A fleet of 73 Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) machines, including 65 articulated haul trucks and eight crawler excavators, is helping PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) mine one of the world’s largest coal reserves in a remote part of the Indonesian island of Borneo.
The Sangatta Coal Mine is located in the resource-rich East Kutai Regency in East Kalimantan, a sparsely populated area with a density of just 7.1 people per square kilometre (Jakarta has 14,440/sq km) and a challenging infrastructure that can make it difficult to maintain the equipment that is used on site.
Because the earthmovers are used for the essential tasks of extracting and transporting overburden, fuel and water across the large site, Volvo CE’s dealer in the region, Intraco Penta Prima Servis (IPPS), has deployed a team of technicians to be stationed on-site, offering round-the-clock repairs and maintenance.
“Ensuring machines are properly maintained so that our customers can achieve optimal performance and profit is important to us,” Volvo Indonesia assistant service manager Dede Suheri says.
“By having a team of experienced technicians on site — as well as a stockpile of spare parts — we are able to deliver fast and effective support when our customers need it most,” he says, adding that one of the oldest machines on the Sangatta site has clocked over 100,000 operational hours.
KPC uses seven Volvo A35C, 36 A35E and 22 A35F articulated haulers to transport overburden around the large site, while some have been modified to transport water or fuel.
Volvo says the drivetrain it designed and made “has been developed to work seamlessly with the engine, transmission, axles and systems”. The machines also feature self-compensating, hydro-mechanical steering “for safer operation and a longer lifespan”.
The eight excavators— five EC210Bs, one EC210BLR and two EC330BLC Prime — are used to strip and load the overburden on to the haulers. Features Volvo highlights are their “long-lasting performance, powerful strength and leading fuel efficiency”. The Volvo engine delivers high torque at low revs, while a reinforced undercarriage improves durability on uneven terrain.
The team of IPPS service technicians is able to monitor the company’s fleet remotely using Volvo CE’s telematics system, CareTrack — particularly important as KPC owns mining concession areas that span over 90 hectares and operates anywhere between six and 12 open pits at any one time.
CareTrack allows fleet managers to run reports on fuel consumption, operational hours and geographical location – as well as alerting them to service and maintenance checks.
The system also allows fleet managers to set location and time boundaries, with alerts sent if the machine leaves the preset proximity. The Volvo excavators can be fitted with an anti-theft tracking system, which can demobilise the machine if necessary
In locations where there is no mobile reception, Volvo can fit the machine with a satellite modem that allows data reporting
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