Capital Equipment News August 2021

Back view of the new Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions workshop facilities – Khomanani.

grounded in real-time equipment data. By ensuring that these strategies guarantee a safer, more reliable and productive operation, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of operating equipment can be well controlled. In terms of parts supply and management, for instance, the company has developed a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) option to streamline availability, says Amith Ganasram, business line manager – parts commercial at Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions. “This means that our people can be on site with an inventory of stock that we manage. The major advantage is that this makes parts available to the customer at reduced lead times,” says Ganasram. “We work with the customer’s operational teams on site, as well as our service teams, to ensure that the right parts are available when they are needed – keeping uptime at an optimal level.” Tracking performance This means tracking of equipment performance and condition – including mean time between failures – and forecasting of service and parts requirements. The company can even work with third-party maintenance companies appointed by the mine. This detailed planning and prompt response time ensures optimal uptime and lowest cost per tonne produced. An alternative stock model is based on consignment, he says, where the customer manages a parts holding on their own site but they only pay for what they consume. A regular audit, for instance on a bi-weekly basis, can then be conducted to ensure the stock level is balanced with the parts used.

Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions’ new Kempton Park mega- workshop incorporates both the mechanical soft-rock cutting and the hard-rock mining businesses

The 62 000 m² site housing the new state-of-the-art Khomanani facility further enhances the OEM’s capability to serve customers

The facility has even allowed for added capability, such as the extensive new bead blasting bay, large wash bay with robotic washers, modern spray-painting bay and newly equipped machine shop

Adapting to changing needs, Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions is in the process of setting up a ‘roving team’ to provide OEM intervention support on site as and when necessary

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collaboration with customers – providing service and maintenance models that complement the mines’ strategic objectives. “We don’t force any specific system and process onto customer, but rather work with them to develop a working model that suits the aftermarket priorities on their sites,” he says. “This often needs lengthy discussion over a period of time,

but the benefits are definitely worthwhile in terms of finding an optimal level of support and format of delivery.” Global leader As a global leader in automation, digitalisation and fleet data monitoring (FDM) solutions, Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions has a growing focus on predictive maintenance strategies

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