Since the development of radial tyre technology by Michelin in 1946, quarrying and construction tyres have been the technological “gems” that have been recognised as top performers in the market.
Michelin’s quarry and construction tyre range is designed to give the highest levels of reliability, focusing on safety and performance.
For large mining customers, the key to optimising production, revenue and ultimately profit margins lies in their ability to maximise their productivity and efficiency. Today’s quarries are increasingly adopting similar principles, aiming to produce more output whilst maintaining or reducing inputs, helping to reduce costs and increase their bottom line.
This challenging task requires maximising the contribution of every asset, from uptime of heavy equipment, loaders and trucks through to the correct tyre products being used on that equipment.
Since tyres play such an important role in keeping equipment moving, the most value needs to be extracted from each one. The correct tyre can deliver improved productivity, cost management and tyre life performance.
Besides the number one requirement of safety, operators can see and feel a range of performance benefits that come with choosing the correct tyre, including grip, traction, further distance per hour and increased damage resistance. The correct tyre can also allow the equipment to carry an increased mass and/or speed per load, per cycle, that enables the equipment to meet their optimum productivity potential.
For management, additional cost benefits include but are not limited to reductions in tyre and fuel consumption, reduction in replacement service costs, scrap tyre disposals, and a reduction in equipment downtime.
Historically, tyre brand and product choices have primarily revolved around unit price. While price is an important factor, decisions are now focusing on the value being delivered by each tyre product, whether through increased productivity and/or tyre life. When looking at choosing tyres, there are two important questions to consider:
• What contribution is the tyre making in your operation today?
• What additional contribution could be made by the tyre in terms of safety, value, productivity and efficiency?
Choosing the correct tyre brand and pattern for quarry machines can be the first step in ensuring optimum productivity, cost and operational management.
R&D BENEFITS
Michelin continually invests in research and development to innovate tyre products and solutions, as seen in the XTRA LOAD range allowing quarry users to transfer these benefits and learnings into their operations. After all, not all tyres are created equal.
Michelin’s XTRA LOAD GRIP & XTRA LOAD PROTECT products are designed and engineered to meet the specific needs of quarry operators using rigid dump trucks, whether those needs are to maximise grip in loose ground conditions or extra protection in more aggressive and rocky applications. However, equally or more importantly, they also enable increased payloads, increased average workday speed and provide better wear life while doing so.
Michelin XTRA DEFEND, and Michelin XTXL products are also designed and engineered to meet the specific needs of quarry operators using articulated dump trucks, and loaders respectively. Whether those needs are to maximise tyre life, and/or provide additional crown or sidewall protection, they also enable increased productivity, via higher tonne kilometres per hour (TKPH) capability for XTRA DEFEND, or via increased load carrying capacity for XTXL, when compared to major competitors.
While tyre choice is crucially important, another essential part of the equation is the services that can be provided around this tyre choice, to realise and maximise the benefits. This is where the alignment of Michelin’s Quarry Productivity Solutions comes into play.
Michelin is dedicated to supporting a quarry’s ability to optimise the productivity of its equipment, with the tyre as a key contributor. Quarry equipment can be more productive when it consistently goes faster, carries more load, and has less downtime – all of which the right tyres can deliver.
Like the productivity of a machine, truck or loader, the productivity of a tyre and contribution to the machine’s productivity should be measured, determining how much work a tyre has contributed over its life, effectively determining its value to a quarry.
When a machine’s full potential is realised in a quarry operation, be it through utilisation, speed and/or load, it can be validated in various ways. Two primary methods include:
1. Same production or output, achieved with lower input or machines hours, therefore reducing operation costs and potentially reducing fleet requirements.
2. Increased production or output, while maintaining the current input or machine hours, lowering the cost per tonne
of output.
In both cases, the ambition of Michelin is fully aligned, with the continuous aim to deliver increased production value per tyre.
INCREASED COLLABORATION
Michelin’s Quarry Productivity Solutions include a portfolio of tools and services, where the Michelin team have innovative and powerful analytical tools at hand to support, provide solutions and achieve the goals of quarry producers. Michelin is committed to meeting the individual needs of a quarry through a tailored consultancy approach.
Increasing this collaboration between quarries and Michelin representatives, Quarry Productivity Solutions can provide quarries with the necessary expertise, tyre and operational analysis, to support their decision- making process, through to assisting with managing an implementation plan to achieve the shared objectives. This platform allows Michelin to consistently provide tangible expertise in the science of tyres.
The use of proprietary, purpose-built tools, capturing and analysing critical operational data, allows for the production and referencing of data, combined with a broad and comprehensive global experience in
tyre usage. Some of the purpose-built toolings include:
• Tyre pressure monitoring systems (TPMS, Figure 1). Michelin Tyre Care TPMS, and MEMS4, both provide reliable solutions to monitor in real time the temperatures and pressures in tyres 24 hours a day, seven days a week, increasing safety, planned maintenance, vehicle utilisation and management of tyre budget.
• GPS mapping. Multiple GPS measurement tools that capture detailed cycle data, cycle mapping, incline, decline, cornering, vehicle speeds and distances, etc, that allow both real time cloud-based analysis, or supplementary detailed reporting.
• D Box, a proprietary Michelin measurement tool, using both GPS and accelerometers, to capture detailed cycle information. This includes circuit mapping, haul circuit design, equipment speed, cycle distance, as well as detailed vehicle data, such as dynamic tyre loads, lateral acceleration, tyre slip and other active characteristics of vehicles in each application within a quarry.
• Weight study (Figure 2), which is the use of adapted scales to get real load profile and load distribution by vehicle, per tyre, and the correlation of on-board weighing systems, as well as target payload analysis, load accuracy and matching of loading equipment.
• TKPH+, a proprietary Michelin reporting tool, using on-board vehicle or fleet management system data to analyse and determine the site’s operational TKPH per application (Figure 3).
Michelin’s expert knowledge and experience combined with its Quarry Productivity Solutions are there to support quarries in making the best use of their tyres and achieve their operational objectives – safety, mobility, productivity and efficiency – today and sustainability for the long term.
To see the XTRA LOAD PROTECT or XTRA DEFEND in action, visit the Michelin Earth Mover Channel: www.youtube.com/michelinearthmover
For more information, email michelin.earthmover@michelin.com or visit https://www.michelinearthmover.com/en_asean/Welcome/Quarries-and-Construction