RIMEX has evolved from a wheel manufacturer in Canada in the 1970s into a leading global supplier of the off-the-road (OTR) tyre pressure monitoring and maintenance system TyreSense.
With a history servicing all sectors of the extractive industry, RIMEX has recently made big in-roads in supplying tyres and rims to the quarry market and is well prepared to increase its servicing of Australia’s quarrying and contractor environment.
The continual development of TyreSense has kept RIMEX at the forefront of this quickly emerging market tool and the web-based software ensures live up to date data to maximise tyre productivity and efficiency.
TyreSense was pioneered by RIMEX in 2001 in Vancouver. RIMEX general manager Karl Krajewski told Quarry the Australian market took advantage of a then new product.
“We’ve found that Australian mines and quarries are always looking for that next advantage, whereas our branches in other countries have only seen a small take-up,” Krajewski said. “So, I think Australia can give itself a pat on the back for that. It always seems that we lead here in Australia and eventually our overseas counterparts realise how well it’s working for us.”
TyreSense began as an in-cabin tool for operators to monitor their tyre pressures, built on the idea of reduced downtime and improved safety. As technology developed and remote monitoring started trending throughout the heavy industries, TyreSense grew into a more useful tool.
“It fast evolved into having sensors inside the tyres for both pressure and temperature which can now be sent via ethernet and cellular network back to supervisors, senior management, or even head office anywhere in the world,” Krajewski said.
“It’s turned into a whole fleet management system to understand speeds, location, direction, and can download data from the machine to become fully integrated with existing fleet management systems.”
Once an issue is observed using the TyreSense suite, RIMEX also specialises in the next step to return to production, mending the tyre or rims.
To cater to the growth of effective tyre management systems, RIMEX bought a tyre-fitting company in Mackay, Queensland, called Complete Tyre Services.
Krajewski said it was a stringent process to find the most reliable business in tyre handling for off-the-road tyres.
“I visited some tyre manufactures in China in late 2019 and the facilities were impeccable as there’s a lot of synergies there with other well-known tyre manufacturers,” he said. “Over the past 18 to 24 months this business has been performing really well in the quarrying and contractor environment – working with 35-inch and below tyre sizes and providing our key service of fitting, testing and servicing tyres.”
Just as RIMEX forged a path into the tyre monitoring systems space, it also had the foresight to establish seven purpose-built rim certification facilities across Australia – the first of which was built in 2008. These mine- and quarry-heavy locations include Queensland’s Mount Isa, Blackwater and Mackay, Musselbrook in New South Wales, Adelaide, Perth and Newman in Western Australia.
“The facilities will provide the full wheel recertification process in-house, plus RIMEX supplies all products required for the whole tyre fitting process including tyres, wheels, valves, gauges, and tooling,” Krajewski said.
RIMEX’s Australian footprint combines with its expertise for an average turnaround time of about 10 days for the complete refurbishment process. This is aided by a new online portal which allows customers to track the process from start to finish while storing all customer information for use at any time.
Krajewski said it’s why RIMEX leads the way in tyre maintenance and monitoring. “We’re the only ones who do this, so we’ve evolved and professionalised things.”
Of course, as small to medium-size quarry businesses look to improve their total cost of ownership, one could be forgiven for any apprehension towards the outsourcing of maintenance duties.
However, Krajewski said if you want to ensure the safety and productivity of your fleet and you were going to send your wheels anywhere, it would be RIMEX.
“I think some people can always be fearful of sending equipment off to get inspected and tested,” he said. “But we are the biggest and best because we’re not sitting here trying to find reasons to spend money on it.
“We’re just trying to make things as safe as possible. We measure our pass rate and about 90 per cent of rims that come through don’t have anything done to it – you blast test, paint and out it goes again with that assurance that downtime will be avoided.”•
To learn more about RIMEX’s TyreSense technology and services, visit rimex.com.au
This article appears in the December issue of Quarry Magazine.