In 2013, an open-pit copper mining operation in British Columbia, Canada, made the decision to invest in a fleet management system (FMS). After the purchase, the mine compared the potential ROI of implementing the FMS vs. buying an additional haul truck. The ROI calculation was based solely on additional tonnage that could be moved if both shovel hang times and truck queue times were decreased. Baseline data was collected three months after FMS installation, with the FMS’s optimization algorithm disabled. The process was repeated three months later with the optimization algorithm enabled. In this phase, hourly production increased by nearly four percent, which equates to an annual production increase of just over $2,000,000 or the volume of material moved by an additional 1.04 haul trucks. By implementing an FMS and utilizing its optimization capabilities, as opposed to buying an additional truck, the mine experienced a first-year cost savings of more than $4,200,000. The ten-year savings were calculated at almost $5,200,000. This presentation will discuss the mine’s decision-making process, the improvements realized from FMS usage, and the ROI from investing in an FMS vs. a truck.
