Aggregates Manager Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/772143
AGGREGATES MANAGER Voices of Experience Travis Chewning Craig McGinnis Mike Wentworth I t was not uncommon at Luck Stone to pass on stone reserves that would put its loader operators at risk. Embracing the company motto of "Ignite Innovation," Luck Stone realized it could find a way to access these valuable reserves and keep loader operators safe. Enter remote-control (RC) loaders. The Richmond, Va.-based produc- er currently runs two remote-control (RC) loaders at its Bull Run operation. "We see the most value in keeping an operator safe when we have need to dig in an area, but want to remove the operator from the hazard," says Travis Chewning, P.E., senior director of engineering and operational support for Luck Stone Corp. "Now, we have an al- ternative tool to keep our people safe." As Luck Stone was developing the Bull Run operation and installing the gyratory primary crusher, there was a slot that had to be shot in muck. "We used an RC loader to muck the slot because we couldn't put a person in there. We had to work from the top down," Chewning says. "We used the RC loader and then scaled the high- wall. This project saved us $30,000 to $50,000." Autonomous equipment for safety and efficiency is also on Luck Stone's radar. It experimented with an auton- omous haul truck, but it's no longer in operation. It had been in development for two years, running in a safeguard- ed, prototype way. However, the com- pany it had been working with went out of business, halting the program. "Autonomous hauling is attractive because it offers efficiency and pro- ductivity gains," Chewning says. "The performance of drivers is variable, but autonomous trucks perform the same way. There are periods throughout the day where you need more or fewer trucks. "Autonomously adding or taking away a truck to meet needs gives the ability to right-size the fleet when needed instead of finding a driver." A dvances in automation brings myriad advantages to the aggre- gate industry, helping producers with reliability and predictability, says Craig McGinnis, product marketing man- ager, wheel loaders, Komatsu America Corp. The heavy equipment manufactur- er headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Ill., offers autonomous functions on some of its equipment and remote-control and semi-autonomous machines "to maintain efficiency and productivity while keeping operators out of high-risk applications — and to make their lives easier." An autonomous function such as au- to-dig enables an operator "to just drive into the pile without any other operator input," McGinnis points out. "It makes digging easier and provides repeatability and predictability." Ultimately, he says, it doesn't matter to many jobsite managers if a person or a computer is running the loader. "They just plan on producing so many tons per hour," McGinnis says. "Autonomous functions help with this predictability. Anything that can make the equipment faster and more produc- tive so you can load the hopper and truck quicker and get it out of the gate quicker makes a difference." Using remote-control technology can help contribute to this efficiency, as well as keeping equipment operators safe in challenging conditions. Running the OEM's D155i-8 radio-controlled dozer equipped with "intelligent Machine Con- trol" is done with a joystick without an operator actually being in the cab. This may seem nerve-wracking without a true sense or feel of the surface area, but the intelligent technology enables the dozer to operate in automatic mode, from heavy dozing to fine grading. "Getting a good dozer operator or mo- tor grader operator is worth its weight in gold," McGinnis says. "Using technology, the operator learning curve is nearly cut in half. You don't need to find operators with 20 to 25 years of experience. This makes it very easy to switch operators between machines. The key is faster, more productive machines." I ncorporating "intelligent" equipment is a smart move for aggregates operations. "This is the way the industry is going — it's where it's at now, actually," notes Mike Wentworth, product manager, Atlas Copco Surface Drilling Equipment for Mining, Rock Excavation and Construction LLC. With advances in equipment technolo- gy, come concerns about upkeep and re- lated expense. Wentworth dispels those concerns: "Computerized control has been around long enough to dispel any initial market concerns that computerized rigs would be a maintenance concern." Adding to that, he notes that "reliability, increased productivity, and enhanced safety are really never drawbacks. Remote-control drills aren't replacing existing technology, but adding to it." Automated features that are now available can be remotely controlled to minimize opportunities for human error and add precision not humanly possible, Wentworth explains. For example, fea- tures such as a hole navigation system and auto positioning help producers with improving fragmentation characteristics by precisely locating holes, accurately collaring and drilling them to the re- quired depth and inclination, and drilling holes precisely to plan, regardless of the terrain above the hole and how it affects rig attitude, he says, adding "This pre- cision means blast designers can open up their patterns, reducing the amount of explosive required to get the blast characteristics being sought." A computerized rig control platform and automated features also mean the driller does not need to remain at the rig. "Operation from a remote-control console is exactly the same as controlling it from the driller's console at the rig," Went- worth says. "You can now confidently drill benches with uncertain ground conditions. Rig performance and fleet maintenance data can be monitored and logged real-time from anywhere. Com- paring performance of a rig or tooling in one part of the quarry to another allows maximum control over productivity and profitability."