and offer greatly improved manufacturing efficiency.
Indeed, CMS Cepcor says that all skilled engineering staff has been retained and further recruitment of skilled CNC operator/programmers is currently underway.
Approved facilities include CNC, milling, turning, boring, slotting, grinding, drilling, pressing, welding, coordinate measuring, material testing and assembly.
In a further development, CMS Cepcor says it has again been awarded by
CMS Cepcor says its premium manganese steel and alloy crusher liners are independently proven in mining and aggregate production, to achieve, and often exceed the performance of the equivalent original equipment manufacturers’ castings.
Meanwhile, with more people willing to recycle, reuse and make the best use of limited resources, many companies offer reman (remanufactured) facilities where remanufactured parts and components are provided good-as-new.
For example, Volvo Construction Equipment (
“This takes machine components that have reached the end of their ‘first’ useful lives and remanufactures them using genuine Volvo parts, resulting in a good-as-new component,” says the company.
It says that when stripping back an old engine, for example, 80% of the original parts are reused, meaning that the steel is not destined for the scrapyard, but used for many more years. To remanufacture a component, Volvo CE reuses, on average, 85% of materials and lowers energy consumption by 80% when compared to producing a new component.
Established in 1992, the programme has grown to consist of three separate portfolios: factory remanufactured components, components for classic machines, and exchange services (currently only cleaning Diesel Particular Filters in Tier 4i/Stage IIIB engines).
“While factory remanufactured components are given new life, classic components are processed to outlive the machine,” says Magnus Kaup, global product manager for Volvo Reman.
“This concept is valid for classic Volvo wheeled loaders and articulated haulers that are about ten years old or older and the components range from transmissions, drop boxes and engines, all subject to availability. It is offered to customers at a lower price than factory remanufactured components, but backed with a full Volvo warranty.”
The programme’s exchange services involve customers swapping their full diesel particulate filter (DPF) for a factory cleaned Reman DPF from Volvo CE. While the machine is fitted with a cleaned DPF, the full filter is sent to a central Volvo remanufacturing hub where it will be thoroughly cleaned to 95-98% of its original capacity and re-ordered by another customer.
“During the early years of its development Volvo Reman was only available to customers within the EU,” says Ehsan Soltani, global product manager for Volvo Reman. “It also only included engines and transmissions. Since then, the programme has been extended to many markets and is proving to be a huge success.”
Now, Reman’s factory remanufactured components allows customers to buy remanufactured components such as engines, turbochargers, transmissions, and final drives to crankshafts and hydraulic pumps.
“Because we are in the business of returning end-of-life components to same-as-new condition, we reduce waste and minimise the need for raw material to produce new parts. Through remanufacturing, we make one of the greatest contributions to sustainable development, keeping non-renewable resources in circulation for multiple lifetimes,” says Caterpillar.
To reduce maintenance costs for heavy loading equipment, Finnish company
“The improvement is based on moving excavators around the site much faster than before. Additionally, the Sleipner method saves time and money and considerably increases the excavators’ life,” says the company.
“With Sleipner it is possible to move machines up to the weight of 550tonnes.”
In mid-2012,
The agreement covers the whole of the UK and Ireland, stemming from the first successful introduction of the product by Finning in late 2011. Commonly known by enthusiasts as ‘skates’ for tracked excavators, the Sleipner system is designed to dramatically reduce maintenance costs for heavy loading equipment, and is said to allow customers to transport an excavator up to five times faster than driving on tracks.
Sleipner is essentially a dolly system, consisting of large wheels and ramps with axles. One end of the excavator tracks is driven on to the ramps so that the tracks are lifted off the ground. Then the excavator turns around, places the boom on the bed of a dump truck and lifts the other end of tracks by the hydraulic force of the boom.
As the whole excavator is now above the ground, it is easily transported by the truck to the desired location on site.
“The Sleipner method will reduce the transportation time up to 80%, which increases the efficiency and productivity of the excavator,” says the company
“Additionally, the system considerably reduces the wear factor to the whole machine but in particular, to tracks and undercarriage.
“With Sleipner, the lifetime of the undercarriage is doubled or even tripled. The system also makes maintenance and service easier, faster and more cost-efficient, because the machine can be moved to the workshop instead of organising the service under the open sky.
“Other features include the safety of use, since the operator stays in the cabin for the whole moving time. Sleipner also is equipped with automatic parking brakes that keep it in place when parked on uneven ground.”
The system can be modified to fit all excavator brands and models from 20-550tonnes.
Another Finnish company,
After completing the investment in 2015, Metso’s global rubber mill linings production capacity at the existing wear part manufacturing plants will increase by 30%. The investment, totalling approximately €10 million, will be completed in two phases. The first set of presses is scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2013. It includes the installation of presses in Chile, Sweden, Canada, Mexico and Peru. Decisions for the second phase will be done based on the demand outlook in early 2013 and implemented in 2014-2015. Metso currently has wear part manufacturing units on six continents.
“This investment is in line with our strategic plans to strengthen our offerings in services business and expand the mill linings availability to meet the growing demand”, says João Ney Colagrossi, president, services business line, Metso’s Mining and Construction segment.
Metso says that with the investment, it is committed to ensure the availability and quality of its wear parts to mining customers globally.
“We are committed to on-time delivery of parts to our customers. Logistical agility is only assured if our operations are located close enough to the customer sites,” says Rodrigo Gouveia, senior vice president, services business line, Metso’s Mining and Construction segment.
The growing population of large grinding mills and the high utilisation rates of the existing mills are driving the demand for large, high-quality grinding wear parts.
Using large sized liner assemblies reduces the number of pieces to be handled and shortens the duration of the maintenance shutdown.
“Metso has developed mill lining solutions, which combine rubber and a variety of steel elements to optimise the weight, wear life and ease of installation of liner systems. With our state-of-the-art technology,” Gouveia adds.
