Smartrail? - Part 3 of 4

Part 3: Increasing Availability and Utilisation of Locomotives and Hoppers

Measurement of tonnes per hopper

Hoppers can be overfilled due to mines pushing for tonnes.?As a result, spillages of ore in the tramming haulages occur.?

Detailed reports are available on Smartrail? enabling management to monitor that hopper loading capacities are not exceeded.

Controls to monitor braked versus un-braked Mass Ratios.?Locomotive mass (braked) vs hopper mass (unbraked): ?a safety issue

The braked versus unbraked mass is a significant safety factor during tramming operations.?Trains will not be able to stop at a desired distance when a train is overloaded.?This safety factor is challenging to monitor without Smartrail? due to there not being other means to measure the locos and hoppers individually underground.?

Smartrail? reports can be used to ensure that the safety standards are met by monitoring the ratio between the braked mass (locomotive) and unbraked mass (hoppers- if they do not have braking functionality).

Loco Utilisation

The performance of the individual locomotives can be monitored on Smartrail? by inspecting the number of trips by loco per shift.?This data is also available per day and per month.

The following four reports illustrate the control over Loco Utilisation:

Loco Production Summary Report

Loco Productivity Chart

Loco Trip Counter Report

Loco Trip Information

Start and stop times

The starting point to improve loco utilisation is to monitor the starting and stopping times of the specific loco's movements for a given period.?Inter-shift idle times are usually linked to inefficiencies. Contributing factors such as the loco operators taking excessive time to change the loco batteries before the shift or if they stop production too early can be managed.?

Traffic Summary Report: Utilisation

Cycle times of locos

The date and times are recorded whenever a train passes the Smartrail? weighbridge.?This date and times are used to calculate the cycle time of locos to focus on problematic loco utilisation.

Loco Production Detail Report

Availability of locos

There is sometimes friction between mining and engineering when locos are not available due to breakdowns or services.?However, the available locos can be utilised much better using Smartrail?. ?Engineering can also benefit to ascertaining which hoppers are available and utilised and which are not.

Hopper utilisation

There is insufficient control over hoppers in most mines.?As a result, the engineering departments struggle to confirm the utilisation of a specific hopper.?Smartrail? provides detailed reports of particular hoppers per train.

Traffic Detail Report: Utilisation

Controls to monitor the number of hoppers pulled by locos

It happens that the loco drivers decide to add additional hoppers behind the loco, more than what the legal limit is. The problem is more evident during night-shift due to less supervision during that time. Unfortunately, this directly impacts the braked versus unbraked mass ratio between the locos and the hoppers and creates a severe safety risk.?

Smartrail? provides the number of hoppers per train report and monitors compliance. Take note that the braked versus unbraked ratio doesn't affect hoppers equipped with brakes.?

Production Detail Report

Planning to have the correct number of locos per level

Engineers are very reluctant to remove locos from a level because they are always afraid that such a decision will affect production.?

With Smartrail? in place decisions to remove locos from a level can be supported because the locos were not fully utilised.?The mining sections are always concerned that they do not have enough locos.?However, if engineers add locos, it can create congestion which can negatively affect production. Using Smartrail??it is easy to demonstrate when locos are fully utilised and if locos should be added.

Next week's topic

Improved decision making and grade control