Replacement Method of Main Parts of Mining and Earth Moving Equipment: Current Situation and Prospect of Machinery Industry

Abstract

The dynamic production budgets and the volatile metal prices in the current mining industry have stimulated and strengthened a continuous search for operating efficiency in all areas of the production process, with reliability of the earth moving equipment being one of the core aspects. Unpredicted breakdown of earth moving machine major components usually cause serious consequences such as loss of production, extra cost and deviation from mine plans. From a financial perspective, these components are one of the key cost drivers among the top Mine cost centers and success in managing them (achieving expected life cycle and operational cost) is essential in meeting maintenance and production cost (cost/ton) of the equipment. Whereas relatively small and frequent repairs largely affect availability, operational cost is directly affected by major component failure. In trying to maximize the operating efficiency of earth moving equipment, various maintenance strategies and methodologies have been tried, tested and initiated. However, the challenge in most, if not all operations, has been to find an accurate method to determine the exact expected replacement point of major components. This phenomenon has been challenging, though a number of operations engage in a time-based replaced strategy as recommended by most equipment manufacturers, replacement schedules are rarely executed as panned. The norm however, has been to draw up a calendar of parts to be replaced each year during budgeting time and scheduled intervals of replacement are set following the Original Equipment Manufacturers’ (OEM) recommendation. Nevertheless, these schedules have not conclusively determined the point at which the replacement is economically justified. This study therefore, highlights the challenges of the traditional time-based component replacement strategy and recommends an approachbased on condition assessment.The data used in this study are obtained from different Mines as well as the experience of the researcher(ethnological study in the industry). The study concludes that, to realize optimum utility from a component, a component management strategy must start right from equipment selection and purchase decisions. Thus, criticalcomponents, which require preventive replacement, need to be identified and monitored through condition monitoring. Condition inspections must bescheduled in such a way that they do not adversely affect the availability of the equipment.