A comprehensive scheduled maintenance programme forms the cornerstone of the plant’s high overall utilisation. “Controlling operating cost or total cost of ownership is all about reducing unscheduled downtime and taking a proactive approach to plant maintenance. This improves overall plant utilisation, enhances screening efficiencies and drives unit costs down,” Anton Vermeulen, sales director at Multotec Manufacturing, says.

Landau Navigation was the first mine to conclude a maintenance agreement in May 2006, followed by Kleinkopje in February 2007 and Mafube in March 2008.

Maintenance contracts have become increasingly popular in the past few years as mines see the importance of concentrating on their core area of expertise. “Add to this, that the global skills shortage has placed increasing pressure on the mines to find suitably qualified and experienced staff to fill in-house maintenance positions,” Vermeulen explains. “It makes sense for coal mines to outsource non-core functions such as maintenance to the very people who make the equipment and products.”

“Multotec initially identified the need for maintenance on screens at Landau Navigation to ensure optimum uptime,” Martin Jonck, branch manager Multotec Middelburg, says. By maintaining the screens on a regular basis it is possible to ensure screens operate in accordance with performance specifications not only improving screen availability, but also increasing productivity of the plant as well as screening efficiency ensuring optimum product throughput.

“There are definite advantages to contracting the screen panel manufacturer to do all equipment maintenance as we have access to the latest technology updates,” Vermeulen says. Multotec has a dedicated team of technical specialists who, because of their exposure to a variety of product applications, are able to easily determine and address any maintenance issues and suggest various solutions.

Multotec has implemented its Hawkeye system at the three mines to allow proactive monitoring of the screen panels, whilst also being able to predict screen life and act on abnormal failures by establishing the root cause and preventing recurrences.

Developed in-house, the programme effectively monitors screen maintenance processes, giving customers peace of mind and guaranteed efficiency. “Hawkeye is a Web based application, accessible anywhere in the world. It offers the user an easy-to-use interface to allow accurate and efficient recording of maintenance activities. These entries are stored in a database, and can be called up as required in a number of ways, allowing one to zero in on what is happening on the screen,” Vermeulen says.

Hawkeye uses a graphical representation to identify underlying screen components in a grid reference format. “The major advantage of the programme is that it is transparent as the data is real-time and instantly accessible to the customer and to Multotec technical support and logistical back-up teams,” he adds.

Screen panel areas experiencing high wear are be identified in colour-coded reporting, data can be pinpointed to single panels, and the reasons for the increased wear assessed. Based on the data recorded, a process change or product improvement process can be initiated, or an alternative product can be suggested to optimise wear performance. “Another critical benefit is that screen panel life expectancy can be determined,” Vermeulen says.

The programme performs a statistical analysis based on complex algorithms using weighted averages, and reported in a graphical manner that makes sense to all levels of users and plant operators. “Hawkeye allows our customers to optimise the screening surface of their plant. What is particularly relevant for the maintenance or service contract is the ability to perform meantime between failure analysis, lifecycle costing and costing variations. Accurate product usage reports, actual versus estimated reporting, stock usage and predictive usage based on historical data can all be determined,” Vermeulen says.

“We have been able to implement a total screen management system at these collieries by manufacturing, delivering and keeping stock panels,” Jonck says. “We were provided with the detailed screen panel layout which allowed us to tailor a solution optimising replacement. This is a dynamic process and is continuously monitored to ensure the best throughput, screening efficiency, recovery and wear life. Each mine is visited weekly by our skilled, qualified technicians who assess the screen.”

Jonck says that all the maintenance contracts are serviced out of Multotec’s Middelburg branch. “The Middleburg branch gives the Multotec Group a footprint in the Witbank coal region and has ensured that customer service remains high,” Vermeulen says.

“Our branch strategy is to make sure sales people are within two hours of 99% of the customer base. This strategy has allowed customers in the various regions enhanced access to expertise, Multotec personnel and more importantly Multotec products, with a comprehensive stock holding of consumables being used in that region available at each branch,” Vermeulen concludes.
 

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