Modern Mining October 2022

Kal Tire’s Maple Program is based on its custom-built carbon calculator.

productivity, cost reduction and management of the total cost of ownership reduction, all of which is packaged into the service we offer. These innova tive technologies, developed in-house, are part of our service offering.” Kal Tire in the driving seat Also on display at the event, Kal Tire showcased its autonomous tyre inspection system – a partnership with Australian company Pitcrew.ai. The autonomous tyre inspection station com bines Thermographie (thermal imaging cameras) and artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor OTR tyres in mining operations and feed data into Kal Tire’s Tire Operations & Management System (TOMS), where a business rule engine takes care of work order creation and automation using customer specific maintenance targets to ensure right amount of work at a time. “By adopting the Pitcrew tool, mining houses are able to use strategically placed autonomous inspec tion stations to monitor and track tyre health. Instead of halting trucks to initiate physical tyre inspections, the company installs a set of camera monitors which record the condition of each tyre as the trucks pass through,” explains Martin. Christian Erdelyi, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group manager, mining technology solutions, says that by integrating the thermal imaging technology of Pitcrew.ai with TOMS, potential issues on the out sides of the tyres are detected early on. Armed with this information, TOMS is able to speedily automate the critical next steps, such as work orders, for closer inspection, or tyre change outs based on site spe cific business rules. “With TOMS, work orders can be released within a minute of the completion of the real time truck

Above and left: Kal Tire’s Kal Clamp offers a step-change in the tyre removal process.

Left: Kal Tire’s Tire Operations & Management System (TOMS).

inspection; unlike paper, which often sees work orders taking days to process, or is misplaced.” The autonomous tyre inspection systems are now in use at sites in Canada, Australia, Chile and soon in Mozambique. “On its own, TOMS is a powerful productivity tool that supports near-instant visibility and a focus on planned tyre work,” reiterates Erdelyi. This drive to aid its customers meet their ESG

Kal Tire showcases its autonomous tyre inspection system - Pitcrew.ai.

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