Load-cycle Optimization Opportunities through Operator Assist Technology
Braden Weisheit, Modular Mining Systems
A high level of variability exists in the capabilities of individual mobile equipment operators; highly skilled operators typically achieve significantly higher productivity with improved safety than their less-experienced colleagues. This problem has become further exacerbated in the past decade due to increases in employee turnover and lacking availability of skilled operators to recruit. As a result, mine operators have created standard operating procedures geared towards the lowest level of capability in hopes of ensuring a safer operation. While these procedures can improve operator safety, they often do so at the expense of productivity. In order to improve both safety and productivity, the mining industry needs a technology with the potential to equalize the performance of all operators at a level close to or even beyond the capability of the most experienced operators. This presentation will introduce a haulage operator assist technology called Guided Spotting that has the potential to significantly improve both shovel and truck productivity in open pit mines while helping to ensure operator safety awareness. Results from deployment at an active mine will be presented to support this hypothesis.
Keywords:
Guided Spotting, Operator Assist Technology, Load cycle
