CUMMINS Filtration has supported one of South Africa’s largest mining companies in undergoing a comprehensive trial study to extend the service intervals for automotive equipment operating at mine sites.
That’s according to Chernise Naicker, South Africa Independent Channel Account Manager, who said that by extending the cycle replacement hours, the ultimate goal was to increase savings associated with maintenance costs and increased uptime, thereby improving overall productivity.
The mine sites targeted for the trials were opencast platinum, coal and iron ore mines prone to high levels of dust, which generally results in higher maintenance costs. The target was to double the current cycle replacement hours.
“Cummins Filtration has established relationships with many mining houses. Our business synergies are often aligned, thus resulting in complementary business offerings. It is challenging to get your foot into bigger mining houses. However, we are able to leverage our relationships from a global to a local level. Furthermore, we know what it takes to maximise your investment in your equipment and minimise the number of repairs.”
In terms of major challenges facing mining clients at present, Naicker highlights poor maintenance practices as a common issue. As a result, the mine does not get to utilise the full life of a product and ends up spending more.
Cummins Filtration offers on-site support and training to address any maintenance shortfalls, as well as implementing technology improvements. It has an experienced technical team to support customer requests.
In terms of an extensive trial such as this, the team establishes with the prospective end user what their expectations are, provides recommendations and then commences with the trial. Weekly reporting is shared with the site to ensure visibility.
Once base expectations are achieved, these are discussed with the site. If the product has outperformed and the team is able to extend the life even further, it will discuss the results with the site and decide to safely extend the trial even further. Once the trial has been concluded, the resultant recommendations are implemented through a local distributor.
The products specified for this particular mining client were Fleetguard NanoForce Air filters, Fleetguard lube filters and centrifuges, and Fleetguard NanoNet fuel filters.
Naicker said the trial yielded a 150% improvement in replacement hours, with an average of 1,500 replacement hours achieved across all filtration products (air, lubricants and oil) on the various mine sites. In addition, the machine fleet achieved a lower downtime due to the extended service intervals, thereby reducing the total cost of ownership by a significant margin and improving productivity of the mine sites.
The customer was also provided with recommended actions around fuel and oil quality standards, as well as proposed oil-monitoring procedures to ensure a minimum of 1 000 hours is achieved going forward.
Cummins Filtration has introduced a mobile app for Android and iOS devices that has a barcode scanner feature to tell whether a filter is genuine. The app also helps pinpoint the exact products needed.
