One hour of downtime costs $3,000 of lost production for a mine on average. While working with heavy duty equipment like dozers, draglines and trucks in harsh conditions, it's no wonder downtime can go as long as 60 hours on average per incident. So, each incident can cost $180,000 for a mine. This emphasizes the importance of operator rounds at a mine to boost maintenance and prevent such incidents.
Challenges Facing Mining Operators Rounds
A typical mine spends 35 to 50 percent of its annual operating budget on equipment maintenance and repairs. Despite having a preventive maintenance strategy in place, mines still encounter unexpected equipment failures. Take a closer look at your maintenance operations and you would find gaps between the frontline and back office workforces within the organization. These gaps are stemming from manual processes like using paper forms and checklists in operator rounds.
Paper-based operator rounds, inspections and checklists bring problems that render the processes ineffective at best, useless at worst. They also lead to increased costs, lost productivity, revenue disruptions, and potential fines and penalties. An operator round inspection needs to be thorough to be effective. A static paper checklist just can’t achieve this.
It’s not easy to alter a paper checklist or form to reflect changing business or operational needs. Furthermore, an inspector may skip checklist items or leave them uncompleted. Decision makers need the completed checklist quickly to figure out what action to take. However, paper-based operator rounds are static objects. The information remains unseen and unknown until the technician completes the form and turns it in or manually uploads data into an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system like SAP.
Leveraging Mobile Operator Rounds Solutions
Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets replace paper checklists and binders, enabling technicians to collect accurate, mission-critical information in less time. Technicians access digital forms on their device to conduct the round. These digital forms are dynamic, unlike paper checklists, meaning they can be quickly and easily changed on the fly to better meet a plant’s situational needs. The data is immediately uploaded into the back-office system, letting decision makers view inspection results in real time.
Technicians scan equipment barcodes and complete the digital form by checking customized data fields to indicate the present operational status and safety condition. That information is immediately uploaded electronically into the back-office system. Decision makers can view inspection information on their own mobile device or on a desktop app. They can also communicate and collaborate with the technician as he or she is conducting the round. This means nothing is overlooked, questions or concerns can be instantly addressed, risk and threat levels quickly ascertained, and action taken before downtime is incurred or a safety threat emerges.
To sum up, mobile operator rounds solutions help you overcome these key challenges by replacing paper-based processes:
- Lack of real time visibility
- Lack of real time data visibility
- Low/no value data
- Lack of risk modeling
Want to Learn More about Mobile Operator Rounds?
Our experts are always happy to help you learn more about mobile operator rounds solutions and how it helps your mine? Schedule a free demo today or call us at 844-464-6668.
