Business Solutions Group can help your quarry production during COVID-19

Things have changed dramatically in the past month and it can be hard to plan effectively in these uncertain times. You are probably managing additional safety precautions, absences due to illness and far more.

We want you to know that Komatsu is here to help during this difficult time.

To effectively manage your quarry operation, you need to know how to maintain production levels at a site if someone on your team is out because of illness and a unit (or more) goes down. Our Business Solutions Group (BSG) can work through those time-consuming calculations and help you make those determinations, all at no cost to you.

BSG wants to help you so that you don’t have to take time away from the rest of your business. We want to lighten the workload your site or regional managers face during this already busy and complicated time.

A quick 20 minute call with a member of our BSG team, will give us the basic information we need to start our analysis. Typically, we’ll get back to you within two working days with recommendations to help you meet your quarry production targets.

Here’s a look at the kind of analysis we can provide:

EXAMPLE

A quarry typically runs three 70-ton trucks fed by one wheel-loader. Their weekly average production is 31,650 tons when working five, 10-hour days (50 hours total).
Assume one of the truck operators is suspected of being sick, requiring both he and the truck to be quarantined, pending test results and truck cleaning. Without making changes to the operation weekly production falls to 23,200 tons, a 27% reduction.

Based on a conversation with site management, BSG can help analyze several options, such as:

1. Using two 70-ton trucks, the site would be forced to lengthen shifts from 10 hours per day to 11.5 hours and run a 6th day, for a total of 68.2 production hours per week in order to maintain production levels.
2. If some small operational changes are possible, such as improving bucket fill factor, reducing loader cycle time, and reducing truck round trip travel time (because a truck is missing, wait times could be eliminated) the fleet’s production could be improved when compared to normal.
   These changes would mean 57.7 production hours are needed to meet the weekly target, saving over 10 hours of work when compared to Option 1, above.  The required 57.7 hours could be divided as operation sees fit, for example, 5 days working 11.5 hours per day.    
3. If a 40-ton articulated haul truck was available, either on site, or at a nearby site, it could be used in place of the downed 70-ton truck.  

Understanding which changes make the biggest impact on your production is the quickest way to meet your production targets.

Because of COVID-19, we are living in unprecedented times. We want you to know that BSG and Komatsu are here to help you continue moving forward. To get started on an analysis of your production targets, email us at [email protected].