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Caterpillar has launched Fleet 5.0, which
features a new Store and Forward capability specified parkup location at shift change, thus
that manages data handling during
communications outages, whether it’s due to reducing the possibility of an operator leaving
an area of the mine lacking adequate network equipment in an undisclosed location.
coverage or a wider network communications Assignments are optimised so that trucks are
outage
allocated to parkup locations near the assigned
end-points when trucks are unable to complete
an additional full or empty haul. With this
g module, the dispatcher or supervisor has an
effective and timely decision-making tool for
parkup assignments, making it possible to
maximise production during the last hour of the
shift in progress and the first hour of the
subsequent one.”
A Modular customer in Colombia reports that
they are now moving an additional 20 loads of
material per shift thanks to the implementation
of the Lineup Management and Parkup
modules. Per the mine’s calculations, the
additional loads equate to approximately
120,000 BCM of additional material moved per
month, or nearly 1.4 MBCM over the course of a

Optimal platforms
year.
Another aspect of DISPATCH is monitoring
misused equipment. Most mines have
established best practices which specify how
the units in the fleet should be operated to help
ensure driver safety and prolong equipment life.
There are many aspects to fleet management systems and
However, unexpected changes in haul road
as operations get more complex, they are increasingly conditions or improper operator behaviour can
about much more than simple truck fleet optimisation, result in the equipment being treated in a less
reports Paul Moore than ideal manner. “The DISPATCH FMS’s
FastFeedback and Speed Management modules
ith optimistic industry forecasts they need to not only optimise their haulage can help mines head off costly incidents and

W making headlines, mines are looking

to capitalise on the long-awaited
economic upswing. But to recoup losses
cycles, but to also address other issues that can
hinder operational efficiency, productivity, and
profitability.”
prevent equipment abuse. The FastFeedback
module provides the backbone for immediate,
actionable feedback to operators. When used in
experienced over the previous decade mines The following are just three of the ways conjunction with the Speed Management
while simultaneously making forward progress, Modular says the DISPATCH system goes module, operators receive real-time speed
mines must continue to control costs and do beyond material movement to help mines solve notifications on their mobile devices. The
more with less. Modular Mining Systems Inc some of the most common problems. The first FastFeedback module is also utilised to
(MMSI) says its DISPATCH® Fleet Management relates to time-consuming shift changes. communicate tasks to auxiliary equipment.
System (FMS) can help mines accomplish these “Manually assigning operators to equipment FastFeedback uses on-board sensors or GPS
goals and more. units at shift start or needing to find equipment events to trigger real-time alarms with a
“At its core, the DISPATCH FMS is about left at unscheduled locations at shift end, can configurable message directly to the operator,
haulage optimisation. As mining’s first-ever quickly result in many unproductive hours per supervisor, and/or dispatcher. Alarms are
computer-based dispatching tool, the DISPATCH year. The DISPATCH FMS offers two solutions logged in the central data-base, facilitating
system revolutionised the way mines worked that can help mines streamline shift change: the review of best practices and mine procedures.”
(and still work) in real-time. Employing a trio of Lineup Management and Parkup modules. The The Speed Management module uses GPS
proprietary algorithms and an array of complex Lineup Management module analyses technology to accurately measure equipment
mathematical calculations, the DISPATCH FMS information from the DISPATCH system central velocity. When equipment units pass through
automated and optimised truck/shovel database based on specified criteria and monitored zones, the equipment’s current speed
assignments to create a faster and more automatically assigns qualified personnel to is compared with the configured speed limit
efficient loading and haulage workflow. Nearly equipment before a shift begins. Lineup values for the specific location. Speed violations
40 years after its debut in 1979, the DISPATCH assignments can then be quickly and easily can be reported in real time to the supervisor
system has expanded beyond its original focus communicated to equipment operators using, and dispatcher in the central office and, when
to help mines reduce costs, save time, and for example, a scrolling display on a monitor. paired with the FastFeedback module, operators
maximise equipment utilisation in other ways. The module can also be used to manually receive real-time speed notifications on their in-
While the ability to move more material in less assign operators to equipment units or override cab mobile devices.
time is the primary goal for most mining automatic assignments. The Parkup module With these modules in place, operators can
operations, that isn’t the only road to success. enables the dispatcher or supervisor to prepare for, or avoid, hazardous road conditions
With the DISPATCH FMS, mines gain the tools automate the assignment of equipment to a such as debris, spills, or closures, thus

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Modular’s DISPATCH system now goes well

beyond material movement to help mines solve
some of the most common problems, from
time-consuming shift changes to monitoring
misused equipment

minimising the risk of equipment or personal

harm. In addition, operators can use the
notifications provided to take immediate self-
corrective action.
A Modular customer in Nevada reports that
equipment operators have confirmed that the
Speed Management module (along with other
DISPATCH FMS modules) has helped increase
operator situational awareness, resulting in a
reduction in mobile equipment-to-equipment
collisions.
Finally is the issue of miscalculated payloads.
Under- or over-calculation of payload can prove
detrimental to not only profitability and
productivity, but also equipment health.
“Underloading can lead to trucks running below
capacity with unrealised production
opportunities, additional trips between loading captures real-time payload information from the needed for tightly correlated target-to-realised
and dumping locations, resulting in wasted fuel onboard payload monitoring systems on production values, and to ensure accurate cost
and unproductive drive time, and increased tyre DISPATCH FMS-equipped haul trucks. Under analysis and production reporting. By having
and component wear. Overloading poses a certain conditions and configurations, truck real-time access to material weight as it
greater risk of damage to the truck’s frame, payload data is displayed on the in-cab mobile accumulates, shovel operators are less likely to
suspension, brakes, and tyres; the potential of devices in shovels and trucks. A key benefit of under- or overload the haulage units.
which is exacerbated by rough terrain or steep this functionality is the real-time capture and A Modular customer in Australia reports that
elevation changes.” communication of the tonnage values being following integration of payload functionality
The DISPATCH system’s Payload module loaded into a truck with each pass; crucial data giving shovel operators access to real-time
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OEM-provided truck load weights, the mine business intelligence offerings – empower greater insight, confidence, and user adoption.
experienced dramatic improvement in loading customers to leverage their data to extract even Advanced data cleansing prepares data for
accuracy and consistency. Productivity was more value from their mines. storage, ensuring simplicity and clarity when
maximised by trucks being consistently loaded to Revolutionary changes in the user interface – building reports or connecting to business
their full capacity while overload exceptions were such as tight integration of the maps and intelligence applications to extract broader
minimised, thus reducing the need for truck dispatch interfaces and a complete redesign for insight.
operators to tip and reload to comply with stated the automated dispatch configuration – provide Leveraging its interoperability enhancements,
tolerances. The mine greatly reduced underloads dispatchers a more efficient and intuitive way to the Wenco Mine Performance Suite 6 introduces
and overloads with greater than 10% variance monitor and interact with their mobile fleet. “We two highly anticipated solutions:
from the target weight. have received great feedback from our beta site n Avoca BI — a powerful data warehousing and
Modular concludes: “Across the board, the users which indicated this was a major step mine intelligence application
real-time mine management capabilities of the forward towards improving efficiency and n ReadyLine — a predictive maintenance
DISPATCH system can help mines of all type and reducing pressure on dispatchers,” said Andrea planning and condition monitoring solution
size become more efficient and productive; and Blazenko, Product Manager, Wencomine Fleet. “Our customers are starting to look closer at
realise a higher rate of return on their human, Taking Wenco’s pioneering innovations in how to unlock hidden value in data collected
equipment, and technology, investments.” dispatch automation a step further, the across their operations. There is also a
Wencomine Dynamic Dispatch algorithm now tremendous opportunity with predictive
Wenco launches Mine Performance completely automates routine activities, such as maintenance solutions to significantly increase
Suite 6 shift changes, breaks, and fuelling. These component life and prevent catastrophic failures
Wenco International Mining Systems has recently advances further reduce the demand on dispatch for more predictable availability,” said David
announced the release of Wenco Mine and optimise truck activity for efficiency. Noble, Vice President, Research and
Performance Suite 6. The culmination of several Wenco has focused extensive effort on offering Development.
years of research and development, the sixth mines more value and insight from data. System
version of the Wenco Mine Performance Suite 6 helps dispatchers and managers gather more Caterpillar Fleet 5.0 has expanded
pushes the boundaries of mine software. It insights in real-time – and over the life of the capability
moves Wenco beyond traditional dispatch mine – with improved dashboards, data Cat® Fleet tracks data across the entire mine site
systems, incorporating user interface cleansing, and business intelligence support. and automatically handles scheduling and
enhancements and across-the-suite integration New Wenco dashboards deliver real-time assignment tasks, including refuelling scheduling
for improved insights, safety and performance. insights, displaying payload compliance and shift changes. A capability set within Cat
System 6 builds on Wenco’s 30-year history in percentage, wait times, bucket-by-bucket MineStar™, Fleet automatically provides reports
mining systems with several step-changes to its loading, hourly progress to production target, and alerts in near real-time to pit managers for
suite of solutions. This version includes a and more. These dashboards make it easy to immediate response. Fleet works with all
complete reimagining of flagship Wencomine identify and assist underperforming production machines (regardless of manufacturer) and
Fleet Management System that enable customers before the shift is complete. systems to measure, manage and maximise
to gain even more performance from every shift. Extensive upgrades to haul cycle analytics give equipment operation and material movement.
Expanded data exchange and interoperability users and managers the confidence of knowing Use of cloud-based computing technology and
across the Wenco suite – including machine precisely how dispatch automation is performing Wi-Fi connectivity offers an affordable and easy
guidance, collision avoidance, maintenance, and independent of other factors, encouraging entry point for new Fleet users. Caterpillar
introduced a major upgrade, Fleet 5.0, in late
2017. The new version offers a number of
expanded capabilities including Blending to
Destination and Store and Forward for data
handling during communications outages.
While Cat MineStar has always had a blending
element, the new Blending to Destination feature
expands blending capabilities to include wheel
loaders and load-haul-dump scenarios. The new
capabilities are designed to help blending
operations run as smoothly and efficiently as
possible.
Blending to Destination involves controlling
the rates, grades and percentages of material to
the crusher, stockpile or dump. This is done while
simultaneously making the most effective use of
mobile equipment given operational constraints
(by assignment). Blending to Destination assists
in delivering material as specified to the
processing plant, maintaining acceptable grade
The new Suite 6 from Wenco includes a complete reimagining of the flagship Wencomine Fleet and material homogeneity in stockpiles, and
Management System that includes expanded data exchange and interoperability across the Wenco
suite – including machine guidance, collision avoidance, maintenance, and business intelligence ensuring dump material conforms to design and
offerings regulatory bounds.

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The Store and Forward capability manages still reeling to understand how a prior costly vehicle; the cost of raw data traversing onboard
data handling during communications outages, spend to migrate data to expensive cloud networks, only to fill local storage or
whether it’s due to an area of the mine lacking architectures, over the last five years, has yet to private/public clouds; and no way to process all
adequate network coverage or a wider network provide actionable information that’s better than that data in a meaningful way.”
communications outage. A communications real-world expertise at the mine manager level. “If the rush to an IoT utopia of connected
outage can prevent collecting data needed to Digitizing our industry, away from spreadsheets shovel teeth and cap lamps as store-and-forward
optimise fleet performance, but with Fleet, and decades-old, highly predictable, processes, mesh network nodes did anything, it’s that it
machines can store the communications they is complicated. Adding a buzzword like ‘IoT’ is highlighted data congestion points wherever the
would normally send over the network and already colliding with skepticism. Hexagon transactions occur in asymmetrical
forward them when a network connection is re- believes that true integration starts with scaling communications networks. The result was a
established. The system enables gathering data what you already have, to prevent costly regrets challenge that these edge devices needed a
during a network outage, even one that lasts a later. Our IoT message is simple: you don’t need platform to broker messages from endpoint to
full shift, and using that information to review a complete overhaul to be savvy and competitive. analytics tools, then back with a set of better
and optimise operations. Customers already have an IoT platform and it’s instructions, thus completing the loop for a self-
“While the Store and Forward feature does not called ‘process automation,’ a complex system of learning process automation network within the
replace a well-maintained radio network, it helps end-point sensors and machines producing data onboard systems framework. Without this
ensure that minimum data requirements are met across the legacy networks.” sharing of telemetry, then discreet sub-systems,
to enable the creation of cycle data in MineStar. Heavy equipment OEMs would historically such as tyre pressure monitoring, only
Fleet 5.0 also includes a number of instrument more components of the working contributed to a monitoring function that
improvements that make normal work routines mine fleet, than the maintenance and reliability measured against policies (over and under
faster and easier. These capabilities all come engineers could reasonably manage in terms of pressures) and alarming when the threshold was
together to help mining operations reduce cost data streams monitoring the truck, shovel, LHD, out of band.”
per tonne, enhance productivity and boost drill or dozer. In most cases, numbers of sensors Machine learning would make driverless
overall site profitability.” were dormant, never to be polled by the serial mining machines aware of their position, their
systems management networks. “Some were tasks, and avoid other machines operating in a
Hexagon and creating scalable IoT connected but running in the background with carefully coordinated balance in the pit or from
platforms only the most commonly used dashboards used the working face to the belt line transfer, ore
As FMS systems converge with autonomy and at the dispatch or mine operating centres to track passes or crushers underground. Hexagon sees
other areas, the levels of data analysis keep a handful of performance indicators from the real value as helping customers plan for more
increasing. Carl Brackpool, Hexagon Mining machines in the field. The lack of utilisation was connected assets and workers. “We see
Product Manager, Operations told IM: “Mining is a combination of poor communications from a gateways to affordable systems enhancements.

CIM
Booth
940
Building
tomorrow’s
technologies
for today’s mines

GET RIGHT
Reduce shovel hang time
TO THE
Virtually eliminate re-spotting

Equalize operator capability

SPOT
& performance
UP TO 34% INCREASE IN SHOVEL PRODUCTIVITY
*achieved at customer site

GUIDED SPOTTING www.modularmining.com

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Critical to customer success is all assets from a

variety of vendors, talking to each other. We
promote data engines to take full advantage of
interoperability, from planning, to operations, to
market. Mines should not let anyone sell them
on a complete, expensive system with decades of
implementation. Hexagon believes in a fully
scalable IoT platform that begins with making a
mine’s existing investment smarter, scaling only
as fast as its budget allows and driven by proving
each phase pays for itself before embarking on
the next milestone in an IoT roadmap that the
mine defines.”

VIST and the true digital mine

VIST Group FMS customers include Severstal,
Evraz, SUEK, EuroChem, Metinvest, OCP, NLMK,
Polymetal, Polyus and ArcelorMittal. But for the
past five years a major focus has been investing that estimates the required number of dump Summary of the platforms and functionalities
in the future technologies in mining, such as trucks required based on the actual performance that make up VIST Group’s digital mine
autonomous dump trucks, autonomous drilling of shovels, actual travelling speed of dump
rigs and predictive analytics for different trucks and other factors derived from the stations, loading of fuel trucks, fuel feed form
applications in mining. statistics of the current and preceding shifts. fuel trucks to vehicles, and control of fuel
Dmitry Klebanov, VIST Group Business Therefore, a dispatch control operator is consumption by vehicles. Every stage of this
Development Director believes the worlds of prevented from sending “extra” dump trucks to process is subject to double and triple checks.
dispatch, autonomy and process analytics are the work area, whose operation cannot For instance, in loading of fuel trucks the
rapidly converging. “The main difference of our meaningfully increase the output of shovels. possibility of a discrepancy is checked in three
modern approach of providing solutions to the This module also enables the dump trucks’ measurements: change of the fuel level of an
mining industry is that we provide a true digital open-cycle operation with automatic control. The immobile storage tank, change of fuel level in a
mine, not only a module with health monitoring driver gets from the system a notification fuel truck vessel and fuel volume passed
or optimisation of the fleet. Some vendors are showing to which shovel his dump truck should through fuel-handling facilities. This type of
well known for offerings that highlight health travel after discharge, or after a significant check is also applicable for transport vehicle
monitoring and dispatch, others focus on change of the situation in mining operations refuelling.
industrial safety and still others predictive (failures, etc) The maintenance module lets miners keep a
analytics and robotics…but there are gaps The optimisation module ensures the reliable history on technical maintenance in
between all these functions, since vendors do enhancement of performance by accurately terms of its durability, periodicity, quality, etc as
not generally provide change management and estimating the required number of vehicles and well as a history and control of substituted units
are not process consultants. In the near future, directing those vehicles to the proper positions and devices of dump trucks, which allows mines
consulting companies, such as McKinsey, at the proper times. This functionality enables to judge the cost of maintenance and also by
Accenture and BCG will start implementing management and control actions that result in implication the different results from
technologies, and will be able to compete with significant performance enhancement as components from different manufacturers. As
the usual vendors of IT technologies in mining, compared to a manual system without intelligent with other systems it creates a complete and
because they have the competence in computer-based algorithmic optimisation. reliable picture of technical maintenance and
organisational changes that are necessary for a With the creation of optimisation groups, the repairs: where, at what time and for how long the
modern digital mine.” dispatcher divides the available shovel fleet into work was taking place as well as effecting the
The VIST Intelligent Mine offers unmanned groups, each working in an open cycle. A group timely planning of technical maintenance and
mining operations with autonomous dump may consist of a single shovel. In this case, the repairs and make conclusions about the mode of
trucks and intelligent teleoperation with dump trucks assigned to it are not redistributed operation of a vehicle.
augmented reality for loaders, shovels dozers, by the system in the process of operation. The There is the option of adding scheduled
graders and other on-site machines. For haul dispatcher may manually relocate a dump truck technical maintenance and repairs and
trucks and excavators it cites increase between groups and within a group. In this case, comparing their standards and worklists and the
utilisation of up to 20-25%, and reduced the system sends the same notification to a capability of keeping a history both for repairs
maintenance cost of 10-15%, together with driver as it does in case of automatic distribution. and technical maintenance of a truck and all of
reduced payroll and reduced consumables. For The driver is actually unaware of the fact of who its units and devices installed on the truck
drilling rigs VIST says it can increase utilisation or what is guiding his operation: software, a independently as well as keeping archives on
up to 35%, as well as maintenance works by 10- traffic control operator or a foreman using a installation\dismantling of units and components
15% per year. workpad with software. However, every of a truck for which the spare capacity rate is
The original VIST VG KARIER FMS has many instruction is recorded in the data base and can generated. There is automatic personnel
specific modules that can help mines get the be analysed at any time. notification of the necessity of technical
most out of their operations. The VG KARIER system also provides “end-to- maintenance and automatic personnel
As an example it has an optimisation module end” fuel logging including logging of fuel in gas notification about faults during operation. IM

46 International Mining | MAY 2018