The Task

A large gold mine in South America lost excessive time on fueling activities for their fleet. The operation engaged MTS to optimise the use of their Fleet Management System (FMS). The optimised configuration of the FMS helped the operation make significant improvements to its fleet’s fueling processes. Fueling is one of the many processes that can be optimised by the smart use of a FMS.

Challenge

The operation lost excessive time on the refuelling activities for their fleet of trucks. The time was lost due to multiple reasons. An important factor in this loss of time was the fact that queues regularly formed at the refuelling bays. These queues were most evident during the times that the truck operators were changing shifts. Spreading truck refuels more efficiently would have resulted in a much more productive use of time.

Another factor that caused a loss in operational time was the fact that refuelling often occurred before it was actually needed. This discrepancy adds to the total amount of time that is spent refuelling. Prior to MTS’ engagement, the decision when to go refuelling was taken by the operator of the truck and not by the FMS. By letting the FMS indicate when a stop to refuel was required, the overall process could be optimised.

The Solution

Specific research by MTS concerning the FMS found that it was incorrectly configured for dynamic refuelling. Dynamic refuel assignments are an important tool in the optimisation of refuelling. Instead of the operator deciding when to refuel, this is done by the system itself concerning the fuel level, distance from the fuel bay, and current fuel bay queue. This way, an operator will receive refuel assignments at the optimal time, significantly enhancing efficiency. MTS reconfigured the FMS to ensure this feature was set up correctly. Alongside this, the controllers and operators of the mine were given additional training. This training enabled them to work with the newly set up auto-refuelling feature in the FMS.

In conjunction with the training, MTS created a new dashboard for the operation. The purpose of this dashboard was to assist in scheduling the refuelling of the fleet by a mobile fuel truck. Finally, FMS touchscreens were installed and configured in these mobile fuel trucks. These screens helped capture the dispense of fuel throughout the entire operation.

Screens setup on fuel truck for FMS integration

The Results

After the implementation of the changes and training, several improvements were seen. The interval between refuelling stops for trucks increased, which meant less downtime was spent on these unnecessary disruptions. Also, the time trucks spent in the queue to be refuelled decreased, due to a better spread in the distribution of trucks arriving at refuelling stations. Finally, the occurrence of trucks running out of fuel also reduced significantly.

Because of these improvements, an average truck in the fleet gained 41.4 hours of operational time each year. On a fleet of 30 trucks, this comes down to a total of 1,242 hours. At an average productivity of 210 tonnes per truck per hour, one can deduce that 348k extra tonnes are moved on a yearly basis, causing an increase in revenue of almost $7 million.

Training session with the operations team

Summary

A gold mining operation in South America lost significant operational time because of inefficiencies in their refuelling processes. They engaged MTS to optimise their use of the dynamic refuelling configuration of the Caterpillar MineStar FMS system. The implemented measures significantly increased intervals between refuelling, decreased the waiting times at fuel stations and reduced out-of-fuel occurrences. This case study is a prime example of how sites will not always be getting the most out of their technology, where substantial savings could be made.