Inefficiencies associated with tyres and rims have not always been considered but they can contribute more to mine operating costs than most would guess.
Poor tyre installation and maintenance leads to downtime and reduced operating efficiencies; it also results safety hazards and incidents. This compromised safety has been responsible for many cases of equipment damage, as well as injury and death. For example, on 10 occasions in Australia over the past five years inadequate tyre maintenance has led to the injury or death of the tyre service person.
So clearly there is a need to proactively manage tyres and rims to achieve levels of risk “as low as reasonably practicable” (ALARP).
Brisbane-based Klinge & Co, an independent earthmover tyre management and consulting company, has developed over the past 25 years an integrated tyre application risk management approach known as TyreArm. This approach has been adopted at many mines worldwide, and has led to sustained cost savings of up to 40% in tyre and rim outlays.
A less tangible outcome of implementing this approach, in addition to better safety, is an improvement in environmental management from the reduced volume of rubber entering the non-recyclable waste stream.
Klinge’s business improvement methodology is based on quantitative risk management principles achieved through the ongoing collection of tyre safety performance information, tyre vital sign data and failure analysis.
This data is then applied in Total Tyre Control, a proprietary software tool.
The software translates the information into a range of effective proactive alerts, reporting mechanisms and feedback tools that are tailored to mine management, tyre manufacturers and equipment operators.