Komatsu Australia has bought MineWare, a company that supplies monitoring systems to improve the performance and productivity of draglines, mining shovels and excavators.
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MineWare’s Argus monitoring system
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Through real-time payload measurement and mine compliance, MineWare’s Argus monitoring system has been shown to improve truck and shovel operations globally by up to 25 percent, lowering costs and improving production, mine design and planning.
Development teams from both companies have started working together on integrating their technologies, which Komatsu says “will deliver substantial added value for users of Komatsu mining equipment, significantly enhancing the data monitored through Komatsu Australia’s iNSITE Centre at its Fairfield, NSW, headquarters”.
Using Komtrax and Komtrax Plus systems, Komatsu’s iNSITE Centre monitors and displays a real-time feed of Komatsu machine data, ranging from the productivity to the machine health of equipment throughout Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia.
“By integrating MineWare’s Argus shovel monitor data with data provided by Komtrax and Komtrax Plus, we can extract a higher level of real-time, actionable information to improve all aspects of our customers’ truck and shovel operations,” MineWare CEO Andrew Jessett says.
“With several potential partnership opportunities in the last year, what appealed about Komatsu was the ability for MineWare to remain a highly independent entity.”
Jessett believes MineWare’s real-time technology has a pivotal role to play in improving the performance of payload optimisation, machine health and mine plan compliance.
“Payload optimisation lies at the heart of good fleet management due to its direct role in improving haulage efficiency and production,” he says.
“It’s about tightening the payload distribution and increasing the average truck payload. Loading the truck correctly into its target capacity results in the optimisation of both the truck as well as the shovel fleet which, in turn, reduces fuel costs, tyre wear and road maintenance.
“The optimisation of any fleet starts with an accurate payload,” he adds. “If you can measure it, you can manage it.”